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Filter Electrical Humm?


Johnbee58

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I wrote a piece of music about 10 years ago and recorded it on a different DAW than Cakewalk.  Part of the project was an electric bass track by somebody else who sent it to me by YouSendIt or some other service like that.  Anyway, his bass obviously wasn't grounded properly and there is much electrical humm in it.  I don't remember how I filtered it out on my original mix but I just dug up the original wav files the other day and I would like to do a remix using CbB.  I have other alternatives for the bass track such as doing my own remake of it in Trilian or using the original bass part I came up with using some cheap bass plug in at the time, but I'd like to use my friends bass part because sans the humm, it's really good.  Any suggestions on how to filter out the humm?  Noise gate, HPF?  Hopefully something in CbB because I really don't feel like buying a plugin just for one tune.

Thanks in advance for all suggestions.

😀John B

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I've found using a simple filter or eq plugin can work, with a very narrow eq. Basically knock out everything at 50Hz (or 60Hz if you're in the US). 

The free Melda MEqualizer is perfect for this.

With bass however, it can get tricky... you may need to add automation to bring some of it back in on certain notes (low Bb / B for 60Hz)  so you don't get quiet spots. If the bass doesn't have a low B, you might be fine tho.

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8 minutes ago, msmcleod said:

I've found using a simple filter or eq plugin can work, with a very narrow eq. Basically knock out everything at 50Hz (or 60Hz if you're in the US). 

+1

You might even be able to narrow down the frequency using the QC EQ (Pro Channel)./

Just set a very narrow notch and start sweeping. Mark has the sweet spots above (50-60 cycle) but I find with active Basses, it's higher.

50-60 is what I typically see in "Stratocasters". Single coil pick ups.

 

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3 minutes ago, Chuck E Baby said:

+1

You might even be able to narrow down the frequency using the QC EQ (Pro Channel)./

Just set a very narrow notch and start sweeping. Mark has the sweet spots above (50-60 cycle) but I find with active Basses, it's higher.

50-60 is what I typically see in "Stratocasters". Single coil pick ups.

 

I used to get this a lot with old  CRT monitors and laptops.

I ended up having to turn CRT monitors off during recording, or in the case of laptops run them on batteries.

In either case, moving well away from the PC helped tremendously.

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1 minute ago, msmcleod said:

I used to get this a lot with old  CRT monitors and laptops.

I ended up having to turn CRT monitors off during recording, or in the case of laptops run them on batteries.

In either case, moving well away from the PC helped tremendously.

Thanks, Marc, but this track is already recorded (as a matter of fact, my collaborator was a guy named Marc 😉).  The humm is on the track, so the only thing I can do is filter it out.

🙂

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Filters also attenuate the desire signal, so noise reduction that can capture a noise print (part of the file that has nothing but noise in it) and then removing that from the entire file (as long as it is consistent noise and not transient-based) is the most effective. The two best option for this are Audition and RX, both of which are not free. Audactity and ReaFIR are both free, but do not do quite the same thing.

  1. Is there a portion of that file that does not have bass notes in it?
  2. Is that hum consistent in the file?

If yes to both and you are willing to post the file, someone with Audition or RX can address it (if you can post the link here). If desired, you can also send me a PM with a link and I can do it after the sun goes down today.

As an aside, the Capture Noise Print/Noise Reduction is an effective tool for any audio recording, but requires a portion of the file to be "just ambient/environmental." For that reason, I will record lead in/out portions of an audio file if I have environmental noise. As long as you have the tools that can remove it properly, it saves a lot of time in catching ideas on the fly (particularly microphones) and recover them to a condition that can be subsequently used. I kept a file from years ago that had -40 dB of fireplace noise in it that got slightly louder over the 90 second recording (I do not noise gate above -55 dB in most cases). Audition removed that so impressively that my workflow has relied on this since. This has also been an ongoing Feature Request for years to have included in SONAR/CbB.

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@Mandolin PickerI must have used something, but it was 10 years ago and I did things much differently then so I haven't a clue how I muted it.  Until I listened to the track this morning I totally forgot about the humm.  I listened to the original mix and it isn't bad but I can't stand to listen to it anymore because I pickled everything in reverb, as was my habit back then.  Sounded great then, but I can't stand it now.  I did a preliminary mix today and it sounded better without so much verb.

@mettelusActually, I'm seriously considering just remaking the bass part (and the drum part) because again, I don't remember what I used, but what I have now will sound so much better.  My bassist was also a bit off key and off time.  I'm considering trying Melodyne to correct these but if it turns out to be too much I'll just remake it. He was a great guitarist/bassist but I lost track of him years ago.

😀

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On ‎11‎/‎2‎/‎2019 at 7:35 AM, Johnbee58 said:

... I really don't feel like buying a plugin just for one tune.

😀John B

I would strongly consider talking yourself into investing in iZotope RX.

I've tried notch filter solutions, which only manage to make the hum a little less annoying while doing major damage to the signal you want to keep.  When used properly, RX can make the noise just go away.

Once I had it in my toolbox, I found that I was using it ALL THE TIME, just as an audio editor since the frequency spectrum display makes it so easy to see and identify events in your audio.

The Elements version might work for you, since it has a De-hum feature, but I've found that the Spectral Repair in the Standard version does a much better job (since De-hum is just another notch filter).

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5 minutes ago, dantarbill said:

I would strongly consider talking yourself into investing in iZotope RX.

I've tried notch filter solutions, which only manage to make the hum a little less annoying while doing major damage to the signal you want to keep.  When used properly, RX can make the noise just go away.

Once I had it in my toolbox, I found that I was using it ALL THE TIME, just as an audio editor since the frequency spectrum display makes it so easy to see and identify events in your audio.

The Elements version might work for you, since it has a De-hum feature, but I've found that the Spectral Repair in the Standard version does a much better job (since De-hum is just another notch filter).

Thanks so much.  It's been addressed and taken care of.  I don't play electric guitar so It was only an issue with one song from years ago that came from a guy who did a track for me.

🙂JB

 

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