Avoid sliding sound during recordings?

[Baron Von Vik]

Those producers were smart people indeed. Can you imagine this without the sliding noises? It makes the song feel more intimate, somehow.

What a great video concept. You know, I still need to pay them for that In Rainbows cd...

I used to try to eq out string noise, but over time, somehow I just ended up making less... Now, it's kind of cool and surprising when it happens.

 

[Gearhead17]

I would not worry about string noise if I were you. There is a great quote where someone said a good bass track will sound like there is someone working on a buick in the background. In other words all of the extra noises like fret buzz string noises etc add the the overall sound rather than take away. Also when you add in drums, 2 guitars, vocals, keyboards, and other instruments your sliding noises will be buried in the background.

That quote was possibly from Chuck Rainey. I think I read the same article you did and remembered it just like that.

 

[lowfreq33]

Finger noise just means a human played it. Nobody will notice it, but it adds to the track in a cumulative way. Leave it be.

 

[pauliebass]

I just went through this ordeal with one of my brighter basses. I love flats but that's not what I wanted for this bass. I also didn't really dig the flatwound B string for various reasons. Elixirs were the answer for me. The scraping noise is still there but I find it subdued just enough that it is totally manageable.

 

[zatan130]

So flatwounds still make the noise, but it's not IN YOUR FACE scraping and such.

But the thing is...I really normally like roundwounds. It's just for glissandos in pop/funk that they get annoying. For metal, classic rock and especially punk, the scraping is usually fine.

Do I need two basses? Or what about groundwounds or pressurewounds?
Supposedly they're a nice a middle ground, right?

 

[zatan130]

Oh, Elixirs, huh? I might try those.

The other thing is I only use heavy gauge because I really like the tension and feel. Could this be a source of the problem?

I'm gonna spend a fortune on strings. It's interesting that I never spent 5 minutes on strings for my Ovation balladeer. Bass is just that much more finnicky, I guess.

 

[dougjwray]

Not true in my experience. You've got controls on your bass as well as on your amp or recording rig for a reason. If you get a sound that is working on a recording, no matter how achieve it, nothing else really matters.

What I meant was that the recording engineers' rule of thumb has been that it's better to: 1) capture all the highs when recording, and, during the mixing process, roll off the ones you don't want, than to: 2) try to add those highs, during the mixing process, to a bass track that was recorded without them.

 

[Flaggus]

Tone Finger-Ease spray works really well in cutting down string noise in a recording session while keeping the basic sound of the instrument intact. While I've found it does kill some of the brightness of strings, if your starting out with steel strings, mellowing them slightly is a good thing IMO. The guitarists I work with use it when strings are approaching their end of life (i.e. after a week of playing for them).

As mentioned however, some string noise is good to make a recorded part sound real. Otherwise, play a keyboad.

Tone Finger-Ease | Sweetwater.com

 

[Bassplayer222]

Turn the tone knob down.

 

[saxnbass]

When the bass is soloed, you will probably hear the string noise, however it's rare that you'll hear it all that much in the overall mix.

If you're still having an issue with string noise in your overall mix, here are two pretty standard ways of going about this without going to flat wounds.

1) Proper EQing technique can cut down on a lot of string noise while still keeping your tone in tact.

2) You can duplicate the bass track, then automate the volume or cut it up so the duplicated track only has the string noise. Then flip the phase on the duplicate track that you cut up.

 

[chaosMK]

This topic comes up all of the time.

Just punch in or use a synth everywhere where there is a potential sliding noise.

 

[hernameisrio]

Well, if you're in the studio and have access to it, there IS a plug-in made by Izotope that allows you to scrub through each frequency in a waveform and clean it up...

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I saw the engineer use it once on a session but it was my first day assisting at that studio and I had so many other things on my mind, I forgot to ask exactly what it was!

 

[Ric5]

So flatwounds still make the noise, but it's not IN YOUR FACE scraping and such.

Flatwounds make that clicking noise ... I hate that sound.

 

[darius8]

I read somewhere that Roco Prestia used hand lotion before a show.

 

[maxiegrant]

I definitely would look to fix it in the mix. Bass doesn't need as much treble as you imagine it does to still sound bright. And the sound of fingers scraping on strings is up there in the 5-10k range mostly. The distracting part, that is. Just dampen it up there and the rest of the mix should eat what remains.

 

[Groove Doctor]

I'm surprised no one has suggested a parametric EQ or notch filter.
+1 for finger ease.
Oh, and some of the best takes I've recorded sounded messy soloed but plenty of compliments when in the mix (good messy, not bad messy)

Critical listening - it's helpful to know when to turn it off.

 

[saxnbass]

1) Proper EQing technique can cut down on a lot of string noise while still keeping your tone in tact.

2) You can duplicate the bass track, then automate the volume or cut it up so the duplicated track only has the string noise. Then flip the phase on the duplicate track that you cut up.

I'm surprised no one has suggested a parametric EQ or notch filter.

 

[grendle]

Try some fast fret. Helps that a lot and makes the strings a little slick. Keeps them cleaner too.

 

[mcblahflooper94]

Listen to the first like five seconds of White Limo by Foo Fighters, it does sound really really cool in my opinion.

 

[Bredian]

Found a couple of videos that hint it and confirm a hunch.... Paul was playing piano, George played a 6 string Fender Jag type bass that was present in many of the later videos when Paul wasn't playing bass.