general setup

[dlane81]

Hi im new to recording obviously and dont have much money so i have a rather basic setup. The way i am currently recording is by connecting a sm57 to the mic1 input on my tascam porta02 mk2, and placing the mic 2 or 3 inches from my amp. I record all 4 tracks then connect the 4track to my sound card and record from line in. The problem is that i get a constant humming and some feedback when playing back a recorded track. Any suggestions

[James Argo]

Originally posted by dlane81
The problem is that i get a constant humming and some feedback when playing back a recorded track. Any suggestions

have you checked where the humming comes from ? Bad wire/cables could be the causes, or bad AC (grounding) electric line interupts.

How actually you chain the route ? It shouldn't be any feedback if you route the Line Out of Tascam to Line in of the soundcard, and NOT route back the signal to Tascam. Route your soundcard's Line out to your sound system.

[Sennheiser]

I had a bad ground loop buzz when I started uploading material to NWR.com. The entire computer setup was causing it. I had to lift every ground on anything that was connected to the computer.

I don't know why. When I built this room I made sure that everything was properly grounded when I wired it. I'm on an isolated 20 amp circuit. Pisses me off that I go to all the work to avoid the grounding problems and still have that problem.

[dlane81]

Thanks for the replies, I have checked the cables and after reading the section about impedance matching I belive I know what my problem could be. The mic cable I am using to plug into the 4 track is an xlr to xlr with an adapter on the end to make it 1/4". I assume that I need to buy an impedance matching transformer and connect this to the xlr and mic input on my 4track instead. Does this sound like it could be a resolution?