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Old 02-18-2012, 12:30 PM
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Doug Young Doug Young is online now
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Location: Mountain View, CA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zenpicker View Post
Doug, out of curiosity, when you have the mikes as close as you did for your test recording, how do you minimize string noise (and heck, breathing and clothing-on-guitar noise)?
Mostly this is a matter of practicing, I think. I keep some Elixers around with the idea that I can use them in the worst case, but I don't like the sound. I never ended up using them on Closing Time, tho I was tempted on one tune. Often the 1st stab at recording a tune reveals the awful truth ;-) Squeaks and noises everywhere. In some cases, I can deal with them by editing, patching in a section of an alternate take where the squeak didn't happen. But often, if I squeak, I do it every time, which tells me I need to go practice that passage and see if I can reduce it.

Rubbing noises with clothes is hard. I was just playing the other night while wearing a new pair of corduroys, and wow, it was awful. So I won't be wearing them while recording. But finding clothes that don't cause problems, and then trying to keep the guitar as still as makes sense, all help. Breathing's also hard. I hear it a lot on my 1st CD, less on this new one. I think I just tried to be more relaxed on the recording. Maybe the mic positioning I used was less sensitive to breathing.

And finally, the ultimate cure is iZotope RX (or the light version in the window's Adobe Audition). As long as a noise is sharp and well-defined, RX can nuke it completely. Some sounds are nearly impossible to fix, but the most obvious sharp jump-out-of-your-chair squeeks are usually really easy, just select it, click "repair" and it's gone.
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