Single coil pickup hum

slowcentury · Post by **slowcentury** » Sat Oct 15, 2011 5:48 pm

Hey does anyone have a good suggestion on how to minimize single coil pickup hum after it's been recorded. I have been messing around with noise/hum reducing plug ins and coming up with bunk results. Any tricks out there?

Snarl 12/8 · Post by **Snarl 12/8** » Sat Oct 15, 2011 6:25 pm

Record some and then slide it around on the timeline until it phase cancels? I've never tried that, but it's pretty steady stuff, so it might work. Also, it doesn't maybe need to be at the same volume as the original hum, i.e. sometimes you don't need to fully cancel it out, just getting rid or 10-20% can sound an order of magnitude better.

slowcentury · Post by **slowcentury** » Sat Oct 15, 2011 6:33 pm

Yeah i was kinda thinking about trying that. I only really need it for a hand full of seconds when its just the guitar on its own. Bah... why are jazzmasters so noisy!

Snarl 12/8 · Post by **Snarl 12/8** » Sat Oct 15, 2011 9:58 pm

I have no idea what the tune is like, but could you introduce just a single bass note or some other drone to mask it?

slowcentury · Post by **slowcentury** » Sun Oct 16, 2011 12:29 am

Id really rather not mask it. The band has lots of spots where the guitarist just plays solo electric stuff. Quiet stuff.

kayagum · Post by **kayagum** » Sun Oct 16, 2011 7:49 am

You need to use a noise cancelling plugin, not a noise reducing plugin. Big difference.

I use the one included in Adobe Audition and it's been a life saver for theater sound design recordings, and projects that involve restoring cassette tapes. Other programs have something similar (Reaper, even Audacity).

The key is using a plugin that uses a sample of the noise only to build a profile for the noise cancelling.

Also, search this board for many tips for reducing single coil hum at the source.

losthighway · Post by **losthighway** » Sun Oct 16, 2011 9:28 am

Is it actually noticeable when the guitar is playing, or is it just on the rests? I find most noises of this kind can be cleaned up pretty easily with cleaning up during editing, getting rid of the silent passages.

jgimbel · Post by **jgimbel** » Sun Oct 16, 2011 9:43 pm

kayagum wrote:You need to use a noise cancelling plugin, not a noise reducing plugin. Big difference.

I use the one included in Adobe Audition and it's been a life saver for theater sound design recordings, and projects that involve restoring cassette tapes. Other programs have something similar (Reaper, even Audacity).

The key is using a plugin that uses a sample of the noise only to build a profile for the noise cancelling.

Also, search this board for many tips for reducing single coil hum at the source.

Wow, I had no idea that Audition had noise cancelling/reduction tools! I record on a PC, but I've got Audition on my mac here. I'll have to give it a try. Thanks for mentioning it!

slowcentury · Post by **slowcentury** » Sun Oct 16, 2011 9:48 pm

losthighway wrote:Is it actually noticeable when the guitar is playing, or is it just on the rests? I find most noises of this kind can be cleaned up pretty easily with cleaning up during editing, getting rid of the silent passages.

Its noticeable when there is just the clean electric by its self. Which is a few key spots... Stupid Jazzmaster...

Nick Sevilla · Post by **Nick Sevilla** » Mon Oct 17, 2011 7:18 am

I say embrace the hum, it is part of the sound of that instrument.

If you must, re-record the guitar part, using a different guitar setting,or even a different guitar.

EMBRACE THE HUM.

captaincarpet · Post by **captaincarpet** » Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:03 am

I agree on embracing the hum, it's' part of the single coil sound. But I have had success with phase cancellation, I think it was hum from an organ. Record the hum and flip the phase or move it around very slightly then at least some of it should be silenced.

Snarl 12/8 · Post by **Snarl 12/8** » Tue Oct 18, 2011 8:40 am

What exactly does embrace the hum mean in the context of engineering a solo electric guitar track? +6db at 60Hz?

What would Cobain do?

Nick Sevilla · Post by **Nick Sevilla** » Tue Oct 18, 2011 8:47 am

Snarl 12/8 wrote:What exactly does embrace the hum mean in the context of engineering a solo electric guitar track? +6db at 60Hz?

What would Cobain do?

It means leave it alone. Messing with trying to phase cancel it will most likely f#%k up the actual signal of the guitar, by making the tone change, for the worst.

Hum, unless it is a pure sine wave signal, is not normally removable by 100%.

And if it does need to no be there, then the easiest way is to rerecord with a different instrument. Make the player do the work. Unless the player does not mind the hum.

To the OP : does the player hate the hum, or is it just you?

Cheers

leastward · Post by **leastward** » Tue Oct 18, 2011 10:35 am

I immediately thought to myself, "I wonder if he's playing a Jazzmaster?" and sure enough.....

I play one myself and to a large degree, it's part of the design and charm of the guitar, those are single coil pickups that are about three times as wide as a strat pickup, it's like a satellite dish grabbing all that 60 cycle hum. Plus the vintage ones have 1 Meg pots in them which are also letting even more high frequency noise through. But it also gives Jazzmasters that certain chime and sound, for better or for worse. I'd bet though that the guitarist is used to it and it probably doesn't bother him/her. If it does, then they've got the wrong guitar, or at least, pickups for the job at hand.

Also, have them face north at all times!

Nick Sevilla · Post by **Nick Sevilla** » Tue Oct 18, 2011 11:51 am

leastward wrote:I immediately thought to myself, "I wonder if he's playing a Jazzmaster?" and sure enough.....

I play one myself and to a large degree, it's part of the design and charm of the guitar, those are single coil pickups that are about three times as wide as a strat pickup, it's like a satellite dish grabbing all that 60 cycle hum. Plus the vintage ones have 1 Meg pots in them which are also letting even more high frequency noise through. But it also gives Jazzmasters that certain chime and sound, for better or for worse. I'd bet though that the guitarist is used to it and it probably doesn't bother him/her. If it does, then they've got the wrong guitar, or at least, pickups for the job at hand.

Also, have them face north at all times!

+1

Magnetic North... that is...

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Single coil pickup hum

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