Where is the hiss coming from?

E

Elyst

New member
Greetings fellow musicians,

So I'm pretty much your average home musician. I'm not really that good and I allegedly play guitar and keyboard and try to sing.

Anyway, here's my 2 problems. I will post a "little" clip of recording. This was actually an idea I happened to come up for a little riff, and I recorded it in a bit of a hurry, and that was all in one take. I made a *lot* of mistakes and even got a little frustrated in the middle. All this to say, please don't judge my lack of guitar skills, I'm working on them.

The setup: I'll state what is connected to what from the computer to the guitar.

Laptop (cubase 5) - [usb] > Alesis io2 express interface - [guitar cable] > line 6 spider IV 15W - [ guitar cable] > Ibanez AR 250


NOTE: I also have seinheiser headphones plugged to the interface. The interface is set to usb so the sound I'm listening is what's beeing recorded in the track
I set the mono recording track on cubase and select to "track" it. And I hear a lot of noise and buzz in the background.

If I plug the headphones directly to the amp (without any recording gear attached) I still get a little noise. So I assume the amp ins't helping at all.
My second guess is cables. The cables are somewhat old, but I don't think new one's will make much difference.


So what is causing that noise and buzzing sounds?


This is the point when I thought "I should make a post in the home recording forums". So I exported the mixdown from Cubase and I remember another problem that I never figured out how to solve.

The recording has incredibly low volume. In cubase you can hear it loud (despite having the buzz and noises), but the exported file can barely be heard. If amplified in other program like wavelab I think you'll get the same or even more noise.



So, in sum what I'm asking is:

1- How can I improve my gear setup in order to get as little noisy as possible.

2- How can I export my mixdown from Cubase and still having it sound the same instead of this low.


Also, here is the sound clip I have mentioned.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yd8t2fye3bwxz4i/smth.wav

Thank you.
 
some laptops have noise power warts. try recording with the laptop unplugged and see if that's the problem.
 
I think it helps a little and reduces some of the noise, but there's still some background stuff.

And what about the low amped (not sure how to call it) wave exported from cubase?
 
First thing is to eliminate the noise that the amp introduces. Have you tried plugging the guitar directly into your interface (don't know if it has an instrument input)? Try a different guitar cable? Try adjusting the amp tone to remove the noise (is the compression on? turn it off!)

When you record, what dB are your levels?
How are you 'exporting'? Are you rendering the file to WAV? Load the file back into yoru DAW and look at the dB levels.
 
I think if you're going to use an Amp to record it's best to always mic it up. What output are you coming out of the 15W amp? I think it's always best to have the least amount of kit between you and your audio interface. Then put all your effects/amp simulation etc using software. Give 'Guitar Rig' a try, it's what I use and its fantastic! Then you'll only have 1 guitar lead from your guitar to the Alesis. Creating less interference and hiss.
Regarding 'mixdown' what output/level reading are you getting from the mixer interface? It sounds as though you've clicked something you shouldn't have and then when you mixdown it will be the same level as you've recorded and mixed.
 
So it may be many things... this time I did a smaller recording with my microphone. Just had the microphone directly plugged tho the computer which had only the battery. Still there was some background noise... the microphone is a jts je1, beeing omnidirectional mic I think it happens because it's capturing the room ambient.

I think I'm going to need some tips and lessons on how to properly export audio files from cubase, but I think my problem goes further than that.

Despite hearing the sound properly and loud enough I notice by the wave drawn on the cubase recording is nearly a line even with some considerable zoom. I thought of increasing "gain" and boosting the mic's sensitivity, but that also causes the background noise to be a lot louder.
 
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