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A rant on the hiss that's in so many orchestral libraries.

Ned Bouhalassa

Ned Bouhalassa

Senior Member
I actually have been using Logic’s new Pultec EQ to boost the highs in my string libraries, to compensate for hiss-reduction by the developers. Let us remember that reducing hiss also reduces some of the instrument’s sparkle. Does it add noise? Yes. Do I prefer the overall result? Yes!
 
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Polkasound

Polkasound

Senior Member
Ned Bouhalassa said:
Let us remember that reducing hiss also reduces some of the instrument’s sparkle.
Click to expand...

This kind of reminds me of cassette tapes and Dolby noise reduction. Even though commercial releases were typically encoded in Dolby, I (and everyone I knew back then) never engaged it on cassette decks. I preferred to let the music play wide open, hiss and everything, to get all the sparkle.
 
Daniel James

Daniel James

A Nice Guy
Haha just write awesome music. Unless it sounds like someone is blasting a white noise machine, the people listening don't give a fuck about noise, if the music is awesome.

Life has white noise in it, we are used to it. Focus on the music and a lot of these issues just fade away. If its still getting to you, try bringing up the reverb a little. Realistic noise on instruments really makes some reverbs sing.

Then again a lot of my music is made with horribly recorded metal scrapes and hitting washing machines so I am used to it, if it works people usually don't care beyond that. From my experience at least.

Either way, just have more fun with it :)

-DJ
 
Nick Batzdorf

Nick Batzdorf

Moderator
Moderator
Hiss actually makes the music sound brighter.

Seriously, try adding a tiny bit of white or pink noise with a test oscillator plug-in and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Logic's test oscillator can do that, for example.
 
OP
H

Headlands

Active Member
Thread starter
  • Thread Starter
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  • #67
Daniel James said:
Haha just write awesome music. Unless it sounds like someone is blasting a white noise machine, the people listening don't give a fuck about noise, if the music is awesome.

Life has white noise in it, we are used to it. Focus on the music and a lot of these issues just fade away. If its still getting to you, try bringing up the reverb a little. Realistic noise on instruments really makes some reverbs sing.

Then again a lot of my music is made with horribly recorded metal scrapes and hitting washing machines so I am used to it, if it works people usually don't care beyond that. From my experience at least.

Either way, just have more fun with it :)

-DJ
Click to expand...

I always have fun. This thread has nothing to do with that! :)
 
robgb

robgb

I was young once
Are you talking about bow noise or room sound? The only noise I've really encountered is on the tails of certain libraries when you can hear the room hum pretty clearly if you're wearing headphones and you turn the volume up pretty high. But in a mix it's barely noticeable, and certainly doesn't mar a recording. If you're getting it on very quiet passages, welcome to the world of recording.
 
kmaster

kmaster

Sleepy Member
robgb said:
Are you talking about bow noise or room sound? The only noise I've really encountered is on the tails of certain libraries when you can hear the room hum pretty clearly if you're wearing headphones and you turn the volume up pretty high. But in a mix it's barely noticeable, and certainly doesn't mar a recording. If you're getting it on very quiet passages, welcome to the world of recording.
Click to expand...
I'm not the OP, but I'd say neither. For example, I posted this last year in another thread:

kmaster said:
Here is a test I made few months back when I was having a similar discussion with a friend. It's CSS, but the problem exists in CSSS also.

CSS Hiss Test

It's the same two notes from the Mix, Tree, and Close mics, respectively. As you'll hear, the first two have a good bit of hiss, and the last one does not (at least not nearly to that same noticeable level).
Click to expand...

I believe this is the sort of hiss being discussed here.
 
Nick Batzdorf

Nick Batzdorf

Moderator
Moderator
kmaster said:
Mix, Tree, and Close mics, respectively. As you'll hear, the first two have a good bit of hiss, and the last one does not
Click to expand...

...for obvious reasons.

(I haven't even read the beginning of this thread, so I don't know what library we're talking about - just saying.)
 
Jeremy Spencer

Jeremy Spencer

Senior Member
kmaster said:
ell that to the clients. I’ve had them complain about that exact hiss.
Click to expand...

Actually, I had this complaint recently, and the only time I've had such a complaint. It was from using CS2! I loved this library at first, but the noise level is so bad that they are virtually unusable for final renderings.
 
X-Bassist

X-Bassist

Senior Member
chibear said:
After following this thread from the beginning, the question remains in my head (and at the user end, not the developer BTW) "Why not just EQ to attenuate or eliminate the problem completely?" My thinking may be a bit naive, but if you are hearing the hiss then it is either above the upper partials of the note or has wiped them out. Either way it can go IF it bothers you. Why should devs keep it? Because one person's poison is another's spice.
Click to expand...

Because most noise is broadband, meaning most of the high end would need to be taken out to get the noise out, or at least attenuated. Yes, putting a low pass filter on it might get rid of the noise, but a muffled sound is never ideal.

A hum or specific frequency noise could be fixed this way, but I have yet to hear a sample library with this problem. As with most noise, removing or reducing the source of the noise is the best way (and sometimes the only way) to remove it without affecting the instrument’s sound. (Even RX7 leaves behind frequency phasing).
 
robgb

robgb

I was young once
kmaster said:
Tell that to the clients. I’ve had them complain about that exact hiss.
Click to expand...
They must have superhuman ears, then. A couple of clients complaining does not make it a genuine problem. I mean, seriously, I've been mixing and recording for forty years and if you or they think this is hiss, you clearly haven't heard REAL hiss.
 
Nick Batzdorf

Nick Batzdorf

Moderator
Moderator
I'm surprised no audio nerds here have chimed in on what I wrote above - that hiss actually makes the recording sound brighter, so much so that some engineers actually *added* it to early digital recordings!

In other words, you might be surprised that you actually miss the hiss.
 
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