What in the world is this sound and where is it coming from???

[DismalCyst]

So a couple weeks ago I made a post about guitar frequencies making the other guitar woof out or cancel out each other. Well I found the source of it by using Isotope's declick and setting it to output only... But its super weird, and If I knew where it was coming from I could prevent it next time... Or maybe you guys know how I can take just that out of the guitar? Listen... its weird. Sounds kind of like someone eating in your ear. this is just a short sample from a 5min long song.

 

 

[Maestro777]

I don't believe anyone is going to be able to say definitively what is causing the artifact but there are a couple of things that immediately come to mind which can cause those types of audio issues.

1. If the audio was recorded too hot clipping will occur. Clipping the signal will definitely cause unwanted artifacts in the audio like that

2. Depending on the source of the audio before being recorded, there could have been a bad AD conversion when the audio was taken from the guitar at the source level.

29 minutes ago, DismalCyst said:

maybe you guys know how I can take just that out of the guitar? Listen... its weird. Sounds kind of like someone eating in your ear. this is just a short sample from a 5min long song

Unfortunately the most difficult if not impossible thing to do is to remove artifacts from bad audio. I'd suggest that you use the iZotope de-click as you've already done and set the threshold to mask (remove) the unwanted sound best as possible. Or some other audio restoration plugin.

If it's possible that the sound is coming from clipping. I've found that iZotope's de-clip tool works very well and even better than the de-click tool.

Edited May 12, 2022 by Maestro777

[DismalCyst]

41 minutes ago, Maestro777 said:

I don't believe anyone is going to be able to say definitively what is causing the artifact but there are a couple of things that immediately come to mind which can cause those types of audio issues.

1. If the audio was recorded too hot clipping will occur. Clipping the signal will definitely cause unwanted artifacts in the audio like that

2. Depending on the source of the audio before being recorded, there could have been a bad AD conversion when the audio was taken from the guitar at the source level.

Unfortunately the most difficult if not impossible thing to do is to remove artifacts from bad audio. I'd suggest that you use the iZotope de-click as you've already done and set the threshold to mask (remove) the unwanted sound best as possible. Or some other audio restoration plugin.

If it's possible that the sound is coming from clipping. I've found that iZotope's de-clip tool works very well and even better than the de-click tool.

Yeah the declipping does work pretty well. But the weird thing is the guitars are pretty far away from clipping, and the noise doesnt occur unless both guitars are playing together, only distorted. They're fine clean. And ive tried a handful of different amps and it still happens no matter which amp. Two separate tracks sometimes playing separate things. Doesnt matter where on the stereo spread they are panned. 

Also, thanks for your help!

Edited May 12, 2022 by DismalCyst

[Maestro777]

29 minutes ago, DismalCyst said:

The noise doesnt occur unless both guitars are playing together, only distorted. They're fine clean. And ive tried a handful of different amps and it still happens no matter which amp. Two separate tracks sometimes playing separate things. Doesnt matter where on the stereo spread they are panned. 

Also, thanks for your help!

Are both guitar tracks feeding into the same bus where you're applying the amp? If you can play both guitar tracks to the same bus and together they're clean until you add the amp, then you may be pushing the signal into the plugin too hot. Especially if you've getting the same result using different plugins. Maybe try taking the audio down a few dB's before hitting the amp plugin and see if the problem resolves a bit.

The other possible cause would be phasing issues between the 2 guitars that becomes exaggerated and more apparent after applying the distortion. Also, IDK what type of distortion you're using but distortion will naturally introduce noise into the signal as well which can also produce unwanted artifacts.

If you're pushing the audio separately for each guitar track into it's own amp plugin, that would definitely have potential for producing some weirdness.

Sorry I don't have any other suggestions. But maybe someone else can add value to your post.

Good luck!

 

Edited May 12, 2022 by Maestro777

[triplets]

4 hours ago, DismalCyst said:

Listen... its weird.

Definitely sounds like someone is frying an egg.

What 3rd party plugins are you using on this track?

I suspect that might be your issue.

[fisherking]

that's what the output of the clicks sounds like: the more of the de-clipper you apply, the more you hear; it starts to bring in bits of the actual recording sound, not just extraneous clicks (i just used it a lot, along with other RX plugins, mixing an album of iphone-recorded piano; helped).

try processing less.

also, clicks would not cause two recorded guitars to 'cancel each other out'... 

[RobertAnthony]

I read the title and listened to the audio before reading the OP paragraph and thought "De-Clicker!" lol.

I did this same set up during a sound design session and sounded almost exactly like that. This makes me think it's just what this plugin sounds like when you put it on a clean signal and it's trying to remove pops/clicks that aren't really there.

Here is De-click slapped on the main output of a track I'm working on with "Output Clicks Only" checked, sounds almost exactly the same save for lower frequencies (I didn't mess with the Frequency Skew slider):

Edited May 12, 2022 by RobertAnthony
changed file from .aiff to .mp3 to play and be under size limit

[DismalCyst]

9 hours ago, Maestro777 said:

Are both guitar tracks feeding into the same bus where you're applying the amp? If you can play both guitar tracks to the same bus and together they're clean until you add the amp, then you may be pushing the signal into the plugin too hot.

 

6 hours ago, triplets said:

Definitely sounds like someone is frying an egg.

What 3rd party plugins are you using on this track?

I suspect that might be your issue.

I suspect it is too... The Izotope plug ins seem to cause problems more often than not. I have one guitar going thru a Neural DST Soldano and the other was also a Soldano, but ive changed it up to see if it helps to a STL Amphub amp. And then I have both of those going into a track stack thats its own bus, and the same thing for two more guitars on the other "side." And then I add more EQ to each track stack. 

 

20 minutes ago, RobertAnthony said:

I read the title and listened to the audio before reading the OP paragraph and thought "De-Clicker!" lol.

I did this same set up during a sound design session and sounded almost exactly like that. This makes me think it's just what this plugin sounds like when you put it on a clean signal and it's trying to remove pops/clicks that aren't really there.

Here is De-click slapped on the main output of a track I'm working on with "Output Clicks Only" checked, sounds almost exactly the same save for lower frequencies (I didn't mess with the Frequency Skew slider):

 

Oh yeah makes me kinda nauseaous for some reason like im on a plane except I don't get nauseaous from planes haha.

 

Also, I apologize if im not using the correct terminology on some of this stuff. Im 100% self taught. 

Edited May 12, 2022 by DismalCyst

[fisherking]

did you read my reply, above? as you increase the amount of de-clipping, some of the source sound (ie a guitar) gets added in; ie percussive bits of it, making that awful eating sound.

[DismalCyst]

51 minutes ago, fisherking said:

did you read my reply, above? as you increase the amount of de-clipping, some of the source sound (ie a guitar) gets added in; ie percussive bits of it, making that awful eating sound.

Ah sorry I missed it! Im not even entirely sure its clicks thats causing it. Its like this low end WOOF sound, but if I take out that part of the frequency where the woof is occurring, like say the low end, it still happens if that makes sense? Ill post a clip of it when I get home, I should have done that in the first place haha. Thanks for your help!