hissing sound when recording in Logic X but not garageband

[Malini]

Hello!

This is my first post on the forum. I usually record in Logic X. I just upgraded to better equipment from a USB microphone and am having problems with a hissing sound when I record into logic. It's up in the higher frequency range when I test it with EQ. I also am finding that speakers rattle when certain instruments or my voice hit a specific frequency relatively loudly, but my level meter tells me it's not regular clipping, and I am using a limiter. Lastly, the recording is extremely quiet, even when I turn up my interface all the way, unless I use another external pre-amp. There's no hissing noise or volume issues when I plug in a USB mic, only when I use the interface.

Come to find, with the exact same set-up, if I record in garage band these problems are all solved! I've loaded the tracks into logic x from garage band and they maintain the same sound quality as they have when I listen in garage band.

Any ideas why this is happening, or how to get the recording quality better in logic x? Is there a setting I need to look at? Going from garage band to logic is tedious, as I like to use multiple takes and have to set that up manually. I tried using EQing and Noisegate to get rid of the hiss and rattle, but it's compromising the sound quality of vocals too much to be a workable solution.

Here's my set-up:

warm audio w-87
tried into a focusrite ISA One and then an apogee or Focusrite scarlett solo, and straight into both interfaces
apogee or focusrite into USB of macbook pro

I checked all the cables and it's not that. I've also tried recording in different locations, and it doesn't seem like this is background noise. From what I can tell, it's something to do with the interfaces linking into logic.
Thanks for your help!

Mali

 

[keith.rogers]

That's a pretty unclear description of your actual setup. How about just work with one setup? If you have the ISA One, by all means use it. Make sure phantom power is on, and plug into a LINE input on either of those interfaces. Mic -> ISA One -> F'rite Solo. Make sure you are using a balanced TRS-TRS cable between the two devices, and the interface switch set to LINE.

There's no reason for what you describe save faulty equipment or settings on same. I record condenser mics in Logic with or without a separate preamp through a F'rite interface and it works fine.

And, make sure you have the gain on both the preamp and interface set correctly. This takes some experimentation to get the best signal with least noise.

GarageBand is possibly adding some gain, but who knows. You can tell by importing the GB project in to Logic and see what all they've done to the track when you say it's something like "male vocal." It's usually quite a lot!

 

[miroslav]

That's a pretty unclear description of your actual setup.

Right.

warm audio w-87
tried into a focusrite ISA One and then an apogee or Focusrite scarlett solo, and straight into both interfaces

Explain that a little better...exactly what went into what and how. What "apogee" are you referring to?

TBH...Logic is a better program than Garageband...so you probably just don't have something connected or configured correctly....more details are needed.

 

[Malini]

Hi,

Here's trying to be more clear:

I have a warm audio w-87 condenser mic plugged into an apogee one, then plugged into the computer right now.

I have also tried using a focusrite scarlett solo instead of the apogee. In addition, I have tried plugging the warm audio into a focusrite ISA one set to line with phantom power on, then into the apogee or the focusrite (I tried both), then into the computer.

 

[keith.rogers]

The current version of GarageBand is essentially a dumbed-down version of Logic, so no reason why you can't get exactly the same sound in both, though you have to do the import step to deconstruct what GarageBand has done.

If you hear hissing in Logic, the question is where it's coming from. Do you just record and then play back with no effects and no changes in output monitor volume in the interface or DAW, and you hear these noises? What is the output level (dB) on the Stereo Out track in Logic? Can you put a (Utility FX menu) peak meter on the track and Stereo Out and tell us what those are?

However, it shouldn't be necessary to get a clean recording of a condenser mic through any interface in Logic. The hardware and driver are exactly the same, so the raw track should be the same. This is easy enough to check by simply recording a track in GB and then without changing anything, record the same thing in Logic. Open up the projects as a folder, and find the media file for your track. Then, open those up in something like Audacity and compare them visually and audibly.

 

[Malini]

The current version of GarageBand is essentially a dumbed-down version of Logic, so no reason why you can't get exactly the same sound in both, though you have to do the import step to deconstruct what GarageBand has done.

If you hear hissing in Logic, the question is where it's coming from. Do you just record and then play back with no effects and no changes in output monitor volume in the interface or DAW, and you hear these noises? What is the output level (dB) on the Stereo Out track in Logic? Can you put a (Utility FX menu) peak meter on the track and Stereo Out and tell us what those are?

However, it shouldn't be necessary to get a clean recording of a condenser mic through any interface in Logic. The hardware and driver are exactly the same, so the raw track should be the same. This is easy enough to check by simply recording a track in GB and then without changing anything, record the same thing in Logic. Open up the projects as a folder, and find the media file for your track. Then, open those up in something like Audacity and compare them visually and audibly.

I am testing recorded and played back with no effects. The sound is only noticeably different at loud volumes-- when I record louder instruments, it doesn't matter because the mic picks up enough of them that I don't have to turn the track up enough to hear the hiss. For quieter instruments and when I add compression the background hissing noise level becomes noticeably different in the logic vs garage band recorded tracks. I expect some increase in background noise with compression, of course, it is the difference in the volume of the hiss between recordings from the different software that I have noticed. I have also noticed that my recordings in garage band are louder despite having the same gain (even when I load them into the logic file, the garage band tracks are louder than the ones of the same thing I record in logic in the same way at the same db setting.) So this may be less about there being an extra hiss in logic and more about logic getting less signal from the acoustic instrument or voice while passing on the hiss of the mic. That makes sense to me in theory, but I don't see how that would be possible electronically.

I recorded the same thing with the slider set to 0db and my apogee one set to full gain in logic and in garage band. The logic recording peaked at -27, the garage band at -23, they look the same since the hiss is very low.

I know they are the same drivers, but could it be something about how Logic is picking up signal from the computer is messed up in the program? Is it worth reinstalling?