How to sqash a song and minimize noise

In article <XY98k.27903$Jx.17831@pd7urf1no>, yrret <[email protected]> wrote:
>Lately I've been doing a lot of mixing and mastering, which isn't something
>I've done much of in the past. Its improving, most of my efforts have been
>pretty good.
>
>But for a couple tracks of hard, almost metal music I can't quite seem to
>give that hard crush without giving it a gleam of white noise. I'm not sure
>how to attack it. Any suggestions or approaches?

When you compress, you're making loud parts quieter and quiet parts louder.

If the original track has noise in it, compressing will make the noise much
worse.

Consequently if you intend on squishing very heavily, you need to start out
with very quiet material.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

"Scott Dorsey" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:g3rb3a$f4f$1@panix2.panix.com...
> In article <XY98k.27903$Jx.17831@pd7urf1no>, yrret <[email protected]> wrote:
>>Lately I've been doing a lot of mixing and mastering, which isn't
>>something
>>I've done much of in the past. Its improving, most of my efforts have
>>been
>>pretty good.
>>
>>But for a couple tracks of hard, almost metal music I can't quite seem to
>>give that hard crush without giving it a gleam of white noise. I'm not
>>sure
>>how to attack it. Any suggestions or approaches?
>
> When you compress, you're making loud parts quieter and quiet parts
> louder.
>
> If the original track has noise in it, compressing will make the noise
> much
> worse.
>
> Consequently if you intend on squishing very heavily, you need to start
> out
> with very quiet material.
> --scott
> --

Quiet, as in the original recording needs to happen at low levels. Or the
first mix needs to be very quiet? Or both?

In article <eLa8k.49467$gc5.28081@pd7urf2no>, yrret <[email protected]> wrote:
>"Scott Dorsey" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:g3rb3a$f4f$1@panix2.panix.com...
>> In article <XY98k.27903$Jx.17831@pd7urf1no>, yrret <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>Lately I've been doing a lot of mixing and mastering, which isn't
>>>something
>>>I've done much of in the past. Its improving, most of my efforts have
>>>been
>>>pretty good.
>>>
>>>But for a couple tracks of hard, almost metal music I can't quite seem to
>>>give that hard crush without giving it a gleam of white noise. I'm not
>>>sure
>>>how to attack it. Any suggestions or approaches?
>>
>> When you compress, you're making loud parts quieter and quiet parts
>> louder.
>>
>> If the original track has noise in it, compressing will make the noise
>> much
>> worse.
>>
>> Consequently if you intend on squishing very heavily, you need to start
>> out
>> with very quiet material.
>
>Quiet, as in the original recording needs to happen at low levels. Or the
>first mix needs to be very quiet? Or both?

There has to be a very low noise floor on the original recording. Any
noise you have will be exaggerated phenomenally when the compression kicks in.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

On Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:09:14 -0400, yrret wrote
(in article <eLa8k.49467$gc5.28081@pd7urf2no>):

>
> "Scott Dorsey" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:g3rb3a$f4f$1@panix2.panix.com...
>> In article <XY98k.27903$Jx.17831@pd7urf1no>, yrret <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> Lately I've been doing a lot of mixing and mastering, which isn't
>>> something
>>> I've done much of in the past. Its improving, most of my efforts have
>>> been
>>> pretty good.
>>>
>>> But for a couple tracks of hard, almost metal music I can't quite seem to
>>> give that hard crush without giving it a gleam of white noise. I'm not
>>> sure
>>> how to attack it. Any suggestions or approaches?
>>
>> When you compress, you're making loud parts quieter and quiet parts
>> louder.
>>
>> If the original track has noise in it, compressing will make the noise
>> much
>> worse.
>>
>> Consequently if you intend on squishing very heavily, you need to start
>> out
>> with very quiet material.
>> --scott
>> --
>
> Quiet, as in the original recording needs to happen at low levels. Or the
> first mix needs to be very quiet? Or both?
>
>

Quiet as in the original sounds must be well above the noise floor. You won't
notice it if you don't listen carefully when tracking, but the low level hiss
will become a LOT more apparent when you compress and limit.

Regards,

Ty Ford


--Audio Equipment Reviews Audio Production Services
Acting and Voiceover Demos http://www.tyford.com
Guitar player?:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RZJ9MptZmU

"Ty Ford" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:wbidnSv3yfIhpf_VnZ2dnUVZ_uOdnZ2d@comcast.com...
> On Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:09:14 -0400, yrret wrote
> (in article <eLa8k.49467$gc5.28081@pd7urf2no>):
>
>>
>> "Scott Dorsey" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:g3rb3a$f4f$1@panix2.panix.com...
>>> In article <XY98k.27903$Jx.17831@pd7urf1no>, yrret <[email protected]>
>>> wrote:
>>>> Lately I've been doing a lot of mixing and mastering, which isn't
>>>> something
>>>> I've done much of in the past. Its improving, most of my efforts have
>>>> been
>>>> pretty good.
>>>>
>>>> But for a couple tracks of hard, almost metal music I can't quite seem
>>>> to
>>>> give that hard crush without giving it a gleam of white noise. I'm not
>>>> sure
>>>> how to attack it. Any suggestions or approaches?
>>>
>>> When you compress, you're making loud parts quieter and quiet parts
>>> louder.
>>>
>>> If the original track has noise in it, compressing will make the noise
>>> much
>>> worse.
>>>
>>> Consequently if you intend on squishing very heavily, you need to start
>>> out
>>> with very quiet material.
>>> --scott
>>> --
>>
>> Quiet, as in the original recording needs to happen at low levels. Or
>> the
>> first mix needs to be very quiet? Or both?
>>
>>
>
> Quiet as in the original sounds must be well above the noise floor. You
> won't
> notice it if you don't listen carefully when tracking, but the low level
> hiss
> will become a LOT more apparent when you compress and limit.
>
> Regards,
>
> Ty Ford
>
>
Ya, I'm thinking I'm out of luck here. This particular guitar used some
tube do dad that added a lot of hiss. Funny thing is not every sound system
seems to reveal the hiss. But when its there its really really there.

"yrret" <[email protected]> wrote in news:SSq8k.24946$kx.5657@pd7urf3no:

>> Quiet as in the original sounds must be well above the noise floor.
>> You won't
>> notice it if you don't listen carefully when tracking, but the low
>> level hiss
>> will become a LOT more apparent when you compress and limit.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Ty Ford
>>
> Ya, I'm thinking I'm out of luck here. This particular guitar used
> some tube do dad that added a lot of hiss. Funny thing is not every
> sound system seems to reveal the hiss. But when its there its really
> really there.

If you can't hear it in some systems, that means they have no high end and
hiss is mostly high frequency.

If you lop off all the high frequencies, you'll lose much of the noise but
also much of the "excitement" of the guitar sound.

Can you pass off the guitar tracks to a friend with computer software to
reduce noise levels? Or are you using such software right now to compress
the tracks?