Using the PMB as a deesser?

[bulls hit]

My mum has a cassette recording of an record album that she wants me to burn to CD for her.

There's quite a bit of hiss and I was thinking about employing the Multiband's gate to get rid of some of that without affecting the top end too much. Anyone got any tips or suggestions on a good way to do this?

 

[Fundy]

It could help if you use it as a multiband gate I dare say. I would perhaps experiment with it or use as part of the effects chain. If your DAW or third-party plug-ins does have a filter, It may be worth using this to clean up what you can, from the noise shaping captured.

I've had some relative sucess using a single-band compressor/gate plug-in, by compressing the audio at the threshold point and setting the gate allow as much as audio as possible through. If the plug-in has a sidechain EQ, this can be used to filter frequencies rather than the whole track.

There is people far more experienced and well more knowledgable on this subject on this forum. You'll be glad to know.

What other tools and what sequencer DAW do you use?

 

[bulls hit]

Thanks for the reply Fundy.

I'm using Cakewalk's Guitar Tracks at the moment. It comes with some basic EQ, compression etc, but apart from the uad plugs I ain't got no other tools

 

[daverich]

I believe the freeware Audacity has a decent noise reduction effect.

Give that a go.

Kind regards

Dave Rich

 

[Kevinlane]

. . . I was thinking about employing the Multiband's gate to get rid of some of that without affecting the top end too much. . . ?

I have used this in a couple of cases for some nasty voiceover recordings.
Start with their preset for a de-esser, then season to taste. I would try to isolate the uper mid or mid freq ranges on the offending sound, and I varied their gating levels to try to not take all the mid-upper end out of it.


Of course the phrase "without affecting the top end too much," is very subjective, but I have tweaked it a bit to get some favorable results in a not so favorable recording. Keep in mind though, the recording, in my case, was so bad, that the end result wasn't perfect, but then it was good enough improvment, that from a client's perspective it was worth it. And I got better results than with digital phishphone's Spitfish or the Waves De-esser too.


Good Luck , Happy De-essing


Kevinlane

 

[bulls hit]

Thanks man. Yeah duh I just spotted that preset in there. It actually treats the material quite gently. Good enough for my mum anyway! Cheers

 

[Fundy]

I only time I use that UAD plug-in is at mastering stage and it never occurred to me either, they would be a preset. But anyway, I guess I like doing things the hard way.