Crackling Noise

[whatapoof]

I’m getting a bad crackling noise when recording in Ableton Live 8 that I can’t seem to pin down. I initially thought it was my equipment: bass guitar, guitar, pedals, cords, etc. but tests of all that stuff on an amp turned up nothing but typical guitar hum (which would be nice to reduce) but no crackling. The crackling when recording does seem to be connected to the hum though. The stronger the hum the more prominent the crackling is.

Then I thought it might be the interface (M-audio fast track, kinda old). I tried a new interface (Focusrite Saffire something or other) and got the same crackling noise, so I ruled that out. Although, before I tried that I did change the USB cable connecting the interface and it seemed to help a bit…

Then I thought it might be the program, Ableton. I tried messing with the bit depth (set at 32), not really any change there, the in/out sample rate 44100 or 48000, no difference. The buffer size is set to 32 samples when recording. I tried raising it , lowering it etc. no difference as far as the crackling. The noise that occurs when setting the buffer size extremely high was a different noise all together. The crackling, to me, does not sound like a digital noise.

I also tried recording in Garage Band just to see if the problem followed me over to different software and it did. So, its not just an Ableton problem.

Could it be the internal sound card? I have a year old iMac:

Processor 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5
Memory 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Software Mac OS X Lion 10.7.4 (11E53)

Or is my best bet to focus on reducing the hum with outboard gear like pre-amps and what not? I use a Bass DI box to ground the signal (but I don’t think this reduces the noise much) and I plug all devices into a “Furman ss6b pro plugs” power conditioner, a low-end conditioner but it has helped with past noise problems.

Any ideas/suggestions would be much appreciated. Thank you.

 

[JMac52]

I was going to start a new thread about my recent issue when I saw this one... Even though reading through, I don't think my problem is the same as yours.

I was setting up to record when I heard a crackling, static-y noise coming through the monitors and headphones, out of my Scarlett 2i2. I thought maybe it was the mic or cable so I plugged a guitar directly into the Scarlett and still heard it. I ended up disconnecting and then re-connecting the USB cable at the back,of the Scarlett and the noise went away. I never actually started recording, so I don't know if the noise would have showed up on a track (my guess is it would have). I also can't think of a technical explanation for this, and the Focusrite web site wasn't any help.

Sorry, this probably isn't much help to you except maybe keep looking at the USB side of the equation?

J

 

[DM60]

I’m getting a bad crackling noise when recording in Ableton Live 8 that I can’t seem to pin down. I initially thought it was my equipment: bass guitar, guitar, pedals, cords, etc. but tests of all that stuff on an amp turned up nothing but typical guitar hum (which would be nice to reduce) but no crackling. The crackling when recording does seem to be connected to the hum though. The stronger the hum the more prominent the crackling is.

Then I thought it might be the interface (M-audio fast track, kinda old). I tried a new interface (Focusrite Saffire something or other) and got the same crackling noise, so I ruled that out. Although, before I tried that I did change the USB cable connecting the interface and it seemed to help a bit…

Then I thought it might be the program, Ableton. I tried messing with the bit depth (set at 32), not really any change there, the in/out sample rate 44100 or 48000, no difference. The buffer size is set to 32 samples when recording. I tried raising it , lowering it etc. no difference as far as the crackling. The noise that occurs when setting the buffer size extremely high was a different noise all together. The crackling, to me, does not sound like a digital noise.

I also tried recording in Garage Band just to see if the problem followed me over to different software and it did. So, its not just an Ableton problem.

Could it be the internal sound card? I have a year old iMac:

Processor 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5
Memory 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Software Mac OS X Lion 10.7.4 (11E53)

Or is my best bet to focus on reducing the hum with outboard gear like pre-amps and what not? I use a Bass DI box to ground the signal (but I don’t think this reduces the noise much) and I plug all devices into a “Furman ss6b pro plugs” power conditioner, a low-end conditioner but it has helped with past noise problems.

Any ideas/suggestions would be much appreciated. Thank you.

Take a look at your buffer settings. Your bit rate will affect it, but you can experiment. Try kicking the buffers up to 512, keep going up until it stops. If it gets too high, you will deal with latency. You can get to that later. I suggest sample at 44/48 16 bit. You can always increase it if you are that set on a higher rate.

 

[whatapoof]

yeah I don't know, turning up the buffer actually makes it sound worse, but in a different way. I tried messing with all those settings already. I think the crackling is something else entirely.

I came across this article with some interesting tips on reducing noise. One of the more interesting things it mentioned was that some people use DATs as preamps because they have cheap sound cards:

"If you have a soundcard with a digital input and you also have a DAT recorder with digital I/O, you'll almost certainly get better results by using the DAT machine as your input stage and then connecting this digitally to the card. Most DAT machines will function happily as a preamp if you first insert a tape and then switch to input monitor, usually by pressing the record button on its own. Don't forget to set the card to external digital sync mode, though. Some older machines actually need to be recording to monitor the input, and if this is the case with yours, just stick in a blank tape and put the machine into record, setting the record levels using the DAT machine's meters."

How one connects a DAT digitally to a sound card I don't know. I still can't believe my sound card is that bad though. Its practically a brand new iMac.

 

[JimmyS1969]

Wait, you are using a DAT machine to record to? I am set off course now...

 

[whatapoof]

Wait, you are using a DAT machine to record to? I am set off course now...

No I was simply reading up on noise in general and read that some people have to do that because they have a cheap/bad sound card in their computer. I don't want to do that because it seems like more work but it may be necessary if the crackling is coming from my card. And at this point it looks like it might be because I've tested every other piece of equipment....