I don't know what to call that noise but it's the sound you make when you change chords. It's like a squeal. Ya' know! Well, what's the best way to reduce this if the guitar take can't be re-recorded? I can't really get my guitar player to come back and redo the track.

I was thinking EQ'ing but was wondering if there was anything else. I have already painstaking isolated them in the waveform.

Thanks
Rocko

Hmmm, Rocko, I'm pretty sure that there's something, almost like a gate(?) that you can use. I had the same problem with one of my tracks, and I just re-recorded with better strings (I used those Elixer coated puppies). But, I'm pretty sure there's something else you can do, though you may have to sacrafice some of your tone. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will but in their 2-cents; I'd like to know too just in case.

Hmm. If you can isolate the frequency range, you might be able to use a multiband compressor. Turn off all of the bands but one and center that band on the frequency range. You don't want to remove all of the sound. Just take some of the bite out of it. That should allow the frequencies through but clamp down on big bursts.

This is one of the reasons for the popularity of the common micing technique of placing a cardioid mic about mid-neck and aiming it at the 12th fret. It tends to pick up less finger-squeak.

Fresh strings help, always a good idea anyway when recording acoustic guitar because you want to start out bright - you can always take bright out but you can't put it in. If you start with a nice bright tone you can then treat squeaks the same way you treat ess-y vocals, using a multiband compressor.

You can also use a spray lubricant like Finger-Ease. That'll help, too, although some swear it's evil. When I used it regularly it seemed to cause strings to go dead out faster.

Ultimately, you gotta accept that 1) it's part of the performance and you wouldn't want to completely eliminate it anyway, and 2) the only way to really stop it is by improved playing technique.

(I never mastered that technique of precisely lifting and setting the fingers, but then I've never pretended to be a guitarist. Except when faking it with keyboards - come to think of it, I have synth patches for acoustic guitar that include finger squeaks, so there you go!)

If I don't have any other option than to manually reduce them, then I try to set up the gain dialogue box in the Process audio drop down, with a - 6 db or so and for the really loud ones I may hit them twice I cut them back...but not cut them out completely. It sounds more natural to leave them in but you want to make them so they're not catching your attention.

#1- get a really out-of-key singer to bellow over those parts of the track
#2- rename the track adventures in a distasteful sitarist

not much you can do with that once the track is recorded, though Audition I believe actually has a spectral plug-in that claims to have a specific preset where you highlight the noise area with a rectangle: BOOM, problem eliminated...

string noise or yes finger noise is a common issue that classical guitarists wrestle with all the time, & as bitflipper aptly pointed
out the higher end guitarists actually take this into consideration when chording their notes, the rest use gadgets such as coated strings, sprays(sic), and the better of the three, flat-wound strings are a fascinating route to explore
http://adobe.groupbrowser.com/archive/t-7204.html

why can't he come back?..... hope it's not the dreaded guitarist's ego....
oh mercy

-JD

from a recent post on a guitar forum: "Hope a bass string question is okay on the guitar forum... i've played with compression wound strings and flats mostly. i like the mellower sound and less fret noise of the above strings, but am still searching for a string that provides this but has a somewhat uneven surface...."

here's the forum: http://www.daddario.com/Discuss/Default.aspx

Not much to do, if the track is already recorded... although there is a preset in Ozone 3 (by Izotope) that reduces them to a great amount (it's called "Acoustic Guitar - Less Finger Noise" or something like that). If you have Ozone, you should try that. If you don't have Ozone... then why don't you have Ozone?!..

You can apply a volume envelope to the track, add nodes around each squeak, and create a little 'valley' for each one - reduce the volume enough so they are still just audible. I've done this a couple of times, it works fine, if a little laborious.

Editing out finger squeak and fret noise is a real **** because all those wonderful string harmonics associated with acoustic guitar are firmly attached to "the noise". The multi band approach works but it will dampen your harmonics to some extent. If you're micing your guitar try turning down the gain a little on the mic and squashing the higher end of your EQ a little bit. Faster fingers will do it if you can handle that level of nerve sensitivity. Only the masters really know the frequencies to squash for the dreaded finger noise.

ORIGINAL: bitflipper

come to think of it, I have synth patches for acoustic guitar that include finger squeaks, so there you go!)

that's true!! That says a lot right there :) lol

ORIGINAL: jay_zhead

If you have Ozone, you should try that. If you don't have Ozone... then why don't you have Ozone?!..

Okay, that's it! I keep hearing nothing but good things about this Ozone I gotta' get it!

ORIGINAL: jamesg1213

You can apply a volume envelope to the track, add nodes around each squeak, and create a little 'valley' for each one - reduce the volume enough so they are still just audible. I've done this a couple of times, it works fine, if a little laborious.

I've found this to work really well and effectively! I was actually surprised with how good it sounded. Here's the process I used:

*listen to the track, and with scrub & slice tool in hand. Slice the squeaks into their own
clips.

*highlight the clip, right click and select "add nodes around selection". I'm using Sonar 7.

*Then just lower accordingly. It really didn't take that long actually. I'm happy now :)



Thank you everyone for the excellent suggestions and tips!! This thread has turned into an excellent resource for "fing noise"
Rocko