noise

[chees-its]

i have a pretty decent clean tone rigged up in logic but theres still too much noise and it's basically only there if i pick harder, how can i eliminate this noise ( yes i do have noise gate on )...possible a third party plug-in or something, i'm really at a loss...it's there whether i turn my guitar volume, channel strip or interface volume down it's still there

 

[gecko zzed]

i have a pretty decent clean tone rigged up in logic but theres still too much noise and it's basically only there if i pick harder, how can i eliminate this noise ( yes i do have noise gate on )...possible a third party plug-in or something, i'm really at a loss...it's there whether i turn my guitar volume, channel strip or interface volume down it's still there

Without knowing what the noise sounds like, it's a bit hard to say what its source might be.

Have you tried something as simple as changing your guitar lead? Or are you using a mike?

 

[chees-its]

by "lead" do you mean guitar cord ? it's not miked, i'm just plugging into my interface for this...it really sounds good until i play just a little too hard and it goes bunk...but it seems this is the case with any tone that i've tried in logic ????

 

[chees-its]

well i tried another cord and it's the same noise

 

[gecko zzed]

So . . . you are going straight from guitar to interface, and you've swapped cords without there being any improvement.

It also sounds like you are not getting noise so much as you are getting distortion when you play hard on the guitar. Is that right? It only happens when you play hard?

If so, the easiest solution is to turn the level down on the interface.

 

[Kingofpain678]

what interface are you using?

are you recording electric or acoustic guitar?

if its electric try turning the volume knob on the guitar down a bit. also(if your recording electric), what gauge of string are you using? if your using a light gauge of strings and tuning your guitar down a bit, it could be your strings vibrating against your fretboard.

 

[Cowbell Bill]

I run direct into logic 8 via motu 896. I just got rid of the lace pickups in my strat because they were just to hot. are you using lace pickups?

 

[chees-its]

thanks gecko but i have tried adjusting interface and all other volumes to no use... i got 2 emgs in my ltd, i may change them sometime...i'm thinking of going mic-only now as i can't find any solution to this problem, i just wish i could figure out why this distortion is happening

 

[Kingofpain678]

post a sample of a recording you have done so we can hear what your talking about

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Can you describe your signal chain in more detail? You mention a channel strip and an interface. Are you running into a DI first or plugging directly into the channel strip (mixer strip or stand-alone strip?) And where in that channel strip are you plugging? And does you channel strip include compression?

Also, there's a whole lot of gain stages in that signal chain. Are you sure you're not riding the levels a bit too hot somewhere along the line? Keep in mind that by the time you get to Logic, if you're anywhere near 0dBFS, even if you're not clipping, you're probably running hotter than optimum somewhere along the line.

G.

 

[chees-its]

well my signal chain is simple... i'm not using a real mixer sorry to confuse ...i only meant the "channel strip" in logic and as you've hinted to i've tried turnin gall volumes down, while keeping audible of course, and the same distortion is always there...

 

[dodgeaspen]

My ex guitarist had the same problem when he would come over for practice. It was taken care of when I bought a Furman power conditioner.

 

[chees-its]

looked at that those are for amps , no? my problem was with my signal on my computer

 

[chees-its]

looked at that those are for amps , no? my problem was with my signal on my computer...where there really should not be any interference as far as i understand
im beggining to think that it's the pick-ups i've got, however ive can't back that up or buy new ones

 

[chees-its]

ok this is a sample of what i'm hearing ... this is dry, no plug-ins,
if u notice the first time sounds ok no fuzzyness
ut the second time with i play the notes a llttle harder ... it starts to sound like noise city
http://www.sendspace.com/file/4cw0q7

 

[philbagg]

Listened to the wav you posted.

Sounds to me like you're overloading your interface. What interface are you
using? Try turning the gain down, or if you've turned it all the way down, use
a pad if it has one.

 

[chees-its]

well i ddin't want to say but it's a presonus inspire which was the cheapest i could find (possibly the problem in a nutshell ) anyway...it is turned down i've played with different levels and i seem to have the same amount of fuzzyness everytime...would a pad be similar to the limit button on mine? i'll try that

 

[philbagg]

Probably not.

I'm guessing the 'limit' basically prevents you from going above a certain level.

A pad on the other hand, turns the entire signal down. They're usually -20dB,
so it's twice as soft (-10dB), and then twice as soft again.

Honestly dude, what I'm hearing sounds like digital distortion (IOW, overloading
the input on your device)

I have the same problem with my MBox 2. I plug my guitar in, turn the gain all
the way down and play soft, it sounds grand. Play harder, and it starts fuzzin
up the place. But the Mbox 2 has a pad button so 9/10 times I turn that on,
and it's all good. I'd recommend turning the volume knob on the guitar 90% of
the way down.

Or if you have a guitar effects pedal, plug into that, turn the volume down there,
and then plug into your interface.

Or, and you mightn't like this option, get a better interface

 

[chees-its]

plugged it into my ts-9 and it does help quite a bit to just have the level down on it before the interface ... not perfect but it is better than it was ... thank you philbagg ...

 

[mattdee1]

ok this is a sample of what i'm hearing ... this is dry, no plug-ins,
if u notice the first time sounds ok no fuzzyness
ut the second time with i play the notes a llttle harder ... it starts to sound like noise city
http://www.sendspace.com/file/4cw0q7

Wow, it's weird you post this today... I was having the exact same problem.

I rarely ever record electric guitar direct, but I was today out of necessity and was getting that horrid distortion sound on one of the tracks. The preamp gain was at a very moderate level, and upon inspecting the waveform, it looked totally normal and appeared to peak at no more than 50% full scale on the strip chart display.

I was playing through the Lace sensor Red pickup I have in the bridge position, which I know is a fairly hot pickup, but that doesn't explain to me the clipping sound based on the other observations. By the way, I'm also running a lowly Presonus interface (Firebox). I've never encountered this problem before after several recordings, although upwards of 90% of the time I mic an amp for guitars.