Recording Debris. Is it OK to leave it?

Sorry about the title but I don't know what it's called and how to search for it.
Anyway, you know when you're recording in Multitrack and you say do a vocal (Or whatever) and you arm the track and record a little bit before and after the actual event but it's only a bit of low debris which is at -75 Hz.
Does this need cleaned up (Faded in and out) or will it ultimately affect the overall quality of the finished song if left?

Mark

Sorry about the title but I don't know what it's called and how to search for it.
Anyway, you know when you're recording in Multitrack and you say do a vocal (Or whatever) and you arm the track and record a little bit before and after the actual event but it's only a bit of low debris which is at -75 Hz.
Does this need cleaned up (Faded in and out) or will it ultimately affect the overall quality of the finished song if left?

Mark

Depends on the prominence of the track, FX (compression? gate?), etc.  But since it takes like 2 seconds per track to select and use my MUTE PROCESS key combo, I do it as a matter of course.  You never know when something might get through unnoticed.

But since it takes like 2 seconds per track to select and use my MUTE PROCESS key combo

I'd be interested to know about this. In previous songs I've painstakingly faded in/out each and every piece of recording and I'm sure you know how tedious this is. I didn't do it with my latest song recorded in AA v2 and it seemed fine.
It's just if i was able to get my stuff processed for CD output, would the normal Joe hear this stuff on his rig.

Mark

I'd be interested to know about this. In previous songs I've painstakingly faded in/out each and every piece of recording and I'm sure you know how tedious this is. I didn't do it with my latest song recorded in AA v2 and it seemed fine.
It's just if i was able to get my stuff processed for CD output, would the normal Joe hear this stuff on his rig.

Chances are that the average listener wouldn't hear it, unless it was at the start or end of the whole track. But that said, it's sloppy practice not to trim the detritus, and with 'exposed' acoustic material it is usually audible, and quite unwelcome.

But since it takes like 2 seconds per track to select and use my MUTE PROCESS key combo

I'd be interested to know about this. In previous songs I've painstakingly faded in/out each and every piece of recording and I'm sure you know how tedious this is.

Mark

If you set up a key combo (mine's CTRL-SHIFT-M), just select everything before the entrance (and after the exit, or whatever you want to cut in between) and hit the combo.  Takes a couple seconds.  I don't do fades on these; just mutes to get my grumblings or "pitch verifications" outta there.  

Steve's right that it often doesn't matter.  But 6 tracks of backing vocal punched in with a light footswitch click or button press at the same point can add up to audible.

If it's anything that bleeds into the start of what counts, either in effects or dry, I tidy things up during the mix.  Otherwise I trim up the ends up when I take the mixdown track and set it up for the final CD tracks.

If it's anything that bleeds into the start of what counts, either in effects or dry, I tidy things up during the mix. Otherwise I trim up the ends up when I take the mixdown track and set it up for the final CD tracks.

Indeed, Karl, I would do this myself, it's just in the song body or periods of silence I would do this as per Steves reply

Chances are that the average listener wouldn't hear it, unless it was at the start or end of the whole track. But that said, it's sloppy practice not to trim the detritus, and with 'exposed' acoustic material it is usually audible, and quite unwelcome

If you set up a key combo (mine's CTRL-SHIFT-M), just select everything before the entrance (and after the exit, or whatever you want to cut in between) and hit the combo

Ahh! i get it know, like shortcut keys(wasn't sure what combo meant) and mute the selected. I was fading(envelope) this 'cos I didn't want abrupt intro and outro and sometimes I liked the suck of breath sounding out in the song.  Manly sounding
With guitar etc I wouldn't dream of leaving anything at all 'cos who wants to hear you turning up the volume before playing?

Mark

This reminds me of a kinda cool trick I use once in awhile.

Once in awhile, for certain kinds of tunes I use the "no headphones" method of recording vox. That is: when tracking I just have the music playing through the monitors, so when I record the vox, there's a lot of bleed, and plenty of the music gets picked up on the vocal track. Makes after-the-fact nudging/pitch-tuning/etc. very difficult.

Anyway, at first I would meticulously fade the vox in and out between phrases so the music in the background of the vocal track wouldn't show up. But I discovered that by leaving it in, it provided a very slight, barely perceptible volume swell in the music that gave it a very cool, "live" feel. Kinda like the band gets a little louder between vocal phrases, rather than just lumbering along at the same dynamic level the whole time.

Likewise, I discovered that in general, leaving in *some* background noise - an amp buzzing, the dog barking next door - can really make the thing sound more "live". However you gotta know where to draw the line. And it definitely depends on what kind of material you're doing.

Chris