noise when recording

[jablake]

I'm new here and new to pc recording, but I'm an old guy in need of some help and I'm glad I found this site.

I'm getting noise behind anything I record, sounds like static or cracking. My pc is 700 mhz, 128 K, Sound Blaster Live, output through home stereo, recording with Cool Edit Pro or Guitar Tracks from Cakewalk. I am trying to record guitar with a mic through a small mixer or straight to the sound card from a j-station amp emulator. Either way makes noise.

After noticing this noise, I immedietly replaced the sound card, because I had a previous problem with a Sound Blaster Live card and it was still under warranty. This did not solve the problem so I started to unplug any hardware I thought may be making noise; CD ROM, CDRW, even the cpu fan. No luck. Then I changed out the surge protector, pluged the computer into a different wall outlet, ran the sound through pc speackers instead of my home system, and finally, today I changed my power supply. STILL NO LUCK!

Each time I made a change I ran the diagnostic program that comes with the Sound Blaster. This records a few seconds of sound and then you can play it back, each time I still had the noise behind the recording. I have also been carefull with recording levels so it is not clipping I am hearing, it sounds like RF interference

I am totally stumped and really want to go ahead with recording and quit messing with all this hardware. Anyone have any ideas?

[gec]

Hey jablake I had the same problem in my homerecording studio, I couldn't figure it out for the life of me, come to find out I had some powerlines not too far away that was causing it, I bought a filter for my plugs at radio shack n' the problem went away....I don't know if it could be related to your situation...

[mapeterson]

Do you get the static when you record nothing but your line sounds try to record with your mic on as you were going to record a track. Check your connections see if one of them is not properly grounded don't unplug anything just insure they are connected right another thing is what do you have on your power source a fridge or something that draws a substantial current when it comes on. Also mabey check your plugins power wise for continuity you can buy a tester for about $4.00 that just plugs into your circuit if you have an improperly wired plugin with the neutral and ground crossed somwhere. Like "gec" said about the line filters is a good Idea also they also are a pretty inexpensive thing to have and unless you want to buy a filter'd power supply are a good alternative. Sounds to me like a possible ground problem somewhere in your system either computer or what you are useing to record. It probably won't crackle untill you load it with a signal. The bad thing about the Crackle is that it could be any number of things or all combined.

happy hunting I hope you find it and kill it

One last thing what KHZ Rate and bit rate are you recording at

[c_r_a_z_y]

Hmmmmm! These noises could be for a few reasons! Do u use shielded audio cables in ure studio?? If u dont I would sugeest that u get well sheilded quality cables they will stop alot of interfiernece. Also have u checked theat u haven got audio cables crossing over power cabels as this can cause alot of interfierence. Power cables cause interfierence on the audio cables if they are laid across them!

[tvaillan]

make sure the instrument or mic is at least 10 feet from the PC.

Shut off the monitor while recording .. just to see.

make certain that your levels aren't too high and that there's no clipping going on.

make certain that power cables and audio cables are running at 90 degrees to each other.

[Shack]

I find that changing my sitting position affects the noise/feedback which is best when I have my back totally turned to the computer and monitor. Worth a try.