Keep the Fat, Lose the Buzz

[Pink Unicorn Horsey]

The title of this thread makes it seem like I'll looking for all the wrong things. Read on, knowledgeable guitarist...

I often hear clips of people demoing high gain amps, pedals, etc. and can't ignore the annoying buzz/hum inherent in those things (i.e., the buzz you hear even when the guitar's volume is up all the way but no notes are playing). However, if I listen to just about any professional -- or even semi-professional -- recording of a high-gain tone, there's no buzz. GENIUS!!! How do they do that? (BTW, I even hear it when someone's using a humbucker.)

The real question is this: How do you get fat drive/crunch without the annoying buzz?

- Keith

 

[greendy123]

Re: Keep the Fat, Lose the Buzz

I think all that is done through processing after recording.

 

[Pink Unicorn Horsey]

Re: Keep the Fat, Lose the Buzz

So I guess my next question, if that is the case, is this: What's the post-recording process that removes the buzz? Seems like it's probably something rather complex.

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: Keep the Fat, Lose the Buzz

It's easy, just get a noise gate. The whole premise behind them is simple . . . a noise gate allows the signal past once it's stronger than a certain threshold. If the threshold is greater than the noise coming out of your guitar, then it eliminates the noise. Since the guitar playing signal is so much louder than the noise, when you play guitar the signal goes through and you can hear it.

 

[Pink Unicorn Horsey]

Re: Keep the Fat, Lose the Buzz

But in doing that you run the risk of losing the sustained note.

 

[SFW]

Re: Keep the Fat, Lose the Buzz

Clean power = no buzz.

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: Keep the Fat, Lose the Buzz

But in doing that you run the risk of losing the sustained note.

Not really . . . the buzz that you get in the background when you add gain is usually well below the level that a note is played on a decent guitar. Gain also adds a form of compression to your guitar signal which adds sustain. As long as you put your gain before the noise gate, then you shouldn't have a problem with sustain. Of course, if your gain is so high that you can't hear your playing over the noise, then you'ld probably do better to just turn down the guitar - that amount of gain at playing volumes would just result in endless uncontrollable feedback anyway.

 

[drpietrzak]

Re: Keep the Fat, Lose the Buzz

I wish the noise gate were the answer. But, it seems to me it is not in most cases. It appears to be a part of the gain structure or a guitar amp. For some it is more pronounced than others. Some have called it graininess, others have referred to it as fizz.

Some amps, like my Genz Benz, have far less of it than others. It is a smooth singing gain structure. But there is still some. It appears that the process is some sort of eq or notch filter (another form of eq) to me. It is why rolling of the treble some and playing on the neck pup seems to cut a fair bit of it to me.

 

[muttonchopsrule]

Re: Keep the Fat, Lose the Buzz

on recordings, it's also very easy to simply edit out parts of a track where there is no playing going on, and when silence is desired. noise gates also play an important role as well.

as far as keeping an amp quiet to your ears, make sure it's got fresh tubes of good quality that are nice and quiet.

 

[Danglin' Fury]

Re: Keep the Fat, Lose the Buzz

I have a Peavey JSX and , to me, the high gain channel sounded kind of buzzy/grainy. Then I put a Behringer parametric eq in the loop and after a few minutes of tweaking, NO buzz and super smooth high gain bliss!!!:bowdown:
p.s. It's pretty much the same as a notch filter and yes, it sounds amazing live and LOUD!

 

[muttonchopsrule]

Re: Keep the Fat, Lose the Buzz

guys- i think he's talking about amp noise, like the quiet buzz that you hear when the strings are muted on the gain channel of any typical high gain amp. not bumble bee/grainy properties in the gain structure.

 

[Pink Unicorn Horsey]

Re: Keep the Fat, Lose the Buzz

guys- i think he's talking about amp noise, like the quiet buzz that you hear when the strings are muted on the gain channel of any typical high gain amp. not bumble bee/grainy properties in the gain structure.

DING! Exactly.

 

[ParameterMan]

Re: Keep the Fat, Lose the Buzz

The best way to kill buzz in a live setting is to use a frequency sensitive gate side-chained pre distortion. Like this: http://www.isptechnologies.com/decimatorprorack.htm . It gates and filters post distortion, while triggering from the clean input. That means the gate never opens for noise produced and amplified by the distortion. You can then set the gate lower. It'll stay open longer when you're holding a note, but always close on the buzz.

In the studio, if they're recording digitally, it's easy to process the track with a high tech adaptive strip silence noise eliminator thingy that acts like a super smart noise gate that only kills certain frequencies and can "look ahead" and open for notes that are coming.

 

[Pink Unicorn Horsey]

Re: Keep the Fat, Lose the Buzz

The best way to kill buzz in a live setting is to use a frequency sensitive gate side-chained pre distortion. Like this: http://www.isptechnologies.com/decimatorprorack.htm . It gates and filters post distortion, while triggering from the clean input. That means the gate never opens for noise produced and amplified by the distortion. You can then set the gate lower. It'll stay open longer when you're holding a note, but always close on the buzz.

In the studio, if they're recording digitally, it's easy to process the track with a high tech adaptive strip silence noise eliminator thingy that acts like a super smart noise gate that only kills certain frequencies and can "look ahead" and open for notes that are coming.

This looks like a pretty amazing product. Do you use one?

 

[ParameterMan]

Re: Keep the Fat, Lose the Buzz

No. :yell: I haven't been able to justify getting one...yet.

I suppose one could get close with any sidechainable gate and a parametric eq. Or a gate that has a frequency control on the sidechain. Just set it up to not open for 4k.