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I seem to have got some unwanted noises on an acoustic guitar picking track.I didn't notice it when I was recording. It's the sound of my hand hitting the body of the guitar,Don't really want to re-record.Any ideas anyone.

Are the noises low frequency? If so, you can try using a narrow cut with a parametric EQ. If the frequencies are really low (in the range of p-pops or rumble) you could also try a high pass filter with an adjustable corner frequency.You basically will have to sacrifice some of the fullness of the guitar tone since the hand hits may be in that register.A more advanced method would be to patch an EQ in to the sidechain of a compressor. Find the offending frequency and boost it on the EQ. Then that frequency will trigger the compressor and the level of those notes will be turned down. It's a pretty tricky thing to do and requires careful setting of the compressor controls. This is basically how a de-esser works on high frequencies.It may also be possible, if you are working in a DAW to copy the track to another track that starts at exactly the same time. EQ the thumps out of the copy track and switch to it every time a thump occurs. If this is too radical, fading down (but not out) the main track and fading in (but not to full volume) the EQ'd track may work as well.If the track is going to be in a mix, depending on how full the mix is (and the music style), it often pays to thin out an acoustic guitar track anyway. The typical resonances of a guitar body tend to add mud to a fairly full mix and in certain styles, a picking acoustic guitar is more of a ringing, percussive texture anyway.If the hand hits are in time and are in a higher frequency range, maybe just change your conception of the track and call it an innovative percussive style! Some of these fixes are sure to be pretty time consuming. It may work out in the end to re-play the track and maybe find a different mic position and, of course, pick more carefully.Let us hear what you are working on and good luck,Mazz

Quote:Are the noises low frequency? If so, you can try using a narrow cut with a parametric EQ. If the frequencies are really low (in the range of p-pops or rumble) you could also try a high pass filter with an adjustable corner frequency.You basically will have to sacrifice some of the fullness of the guitar tone since the hand hits may be in that register.A more advanced method would be to patch an EQ in to the sidechain of a compressor. Find the offending frequency and boost it on the EQ. Then that frequency will trigger the compressor and the level of those notes will be turned down. It's a pretty tricky thing to do and requires careful setting of the compressor controls. This is basically how a de-esser works on high frequencies.It may also be possible, if you are working in a DAW to copy the track to another track that starts at exactly the same time. EQ the thumps out of the copy track and switch to it every time a thump occurs. If this is too radical, fading down (but not out) the main track and fading in (but not to full volume) the EQ'd track may work as well.If the track is going to be in a mix, depending on how full the mix is (and the music style), it often pays to thin out an acoustic guitar track anyway. The typical resonances of a guitar body tend to add mud to a fairly full mix and in certain styles, a picking acoustic guitar is more of a ringing, percussive texture anyway.If the hand hits are in time and are in a higher frequency range, maybe just change your conception of the track and call it an innovative percussive style! Some of these fixes are sure to be pretty time consuming. It may work out in the end to re-play the track and maybe find a different mic position and, of course, pick more carefully.Let us hear what you are working on and good luck,MazzHi Mazz,thanks very much for your suggestions,I will give them a try except maybe the percussive one! Just by way of an explanation I have been on a similar journey as Nomi and Vikki.Learning a new recording method.I have gone from 1/4 "Tape 8 Track,then 8 Track digital,16 track digital ,Garage Band,Logic Express and Finally Logic Pro 7.2.I picked the "easy one"!!It has taken me over six months to feel I am anywhere near the basics of knowing what I am doing but I felt confident enough to put up a couple of tunes to see if I could find someone to write a lyric for me.(definatly not my strong point!)I was working on a Folky kind of tune and I thought it might work as an instrumental.Until I heard the bangs and decided to ask for some help.So thanks once again.

Hi Michael,I've run the gauntlet of home recording as well so I can relate to your struggles. Stay with it and hang in there. Learning recording takes as much energy and passion as learning songwriting, composing and playing your instrument. It's another tool in the toolbox of the modern musician. As if we didn't have enough to learn and stay on top of!!!You're in good company here so don't hesitate to ask questions. I think the "Dave Walton T-shirt index" is still on an upswing so we can continue for a while longer! Mazz

Quote:I have gone from 1/4 "Tape 8 Track,then 8 Track digital,16 track digital ,Garage Band,Logic Express and Finally Logic Pro 7.2.I picked the "easy one"!!I was working on a Folky kind of tune and I thought it might work as an instrumental.Until I heard the bangs and decided to ask for some help.So thanks once again.Another Logic user Welcome back Michael11! You might be able to cut out the hand thumping sounds and then paste problem free bits from other parts of your acoustic guitar track. Unfortunately, that's a very slow and boring job, especially if there are lots of them.

Do these guys know their stuff, or what, Michael? Wow! I am going to remember that trick of boosting a frequency to get rid of it.I am a guitarist and I have played myself into this problem more than once. I think it happens to guitarists all the time--unwanted string or body noise. And of course we never want to do the part over. Right? Especially when it is a tough one.One of the values I have picked up in the studio is not to waste my own time fooling myself. I do the part over a lot more readily these days instead of eating up time trying to accept my errors. But I have also pulled off a few reasonable fixes by searching out the offending frequencies and jacking them down. If the piece is a single track, I will wait until after the mix and do the equalizing on my Masterlink where I have more detailed control than on my board. If the track is one of many that make up the piece, then I do not like affecting every track in my effort to reduce something undesireable on one track, so in that case I try to get as much of it during the mix as I can.I don't know a tenth of what Mazz (for instance) knows about recording and production, but I can tell you I have had some success with the exact problem you describe.A lot depends on how dreadful the bangs are. How much will the other tracks cover the unwanted noise? Just how difficult is the part to do over?When a guitar piece is a single track, sometimes the noises are OK even when out of time, because they sound "integral." But in a full piece I have had those bangs sound like one of the drums that is playing off time, and that you can in no way live with. I'll bet that for one bad note or off time strum you would do the entire part over in a jiffy. But for a legion of unwanted bangs you get lazy...I know exactly where you are coming from.Good luck finding a solution.

Maybe a mix of things (no pun intended) will work. Try eqing and clipping, but for the clunks that you can't eliminate or mask, maybe a punch edit will work--you only re-record a few seconds of the tune. You can also try redoing the whole track and then using the pieces from each take that sound best. That way the cool licks that you "can never do again" can be preserved and you might even do something better.

hi michael,I didn't read all the post before mine.I'm a guitarist myself and I think I know what you mean: you've hit the body of your guitar with a plectrum, so there are some "clicking" sounds on tape now.spontaneous I'd say: either cut and edit (cut out the parts with the clicks and replace them with "clean" parts from another section (but the same chord/rhythm) of the song) or re-record.hope that helps,cheers, martin

Quote:Quote:I have gone from 1/4 "Tape 8 Track,then 8 Track digital,16 track digital ,Garage Band,Logic Express and Finally Logic Pro 7.2.I picked the "easy one"!!I was working on a Folky kind of tune and I thought it might work as an instrumental.Until I heard the bangs and decided to ask for some help.So thanks once again.Another Logic user Welcome back Michael11! You might be able to cut out the hand thumping sounds and then paste problem free bits from other parts of your acoustic guitar track. Unfortunately, that's a very slow and boring job, especially if there are lots of them. Thanks Steve,hope all is well in Vangroovy.

Quote:Do these guys know their stuff, or what, Michael? Wow! I am going to remember that trick of boosting a frequency to get rid of it.I am a guitarist and I have played myself into this problem more than once. I think it happens to guitarists all the time--unwanted string or body noise. And of course we never want to do the part over. Right? Especially when it is a tough one.One of the values I have picked up in the studio is not to waste my own time fooling myself. I do the part over a lot more readily these days instead of eating up time trying to accept my errors. But I have also pulled off a few reasonable fixes by searching out the offending frequencies and jacking them down. If the piece is a single track, I will wait until after the mix and do the equalizing on my Masterlink where I have more detailed control than on my board. If the track is one of many that make up the piece, then I do not like affecting every track in my effort to reduce something undesireable on one track, so in that case I try to get as much of it during the mix as I can.I don't know a tenth of what Mazz (for instance) knows about recording and production, but I can tell you I have had some success with the exact problem you describe.A lot depends on how dreadful the bangs are. How much will the other tracks cover the unwanted noise? Just how difficult is the part to do over?When a guitar piece is a single track, sometimes the noises are OK even when out of time, because they sound "integral." But in a full piece I have had those bangs sound like one of the drums that is playing off time, and that you can in no way live with. I'll bet that for one bad note or off time strum you would do the entire part over in a jiffy. But for a legion of unwanted bangs you get lazy...I know exactly where you are coming from.Good luck finding a solution.Thanks jesse,I must admit it was a shot in the dark.As I mentioned before I was putting down the melody line for a lyricist to listen to and so I wasn't to fussy in my approach. Having listened again there are several fluffed notes and the playings out of time so it's back to the fretboard!!