getting rid of "breathing" noise...

[Baderup99]

I just recorded a classical guitarist using two condensers. He was actually playing a 10 string. You'll hear all the cool overtones and stuff. However i had a problem because he would breath through his nose pretty loud. Is there away to address that to him, or a way to minimize that in pro tools?

Here's a clip of it.

Also any advice on the recording itself would be cool too, my first time doing classical. There is compression and reverb on the tracks nothing else.

[andychamp]

Sounds to me like you were using cardioids very close to the source (lots of low-end buildup) and maybe a bit too close to the player.
Maybe try fig.-8 mics with their null pointing at the player, they're pretty good at excluding sound coming from that side.
But beware, fig.-8s suffer even more from proximity effect than cardioids, so move away a bit from the source or, if you get too much room, get in close and use a highpass filter.

[ssaudio]

Originally Posted by Baderup99

Also any advice on the recording itself would be cool too, my first time doing classical. There is compression and reverb on the tracks nothing else.

The player has to learn how to be quiet, simple as that. You shouldn't have to compensate for it in any way

You are way too close, I never go closer than 1m at the very most and always use flat mics like MKH40s

no compression, ever - unless it's for a pop song, in which case do whatever works for the track

Reverb is a personal choice, but you are always up against it when the instrument and performance hasn't been caught properly

[chris carter]

I would agree that you are pretty close - too close for my taste. You really don't need that big spread stereo sound doing classical. I'd back up a LOT. I wouldn't be any closer than 3 or 4 feet.

it's up to the player to work on their breathing. As a former classical musician (trumpet), I was conscious of it when recording. But with distance it will be a lot more of the 'enhancing' sound than the 'distracting' sound. There will always be some breathing, otherwise it sounds creepy.

I'd avoid compression. if you need to compress at all I'd stick with REALLY long release times (5 seconds, or MORE) and I'd keep it very subtle and most likely of the parallel variety. But a recording like this without a lot of dynamics, I don't think I'd use any compression.

[Baderup99]

hey guys thanks for all the info. Yeah I did the recording in my bedroom so i was trying to avoid my room sound as much as possible by close micing. It was my first classical recording, But if I backed up 2 or 3 ft I would definitely get rid of the breathing noise. I was really close to the source, and I was really jacking the gain up to get some okay VU, from 3ft away it seems like i would have a really hard time? I could possibly record in a church to get some nice reverb and room noise.

Im open to all suggestions on classical recording!

[Audionaut]

I'm sure that that this is going to be frowned upon by the masses, but I managed to get pretty good results using the Waves denoiser. This was NOT solo instrumental music, It was an acoustic guitar played to a dense R&B track and nobody noticed the guitarist's breathing until he was long gone and I was soloing tracks to locate the source of a "weird sound" we couldn't place. Luckily I had a few seconds of guitarist breatheng recorded without any guitar, enough for the plugin to focus on and suppress. It was surprisingly effective. I had expected MUCH more dramatic coloration of the guitar tone, but the tracks were usable in the mix.
Again, this was one instrument and re-recording the part was not an option.

[rwhitney]

While I tend to like some distance, our guitar teacher John Schneiderman has recorded exceptional sounding guitar and lute CDs in his bedroom with two close cardiods and artificial reverb. I think learning to breath quietly is particularly important for classical guitarists since the guitar isn't going to mask it.

[lowfreq33]

Make sure the guy blows his nose before takes, make sure the airways are clear!

[dokushoka]

Well here is a guy that really knows how to keep breathing out of a recording:

YouTube - "Chocolate Rain" Original Song by Tay Zonday

[chris carter]

Originally Posted by Baderup99

hey guys thanks for all the info. Yeah I did the recording in my bedroom so i was trying to avoid my room sound as much as possible by close micing. It was my first classical recording, But if I backed up 2 or 3 ft I would definitely get rid of the breathing noise. I was really close to the source, and I was really jacking the gain up to get some okay VU, from 3ft away it seems like i would have a really hard time? I could possibly record in a church to get some nice reverb and room noise.

Im open to all suggestions on classical recording!

Well, when recording stuff like this you kidn of have to ignore your levels a little bit. go with what sounds good from the mic/pre and record to a high bit depth - 24bits. I've been known to record at 32bits before tracking at -36dB! I realize that preamp hiss and an non-ideal recording environment might add noise that you are trying to combat. But.... 1) you'd be suprised how much audible hiss there is on great classical recordings so don't freak out TOO much and 2) some will freak, but I've been known to use Adobe Audition noise reduction. Adobe Audition has absolutely KICK ASS noise reduction. If it's just preamp hiss and maybe a computer fan or consistent ambient noise and it's relatively low level, and you record at 24bits, you can really use it in an inaudible way.

As for room reflections - I'd try and hang your bed comforter or something BEHIND the guitarist. It will lower the room reverb in the mics. The more you can cover the pickup area behind the guitarist the better.

[AllAboutTone]

Originally Posted by Baderup99

I just recorded a classical guitarist using two condensers. He was actually playing a 10 string. You'll hear all the cool overtones and stuff. However i had a problem because he would breath through his nose pretty loud. Is there away to address that to him, or a way to minimize that in pro tools?

Here's a clip of it.

Also any advice on the recording itself would be cool too, my first time doing classical. There is compression and reverb on the tracks nothing else.

I do not get this to often but when i do its either its some one with a sinus issue or a overweight/ not in shape person and it can get real loud, i play it back to them and they go OMG !!! I have to stop that and im saying what ? stop breathing ?