[MartynRich]

Anyone have any tips on how to reduce background hiss when recording acoustic instruments and vocals? I cannot afford to go to a studio or soundproof my studio room so any tips would be greatly appreciated...and I know this question has been asked a million times so apologies in advance.

[pompeyjazz]

Eliminate as much background noise as possible (Electric or otherwise) For Vocals, I hang a duvet over a screen and sing under that. Does eliminate quite a bit but I do look strange and it's hot work 

Cheers

John

[Boydie]

I would suggest recording at a lower volume

In my experience most "hiss" is introduced by driving pre-amps quite hard or generally having a hot signal as it passes through different software so you need to consider "gain staging" - ie if you go through a compressor and use the make-up gain it will make the signal (and the hiss) louder.

If you then go through an EQ and add loads of boosts it will also increase the hiss

In the days of tape the name of the game was to record as hot (loud) a signal as possible

In the digital world it is almost the opposite - recording at much lower levels can really help control hiss - ie turn your pre-amp down and aim to record at around -12db


Another option is to use EQ to remove (or cut) the frequencies where the hiss is most prevalent

Eg - when I record my bass guitar I get quite a bit of hiss

However if I cut the higher frequencies or use a Low Pass Filter, I find that I can dramatically reduce (or even remove) the hiss without affecting the overall sound of the bass

[Paulski]

Audacity has a Nyquist noise-removal tool that works pretty well.
You select a bit of the waveform that has just noise (and no signal), tell it to "Get noise profile",
Then select the section you want to remove the hiss from, and apply the filter.
Not perfect but it is cheap

[MartynRich]

Some good tips here, thanks. Not sure about recording under a duvet in the heat of Spain but I guess we all have to suffer for our art.

I have tried the Audacity tool but it doesn't work well for me, maybe Im not using it correctly.

Boydie - you mentioned recording at a lower volume which is something I have already tried. Which tool do you then use to bring it up in the mix without bring the background noise up at the same time?

[Boydie]

Boydie - you mentioned recording at a lower volume which is something I have already tried. Which tool do you then use to bring it up in the mix without bring the background noise up at the same time?

I would suggest just mixing at a lower overall volume so reduce everything

As a general rule of thumb your mix should be bouncing around on your master levels (with everything included) at around -9db to -6db

Then simply turn up your monitoring

When you have your mixing and noise issues sorted we can look at setting you up with some rudimentary mastering (eg a master bus compressor or limiter or normalise) to raise the overall level at the end

If you are thinking of pitching commercially in todays market (even TV) then you do need to develop a good recording, gain staging, mixing and mastering workflow to get "clean" mixes at a good level

I would suggest taking it one step at a time and get your recording sorted at a nice level with no noise and we can then look at the next step in the recording chain

 

[adamfarr]

Hi there - I know how frustrating this can be. I tried to work through a long list of possible noise causes here: http://www.songwriterforum.co.uk/recording/come-on-steal-the-noise/   

Maybe some of them apply to you. But my personal experience since then (still learning) was that getting the gain-staging right trumps everything else.

I agree with everything said so far here but would add that too little gain can still be a problem just like too much. So I now first adjust the gain faders on my interface so that I get clipping (red light) and reduce so that even at very loud input levels (louder than loudest part of the performane) this goes away. Only then do I look at the output levels from the interface so that the signal going to the DAW is well below zero (2/3 or 3/4 the way up). Remembering that the faders in the DAW do not affect anything at this stage.

Good luck (am also in Spain so no duvets round here)

[MartynRich]

Hi there - I know how frustrating this can be. I tried to work through a long list of possible noise causes here: http://www.songwriterforum.co.uk/recording/come-on-steal-the-noise/   

Maybe some of them apply to you. But my personal experience since then (still learning) was that getting the gain-staging right trumps everything else.

I agree with everything said so far here but would add that too little gain can still be a problem just like too much. So I now first adjust the gain faders on my interface so that I get clipping (red light) and reduce so that even at very loud input levels (louder than loudest part of the performane) this goes away. Only then do I look at the output levels from the interface so that the signal going to the DAW is well below zero (2/3 or 3/4 the way up). Remembering that the faders in the DAW do not affect anything at this stage.

Good luck (am also in Spain so no duvets round here)

All good suggestions. Anywhere near Alicante?

I´ll give some of these tips a try today as I´ve got some more recording planned. I´ll let you know how I get on.

[Chris Perra]

By "Hiss" do you mean system noise or room noise?

If System noise. You have to get the source as loud as you can so you don't have to crank the input gain. Or get a better cleaner mic pre.

If room noise use a cardioid mic and pint the null towards the noise. If you can get something in between the mic and the room or the area that is causing sound issues do that as well.. A couch, a blanket on a mic stand, whatever you have that can absorb sound.

[Johnnyuk]

Hi,
Most DAWS come with gates. Use them so when whatever sound you are trying to record is not playing the gate closes and by doing so prevents the hiss from being recorded. If hiss is recorded with the sound as you record then a noise remover can be used to get rid of it. I would also look at your gain structure on the instrument you are trying to record to make sure the sound levels are high enough to grab the actual sound and not the hiss. etc
Johnny

[Ramshackles]

Anyone have any tips on how to reduce background hiss when recording acoustic instruments and vocals? I cannot afford to go to a studio or soundproof my studio room so any tips would be greatly appreciated...and I know this question has been asked a million times so apologies in advance.

Whats your setup?
Do you have an example of a hissy track?

[Waterpilot]

Reducing noise in your recordings is easiest done by recording in a quiet place to start with. Make sure to turn off fans, air conditioners, furnaces, and anything else that is making noise in your recording space. If you have your computer in your room with you, try to use a microphone that is designed to reject noise from the rear, and keep the microphone faced away from the computer.