Electrostatic hiss when recording

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

So I'm trying to lay down some guitar and bass tracks onto my computer using Audacity. I have my guitar going into an FX pedal, from the pedal into the Amp's input and out the Amp via line out into the input of my Edirol UA-20 sound card. The problem is I get loads of ugly electrical hissy noise coming through when I record and if I layer more than one track it gets unbearable. Any ideas how I can stop this? It's a pain!

― the next grozart, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 13:19 (eighteen years ago)

is it ground hum?

― TOMBOT, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 16:19 (eighteen years ago)

Audacity should be able to get rid of single-freq hum pretty decently with the noise reduction feature

― TOMBOT, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 16:19 (eighteen years ago)

Is the noise louder on either the left or right side, or the same on both?

― John Justen, Wednesday, 18 April 2007 16:36 (eighteen years ago)

i don't think so. i spoke to someone in the know and they said they always had trouble with line out from guitar amps and i'd be better to mic up the amp instead - any truth behind this?

― the next grozart, Thursday, 19 April 2007 00:21 (eighteen years ago)

Possibility one: You're probably plugging a mono out into a stereo in, which is why I asked if the hum/hiss was mostly on one side. Some computer line ins deal with this better than others.

The next possibility is that something in you chain is causing the issue. Try plugging the guitar directly into the amp with your current set up. If the noise goes away, it's either the pedal or the non-used cord. If it doesn't, start subbing cords until the noise goes away.

What sort of FX pedal is it? Does it have a line out (marked specifically as such)?

― John Justen, Thursday, 19 April 2007 00:32 (eighteen years ago)

I just GISed a picture of the box

http://www.modernbeats.com/images/edirol_ua-20_diag.jpg

Mono input, line, instrument, mic level switchable preamp

Could it be an impedance matching problem. Sticking high impedance into line level will sound wrong. Try switching the preamp to inst level and playing with the gain.

This is an extension to what JJ says.

If that does not work try and founf out where the his comes from.

Plug something else into the UA-20, something you know is clean and check for hiss there.

Then just the guitar (definitely at inst impedance)

Then just the pedal (also at inst impedance)

Then the Amp

and then the combos of each and try an establish what or which combo is producing the noise.

You may want to set your guitar amp differently from how you would if you were playing live.

― Ed, Thursday, 19 April 2007 09:27 (eighteen years ago)

Sounds like an impedence problem to me. Get a DI box.

― libcrypt, Friday, 20 April 2007 02:14 (eighteen years ago)

thanks!

i still get the noise whether i use a guitar amp or bass amp - with or without the pedal. plugging a cheap £10 mic into it doesn't create too much hiss though. No amount of fiddling with EQ's, Reverb, Gain or Presence seems to make the hiss go away. I think it's the amp. It does hiss a little bit and I think the card is amplifying the hiss and reinterpreting in a horrible way. What is a DI Box? How do I change the preamp?

― the next grozart, Friday, 20 April 2007 08:57 (eighteen years ago)

― Ed, Friday, 20 April 2007 12:56 (eighteen years ago)

A DI box converts between impedences, usually from line level to mic level. A proper DI box doesn't have power polluted by nearby "dirty" electronics unrelated to its function. You can get one for under $50, and it's a worthwhile purchase.

― libcrypt, Saturday, 21 April 2007 02:35 (eighteen years ago)

One nice bennie of a DI box is that you can put all the cable into balanced, rather than unbalanced lengths, which gives you a lot greater noise-free range.

― libcrypt, Saturday, 21 April 2007 02:36 (eighteen years ago)

You have, in theory a DI box in your roland box. To change the preamp impedance, use the input select switch, next to the L(Mono) input. With it set to guitar you should be able to plug straight in to the box.

That's how it was set, unfortunately. Can anyone recommend a half-decent DI that won't be too expensive?

― the next grozart, Sunday, 22 April 2007 12:55 (eighteen years ago)

Also, I have managed to salvage one of these from a breakup: http://www.zzounds.com/item--ART127

My question is, what is it for and will I ever need it in my home recording?

― the next grozart, Sunday, 22 April 2007 13:01 (eighteen years ago)

A Rapco passive DI should be around $35, and ought to do everything you need it to.

Wait, the switch was set to "guitar" when you were using the line out? Because if so, that's your problem. Guitar level and line level are v. different.

― John Justen, Sunday, 22 April 2007 17:18 (eighteen years ago)

yes. what should it be set to? line? oh it's so obvious now!

― the next grozart, Monday, 23 April 2007 09:00 (eighteen years ago)

There are at least 3 commonly used impedences: line, mic, and instrument (guitar). (There may be more, but this is what I've seen.) The impedence settings should be the same on both ends of the cable. I dunno what yr sound card does, but it's probably line or mic.

― libcrypt, Monday, 23 April 2007 16:41 (eighteen years ago)

No, input impedance should be around 10x output impedance. Guitars have all kind of output impedances depending on pickup and preamp. Anything from around 5-10 kOhm for some, up to 50kOhm for basses and as much as 1 MOhm for some acoustic pickup. Generally there is not too much of a problem going into a higher impedance than necessary but lower and you are not going to get the full tonal range. (My stompbox preamp for the mandolin has a 10 MOhm input impedance but the output impedance on it is probably around .5 MOhm so the multiplier is around 20)

good workshop on impedance from sound on sound

― Ed, Monday, 23 April 2007 18:56 (eighteen years ago)

Ed, that isn't in reference to the "line out" needing to go into "line in" distinction I was making, was it?

― John Justen, Monday, 23 April 2007 19:08 (eighteen years ago)

Not really, More in reference to lybcrypt saying 'he impedence settings should be the same on both ends of the cable', which is ambiguous. Yes line should go to line, mic to mic and guitar to guitar. However there will be no harm in going into too high an impedance, (line to mic or guitar, mic to guitar) however going down (eg. guitar to line) will sound shit.

― Ed, Monday, 23 April 2007 21:31 (eighteen years ago)

When I mismatch the impedance on my Mbox with a mic, guitar, or line, either up or down, the signal is either distorted or basically nonexistent. Other devices I've used are a little more tolerant than that, but it really pays to match them up: There is no such thing as a linear amplifier, so if you aren't careful with yr audio chain, you'll wind up with a funhouse version of yr original signal.

― libcrypt, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 05:54 (eighteen years ago)

one month passes...

ok, i've plugged it into the line in now. it records very quietly and when i amplify it in soundforge I still get hiss. It's not as bad as before though.

I think a lot of the hiss may be being produced by the guitar amp itself. It's always made a bit of noise. But all amps must do this surely?

I spoke to someone about this problem and they said they'd always had this problem and one way to fix it is to record the guitar through a mic placed tactically close to the amp. This seems fine if recording my bass guitar, but still sounds crap with a normal electric.

― the next grozart, Tuesday, 19 June 2007 23:40 (seventeen years ago)

http://www.midi-classics.com/i/p17277.jpg

― libcrypt, Wednesday, 20 June 2007 03:56 (seventeen years ago)

sorry if this has been said, but quick things

- single coil pickups will pick up noise from everywhere

- most line outs from amps are a little bit noisy anyway

- it could be dodgy cables, they arnt balanced

its hard to tell from the type of noise. one way is to use a noise reduction tool.

find a bit in the recording where its just the noise, you can then capture the profile of this noise from within the plugin, then apply the noise reduction to the whole file. if the noise is minimal it shouldn't affect the guitar tone too much.

aside from that, line outs on amp generally sound shit! if you can get hold of a shure sm57 or 58, mic with that, very close to the speaker, move around to get the tone you want, you can then build some sort cushion 'den' for your amp to live in while you record. you'll get way better results.

― clocker, Friday, 22 June 2007 19:15 (seventeen years ago)

push the amp a fair bit and turn the gain on the mic down, if you can stick the amp in another room and monitor thru speakers/headphones that helps in getting the right sound too.

― clocker, Friday, 22 June 2007 19:16 (seventeen years ago)

thanks. i might give the mic + amp thing another whirl.

― the next grozart, Thursday, 28 June 2007 02:56 (seventeen years ago)

i'm trying to record straight into the mic input on my laptop (keyboard - fx pedal - mic input, i know i shoukd have a firewire or whatever), the laptop doesn't have a battery so it is constantly running on ac and when i turn my stereo up there is a feint screachy electrostatic noise that i assume is coming from the power pack. when i record into ableton this becomes amplified to horrible levels. my four track sounds better. will a DI box sort this?

― creme1, Tuesday, 3 July 2007 22:26 (seventeen years ago)

I have the exact same soundcard as pictured above on 19 April 2007, and I've always been astonished by the amount of noise it makes.

― Eyeball Kicks, Wednesday, 4 July 2007 00:33 (seventeen years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.