Bleeding instruments into other tracks?

[theCKWilliams]

o.k. when recording bass lines for my latest project, I noticed that there is a bit (very audible) bleed through from the tracks i had already finished (guitar/drums) onto the bass track i was recording. when i had the bass selected as "solo" i could still hear the guitar and drums (though muffled and not near as loud) and so i muted each individual track and could still hear them. upon review, i found that there was significant bleed onto the bass track fromk the other instruments. anyone else having this problem? anything i might have selected that may cause this to happen? the bass is not miced, i run direct and use a modeler for the tone.

anyone?

[d.bop]

What type of interface are you using?

If it's your computer's onboard sound, check your OS's sound mixer and make sure that "stereo out" "stereo mix" "mono mix" or anything similar is NOT checked. Your input should be set to line-in.

If your interface is not onboard (firewire, usb, pci, etc..) could you post some more info? Preferably your OS and recording interface.

[ralpheo]

You're recording "live", right? With the monitors playing back your previously recorded tracks? If this is the case, then you have sympathetic vibrations, where the pickup of your bass is picking up the sound of the other tracks.
Two choices: If the other tracks are just "scratch" tracks and they're going to be thrown away or edited; grab a good pair of headphones, cut the feed to your monitors, and record it again. Otherwise, if everythings a keeper, then go with it: It could turn out to be a very cool vibe.

If you are using headphones and you're still getting bleedthrough --- TURN IT DOWN! Like it or not. You're doing severe damage to your hearing. And sometimes, with the lower volume, you can hear things you weren't with it cranked.

[theCKWilliams]

sorry about lack of info, i was cut short on time.

vista, 2.3ghz laptop 3gigram, mobile project studio if you will. standard spdif interface conexant hd smartaudio. nothing crazy checked in the mixer.

i do have some knowledge in ghetto engineering a recording rig with very little. used to run CEpro on a 300mhz pentium2 back in the day, MADE it work. anyway,

bass -> m-audio buddy->1/8 audio in on laptop->reaper->ampex svx (modeler)->noise cancelling headphones at reasonable levels->eardrums.

using asio as the primary driver. ins and outs seem to be as they should.

??

will be upgrading the interface next month. don't know why that's worth mentioning but there it is.

[The Cancers]

Not sure, but this might be a feature called "solo in front" being activated. This allows you to still hear the rest of your mix, at a significantly reduced volume, when you solo a track. If that's the problem, then you should be able to turn the feature off and hear your bass track solo. If that's not it, I got nothing... maybe a routing problem?

[theCKWilliams]

thank you for the input but i can hear the drum tracks clicking through the effects i have on the bass, meaning the drums are being played through the same FX settings as i have on the bass track just very quiet though no FX are selected on the drum tracks. it's like the drums are being picked up by the bass mic... but there isn't one. i plug direct and i am using noise cancelling headphones at very reasonable levels, meaning you can't hear the tracks outside the headphones. my fiancee interrupts my recording all the time because she doesn't know i'm actually hearing anything other than the string noise she's hearing directly from the bass or guitar.

am i the ONLY person having this problem, really!?!?

[pipelineaudio]

There's a known issue with some maudio devices which feature a mix: live vs daw knob or similar, where some of the output ends up on the input. If your card doesn't have this feature it may be as others have suggested

[theCKWilliams]

so i can sell the audio buddy for a few bucks and buy a real preamp and this may be fixed?

[pipelineaudio]

IF that's the issue then yeah, but then you'd still need a soundcard

Lots of people are making great tracks on reaper radio with those audiobuddies, so lets make sure that's the problem before you go fishing in your wallet

Check out the reaper chat in my sig, lots of maudio users on that to help you

[theCKWilliams]

thanks a lot! i really appreciate all the info. i have been doing a lot of exparimenting with levels and setups and whatnot and i think i've chalked it up to Amplitube. certain effects seem to grab other tracks and i have no idea why. if i record with the drums at a barely audible level, it seems to cut it out or, recording without the modeler (if necessary) the tracks don;t seem to transfer to others. crazy. i may not be right, though.

[DrewPeterson7]

Originally Posted by The Cancers

Not sure, but this might be a feature called "solo in front" being activated. This allows you to still hear the rest of your mix, at a significantly reduced volume, when you solo a track. If that's the problem, then you should be able to turn the feature off and hear your bass track solo. If that's not it, I got nothing... maybe a routing problem?

That was my first thought, too. I'm not in front of my recording computer at the moment (at work), but I STRONGLY suspect what you're hearing is this. With "solo in front" enabled, when you hit solo you don't actually mute the other tracks, but rather reduce their volume by a user-adjustable amount. With it disabled, then you actually do mute everything.

Personally, I rather dig this feature - it lets me hone in on one particular instrument or track, but forces me to at least keep it in context.

Try this if you're not 100% sure how your solo is set - go out there and manually mute all tracks except the bass, or open the bass in your preferred audio editor and play just that track back. If you still here other instruments, there's some sort of bleed issue, but more likely than not you won't hear anything else but the bass, and it's just the solo settings you have.

[theCKWilliams]

*bump*

still looking for ANYONE else that has had this problem...

HELP!

though, I think i've chalked it up to the amp modelers I'm using. anyone else had problems with bleeding tracks using Amplitube X-Gear?


...and what i'm hearing is NOT "solo-in-front" although I do LOVE that feature in Reaper!

[DrewPeterson7]

Originally Posted by theCKWilliams

*bump*

still looking for ANYONE else that has had this problem...

HELP!

though, I think i've chalked it up to the amp modelers I'm using. anyone else had problems with bleeding tracks using Amplitube X-Gear?


...and what i'm hearing is NOT "solo-in-front" although I do LOVE that feature in Reaper!

If it's not solo-in-front, I have no idea, man. Check your recording preferences, maybe - is it possible you're recording "what your sound card hears" as opposed to the pure input signal, and that's what Amplitude is sending to the channel? Is it possible you have the master routed as an insert into the channel?

Can you confirm that when you just plug straight into the board, it's fine, and it's only when Amplitude is in line you have issues? I'm not familiar with the product, is it a plug-in? If so, could you record dry, and then add the plug-in to the FX bus for your bass channel?