M_Glenn_M

tomixornot
I have also been experimenting with the De-esser in the VX VocalStrip - when I turn on the listen switch, all I could hear was the fret noise so it must be good reducing/removing them ?
Anyone using De-esser for this ?

Mike Senior suggests this method in his "Mixing Secrets" pg 215

A de-esser will "tame" (thru dynamics processing) the upper mids... thus reducing finger noise.
As with processing a vocal, you have to be careful when using a de-esser across an entire track.
To effectively tame the squeaks, you'll likely rob the track of the upper mids that provide clarity/articulation.
 
If you use a de-esser, I'd only apply it to the offending finger-noise (squeak) sections.
This will otherwise leave the original performance untouched...

Gating would not work because you are assuming the amplitude of the squeak is way higher than all the other notes around it and in many cases it is not and in fact lower. It stands out bigtime though because of the nature of the sound compared to the sweet guitar notes either side of it.
 
Jim's approach using de essing would also work very well but in some ways it is similar to my approach in post no #9. The editor is great because of the microscopic approach of it and the fact you get it to only act on a few samples. Cutting off the LPF at 3 or 4K literally renders the squeak totally gone. (It shows there must so much energy involved above those frequencies)