Use de-esser or denoiser on hum/buzz

B

bobbolinger

Logician
I have a slight hum or buzz on some live solo guitar recordings; I can reduce the hum with EQ by dropping out the frequency of about 4500 but I understand the de-esser can also be used;

But when I pull up the de-esser I don't know how to use it; there's a detector side and a suppressor side...

I see that there's also a denoiser; which would be better?
 
bobbolinger said:
which would be better?
Click to expand...

In short - whichever gives the best results - i.e. sounds better. Really, it is verx difficult to give advice about something like this without hearing the source material, and even then,depending on how it is used, a denoiser, de-essser or eq may work, each may however bring its own side effects, these need to be weighed as to what detrimental effects they may have on the overall sound as well.

kind regards

Mark
 
A de-esser wouldn't be appropriate to eliminate a steady-state problem noise.

The best results are achieved with an intelligent noise reduction algorithm. This is where the software analyzes a brief part of the track that contains nothing BUT the noise, and then subtracts it from the rest of the track. Noise is different than buzz, and require somewhat different settings for optimum results, which is why there are sometimes 2 different algorithms (or plugins) in a suite of restoration software, such as Waves Restoration Bundle.

Lesser results (but perhaps perfectly adequate) can be achieved with an EQ, or perhaps an "unintelligent" noise reduction algorithm (one that doesn't pre-analyze that part of the track that ONLY contains the offending noise), like the one built into Logic.
 
You will find it under the logic effects category specialized - de-noiser.

Reading through this again, Zerobeat is in all likelihood right on the button in saying that a de-esser would not be the right choice for this - a buzz or hum tends to occur in the low to mid frequency range, starting with AC hum at 50 or 60 Hz, going into various mid frequency disturbances which would usually be under 1 kHz. De-essers, by their nature, concentrate on much higher frequencies than this.

kind regards

Mark
 
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