amp hiss

[Tim McCutchen]

I'm new in the home recording situation and have a question. I've done a search but haven't found an answer. For those who mic their amp, how do you deal with the amp hiss. I have a Nashville 112. Thank you for any help.

[Dale Rottacker]

Tim ... Waves has a plugin called Z-Noise ... I've used this a lot when mic'ing my amp, to get rid of amp hiss, or any other unwanted noise from AC or Fans, barking dogs not so much They actually have several different solutions so you should be able to find something.

https://www.waves.com/plugins/z-noise

[Norman Evans]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiw78Rb3WlU

[ajm]

To be honest, I'm not sure that "amp hiss" is really the problem.
It could actually be one of several things.

- Noise picked up from single coil pickups (notice I didn't call it "hum")
- Noise/hiss from effects
- Actual hum from a power supply issue with effects
- A bad cable
- Or????

It could be a bad amp that hisses a lot.
But I'd need to see it.

[Tim McCutchen]

Thank you guys for responding. I'll check out all of your answers. I'm having fun learning about recording.

[Bob Hoffnar]

Most ALL recordings of electric guitar and steel have plenty of amp hiss. It's not something to worry about unless it is messing up your mix.

[Michael McGee]

Hey, Tim! What system are you using to record?

I'm using p.c. with a separate interface, and my DAW is Reaper. There are many good DAW's. Within Reaper, it provides a plugin called Reafir that does great hiss elimination after the recording is captured. I also have a set of plugins from a company called Izotope called "Ozone essentials" that has a noise eliminator that works well. Dale's suggestion is a great plugin company. Norman's link is a great intro to noise gates.

And 2 thumbs up for Bob's comment. Take a step back and think about what the recording is going to sound like when it is finished. What are the tracks? Bass? Drums? Rhythm Guitar? Piano? Lead Guitar? Noise MAY not be noticeable when all those tracks are summed to a stereo master with your steel. OTOH, if you are doing a steel-only track, then yes, it may present problems.

Another technology for p.c.'s and mac's is amp simulation plugins. Record the steel direct and dry, then add a plugin emulating the sound of some classic amp of the past. I am of a fan of this technology... some people are not.

If you are using a stand-alone recorder (no pc or mac required) remember that you can record you steel dry, then send that track output to your amp, mic your amp, dial in your sound (may be able to back off treble just enough to reduce hiss by a reasonable amount), hit record and record a 2nd steel track with your amp mic'ed. Then you have the flexibility of blending some combination of the 2 tracks, or using the track you prefer.

[Greg Cutshaw]

It's all about signal to noise ratio. Set the amp's volume high enough that the guitar's volume is well above the hiss. Edit out the hiss in passages where the mic is hot but the guitar is not playing. All of my amps have audible hiss. I do use a preamp on the Shure SM57 mics to eliminate my Zoom's inherent noise level. This again is just managing the signal to noise level.

[Rick Campbell]

The hiss, or single coil hum, is usually not a problem while the rest of the music is going. It can become a problem on steel when you are trying to sustain a note. The note sound dies out and is overcome by the hiss/hum. When needed, I use a Hum Debugger pedal to take care of this. Be careful with the plugins. Some of them are just notch filters that take out the problem frequencies, but they also take out some of your good tone too. In my experience, the hum filter in ProFex is a tone robber. I use a noise gate when I'm recording. I just set the threshold to keep the noise down when I'm not playing

RC

[Tim McCutchen]

Thank you everyone for responding. Hey Mike. I'm using Cakewalk DAW on a PC with a Presonus audio interface, with a sm57 on a Nashville 112.

[ajm]

Tim: I don't recall seeing the question asked.

Do you have a recording that shows what and how much we're talking about?

It could be with backing tracks or not, it doesn't matter.

[Tim McCutchen]

Thank you ajm. I'll check that as well.