How to Get Rid of Unwanted Sound in Your Mix
Did you just lay down your best vocal take an upon listening back there is background noise?
You just got done with a perfectly in time drum session but you have too much mic bleed through from the other mics?
Or for me, you turn your guitar up and get those tubes working but there is a low level hum that you mic picks up.
If any of those issues have happened to you then this post has you covered! If you want a step by step guide read on, if you want to go to a YouTube video I made on this click here or scroll to the end of this post.
The fact of the matter noise is going to happen during the recording process, especially if you are dealing with mics. There is nothing more annoying then recording an hour long podcast, and listen back and one of the tracks has a low level hum. That can come from many different things, are you in a room with a fan or air conditioner? Are you recording next you your computer and you hear the fan? In your home studio and there are people playing just outside? There are things that we just can’t control but we have to fix.
I find that fixing these type of issues is actually pretty easy to do provided to have the right equipment or software. My focus is on the software side, since I figure most people will be fixing these problems in either the editing or mixing of their song. I will be using steps from Studio One 4.5 Professional as that is my DAW of choice. However, the steps I will show should work in any DAW provided you have a “Gate” plug in. Now let’s start!
A screen shot of one of my Studio One sessions for the RAMP Fitness Podcast. The mentioned search function on display here. Open your search and type in “gate.”
Solo your tracks to identify where the unwanted noise is coming from
Open the browser window and select effects
Once selected, if you don’t have it as a favorite and need to find it click the search icon and type “gate”
Provided you have one of the paid versions of Studio One Artist or Professional you will have the plug in. Select the Gate plug in and drag it to the track in question, you are done for now
Now the next step is how to use your Gate. The best part if you are looking just to get rid of noise, it’s even easier than the steps above! You will just need to know what one setting does and that is the Threshold. Which very simply put means nothing that is under the defined dB level will pass. In short, you can kill off any sound that is not loud enough. So now how to you identify what is loud enough?
Here is a screen shot of the Gate Plug in from Studio One 4.5. As you can see you have a ton of options, the Open nob on the very left is what we want to focus on. By changing the Open setting you will allow or not allow audio information to pass through.
Turn off your Gate. Don’t remove it, instead just toggle the blue power icon in the plug in*
Now play the track while still having it soloed. You want to pay attention to the metering in your mix window. What is the dB level that is coming through when there should be silence? Keep that number in you head as a reference.*
Your Threshold is set to a negative dB number, usually -40 when you fist bring the plug in into the track. So automatically anything under -40dB will not be allowed through
If you find that -40dB is not enough, simply turn the gate higher. I will always move in 5dB increments then fine tune from there
A screen shot from an episode of Turn Your Head & Goff showing your audio wave file. Pay close attention to the vert small blip on the very left.
Now, a word of warning. Be careful how much gate you use. Typically you do not want to be so aggressive that you eliminate the transient signal. Which in simple terms is the moment sound is recorded. For a guitar player it is when you first hit the string. When a singer or voice over professional has that first moment after silence. Or when a drummer first strikes a part of their kit. Your recording depending on how long it is and how many instruments will have hundreds or perhaps thousands of transients.
This is the same wave file but magnified. Refer back to other other wave file screen shot when I mentioned to pay attention the the very left? That little blip is the transient for in this case my voice. Being too aggressive with a gate can eliminate that and might make this sound unnatural.
So the transient doesn’t have to be the louder part of your wave signal. It is the first part of it. If you are too aggressive with your gate usage, you run the risk of losing that. Now if that is the sound you want, go for it. However, most of the time you do want the transient.
So there you go, super easy and extremely versatile. And the best part, it will take you about a minute to get done!