eliminating noise

[bigballsworth]

I recently got a new "music" room because my sister moved out of the house. I've been recording through my computer (athlon 1100, 7200rpm hd, midiman DMAN soundcard[rca in/out]) and/or my 4track (tascam424mkIII) for nearly 4 years now, with varied success.

I finally got things set up in the room, with my 4track as a mixer to my soundcard running cakewalk pa9. I was just running some soundcheck type recordings and i am getting hellanoise. My first track was just me talking into the mic at the computer so of course i got fan noise from my comp cuz it's sitting right here, but when i moved my mic over to my amp(across the room) (room is roughly 15X20+) i still got alot of graynoise (hum, fuzz, etc.)

I doubt anyone can diagnose exactly where the noise is coming from, but in this situation...does anyone see an obvious problem area? I tohught jacking up the amp a bunch might help in a s/n ratio, but it's still pretty ugly. I was trying to record piano through the amp (Hohner PianetN into MusicMan120), which on it's own has very little hum, even when jacked up a bunch.

Should All the respctive electric units (amp, piano, mixer, comp) be plugged into different strips and/or outlets? Can the computer be nowhere near anything else? am i fux0red?

thanks for anyhelp...
will

ps...http://sotindustries.com/bigballsworth the mp3(s) in there are me on the piano and singin...sounding like they should...mostly...it's always a w.i.p.

[TexRoadkill]

Originally posted by bigballsworth
Should All the respctive electric units (amp, piano, mixer, comp) be plugged into different strips and/or outlets? Can the computer be nowhere near anything else? am i fux0red?

Actually you want to make sure that all connected gear is plugged into powerstrips that all start from the same outlet. That is the first step in avoiding groud loops (hum). If that doesn't work you may have a faulty ground wiring and need to use a ground lifter that is a 3 prong to 2 prong adapter.

If that doesn't work you may have some faulty cables or gear. Unplug everything but leave your mixer,soundcard and monitors connected. Hopefully there is no hum there. Then one by one connect each piece of gear and try to isolate what is causing the noise.

[Freeform]

I'll second on the 2 prong adapter. Do you have an AC duct going into the room? I usually have to mess with that to avoid noise.

[bigballsworth]

i recorded with soundcard and mixer- silence (golden)

soundcard-->mixer-->mic - lots of noise

prerecord something on 4track(mixer) with same mic with computer still running then play that to soundcard - not to much noise (essentially eliminatable)

wtf!?

[grinder]

Bad mic or mic cord?

[TexRoadkill]

Originally posted by bigballsworth
i recorded with soundcard and mixer- silence (golden)

soundcard-->mixer-->mic - lots of noise

prerecord something on 4track(mixer) with same mic with computer still running then play that to soundcard - not to much noise (essentially eliminatable)

wtf!?

Is the sound just room noise? Were the mic levels the same for both tests?

[bigballsworth]

the meters on cakewalk (and waveforms for that matter) on the two respective tracks were close to similar in "size" (general volume).

The big noise maker in the room is definently the computer fan whirring...but if that were the case why would the 4track recording that was made in the same room with the same fan sound less noisy? There is a fair amount of audible compression in the tape recording which might be helping..oh shit it has dBx..well imma try it again without noise fixer on...

[pyssdogg]

what kinda music is that? (genre)

i used to use a 424mk2 several years ago and don't remember it being that noisey, well except for the main outputs on it

[bigballsworth]

i don't know what that genre is. I consider it "Sing-Along", cuz people are always singing along to it. The lyrics are simple enough to learn in one run through and the melody is fun...=)

but honsetly i dunno, some people have heard it and said it sounds oldies, and some say it sounds kinda gay, and some people are just like "cool!"