Huge amounts of distortion on vocal tracks

R

rapedbyape

New member
Recently my band has been recording some stuff and all has been going well. However, after finishing a session off and coming back, say, the day after, I have found that some vocal tracks have developed enormous amounts of digital distortion for no reason at all. I haven't applied any effects to them, just recorded them and saved them, at which point they have been fine. One file this happened to now seems to have fixed itself, the others are still distorted and seemingly stuck that way. Has anyone else had this problem or know what I can do to fix it?
 
It's happened to me on occasion, and I don't know what causes it.

The last time it happened though, I found something interesting. If I continue to zoom in on the waveform that's distorting, I can only zoom in so far before the waveform itself distorts into something that's not a waveform at all - it's all square and blocked out and looks exactly like the thing sounds - square and ugly. In my case, the distortion is only vaguely recognisable as the original track, and mostly sounds like blinding white screaming distortion. Really weird.

The worst thing is, I don't know how to avoid it. It happens so seldom that I haven't noticed a pattern. My fear is that the distortion happens at the point of saving the file, and if that's the case, then even backups won't help.

The only thing I can suggest is this, which is what I do nowadays:

* Save the session immediately when you finish it.

* Play it back right after you've saved it to make sure there's nothing wrong.

* If it's okay, back up the session immediately.

That way, if there's something wrong, at least you're all set up to re-record the track while you're still into the music.
 
yuck...if that happened to me more than once, I'd be switching software, lol. But then I'd probably find out later that it was my RAM or something. :D
 
ape and dobro. could you post your signal chain please. mic thru to computer,
as well as monitoring end out to monitors from sound card line out.
sound card used. and software being used.
i like a challenge.
peace.
 
I use real, bought software.

Rode NTK via Monster cable>Gadgetlabs 824 soundcard via Cool Edit 1.2a (Win98se). I track at 32-bit floating point, 44.1 KHz.

On the way out: Cool Edit 1.2 or 2.1 from hard disk > same soundcard > Alesis mixer > either monitors or headphones.

I don't think it's worth the challenge, though, trying to figure it out. This system works for me 99.9% of the time. It's that 0.1% that's the problem, and like I said, it happens so infrequently, that I haven't noticed any pattern.
 
dobro. as you are aware the gadget labs card is getting a bit old now.
not wishing to offend you but as components age it could be something as intermittent as an electronics component ageing on the GL causing a problem.
also be aware that there are quite a few capacitors on sound cards.
particularly watch out for ageing in lytic capacitors.
ive seen caps cause some problems. particularly if they arent low leakage types. if it gets progressively worse in the next year you might want to monitor this because it could mean a component is gradually failing.
peace.
 
The soundcard was bought almost exactly five years ago. Bear in mind as well that the climate here is tropical, and the heat and humidity are *awfully* hard on gear. I'm surprised it's lasted this long. I've been waiting for it to die so I can get a new one, but I paid a lot for it (8 ins, 8 outs - what was I thinking of?) and want to get my money's worth. I don't know which way to go on the next one. It would seem to make sense to take a step up. Probably 2 ins/outs would be enough, so maybe I could exchange lots of ins/outs for a couple ins/outs at a higher quality level.
 
dobro. lots of affordable 2 in cards now. tracertek.com got a few for 100
bucks. maudio. the phase series. or if your rich lynx that a lot pro's like.
a little known card is the staudio or hoontech i thinl it is. only 90 bucks. does 24 bit as well. its disposable at that price. given your weather conditions.
just an idea.
 
Running a PIII (not sure of the exact speed but I'm pretty sure it's over 1ghz), with 512mb RAM (I think, I'll have to check as I'm on a different computer right now).

Inward: Microphones > Yamaha MG12-4 mixer > M-Audio Delta 44 breakout box inputs > M-Audio Delta 44 Soundcard > Cool Edit Pro 2 (and no, I can't afford to buy it unfortunately...)

Outward: M-Audio Delta 44 soundcard > M-Audio Delta 44 breakout box outputs 1 & 2 > Behringer MX802A mixer > cheap speakers
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top