So.... A lot of guys who work with midi spend hours trying to add squeaks and fret noise in the proper places to make it sound more realistic.


The easiest way I can think of to eliminate the noise you don't want is to use volume envelopes on the track. Zooming in helps. That makes the squeaks and fret noise easier to see and isolate. The TWO ways I would do this, and both involve reducing the noise, are muting and volume control.

I often do this in my DAW, simply because it's easier to do there.

An envelope is my go to. First, add a volume envelope to the track. When the noise appears.... simply zoom in to see the noise in the bar.... then drop three nodes.... one immediately before, one immediately after, and one on the peak. Pull the peak down. This method allows you to keep some of the noise, as the noise does in fact add realism to the track. However, by pulling the peak down, you have reduced the level substantially. If you want it gone... use 4 nodes and pull it out start to finish. Again zoom in... drop two nodes before and two nodes after. Pull the center down. Since most of the squeaks and fret noise are very short duration events.... milliseconds in most cases, the loss of the track audio is not even audible for that event. You can also use a "process audio"... "mute" event for the same purpose. Drag through the event in a DAW and mute it.


This is also really good to use for lip smacks, and breath noises in vocal tracks as well as anything else that clicks or pops in a track that needs to be removed.



Once you get the hang of working in this way, you can literally clean up a track in a matter of just a few minutes.

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www.herbhartley.com
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