An Odd Situation

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barnabus

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Hello everyone!
I am extremely new to recording and my friend who has his feet wet can't help me with my current issue. I am using a Focusrite 2i2 usb interface with an audio-technica condenser mic with a xlr cable and proper hook up. I am monitoring with some decent senheiser headphones. My DAW is currently Reaper - I am a PC user on a budget. When I start up my gear and turn on my direct monitoring I test my mic and I hear myself well in my headphones, I am also receiving the visual cue from reaper when I arm the recording that it is picking up my voice. When I turn on monitoring in reaper though, I hear myself, but also heavy, I mean heavy, amounts of static. I record with and without monitoring and the outcome is the same. The .wav file is just a bunch of noise. More noise when I speak during the recording, so you can tell its picking SOMETHING up. But there is no actual sound, just weird static or loud bass tones, they just get louder when I speak in the recording. I have ASIO installed, I have tried using my sound card directly as my device, as well as just ASIO and its always the same. I'm very frustrated and can't find anything on the web concerning this problem and my friend who is more experienced with live sound can't figure out what is going on either. Any and all help is very appreciated.
 
Could be you are overloading the signal at some point......review your setup, check you levels.
 
So you have clear signal via direct monitoring from your interface, but crap signal in Reaper? This is important to clarify. It will determine if the mic or cable or phantom power is at fault.

I would think this has to be a connection issue between your interface and computer if the above is the case.

Give specs on what you are using and how you are setup.

Things like having interface and other devices on the same USB bus controller can give things like this. Just not setting up you PC (what OS?) for recording performance could also be the cause.

More info will help to troubleshoot.
 
I have an ASUS M51AD running win 7 64 bit with a 3.1 GHz i5 with 8G of RAM. Installed reaper for 64 bit. My direct monitoring is crystal clear but crap through reaper. I am using the USB 2.0 cable that came with my interface and the xlr cable that came with my audio technica condenser mic. I have system sounds turned off and no other programs running while I have reaper up although on a few occasions I have had my browser open to try to trouble shoot while messing with everything.. My gain sits comfortably at the middle of its dial, not too pumped up. I have tried it almost full blast (although I quickly reduced it before even recording as it was waaay too sensitive) and at low and the lowest level. My phantom power is working just fine, and I have my mic line set to LINE although I have tried it set on INST and both yield the same result. My interface has 2 inputs and I have tried running through both.

---------- Update ----------

I also have my speakers turned OFF. They are through the actual speaker input, not USB speakers.
 
Make sure your monitor volume is not too high. I had this issue with a Presonus, had the volume over 90%, sounded like crap. turned it down below 75%, cleared it right up.

Worth a look.
 
You have not perchance got the buffers set down to a very low 32 samples say?

Otherwise try the stalwart uninstall AI drivers, run Ccleaner to clean the registry, download a fresh set of drivers (can be corrupted, happened to me) and start again.

Dave.
 
It is default on 32 samples. Should I change this? I am going to uninstall and reinstall right now. Thanks.
 
Thank you very much! I solved the problem.. I was installing the driver from the CD that came with the interface, after looking online I found a newer version. I deleted everything and ran ccleaner, restarted, then reinstalled. Now my recording is crystal clear. I really appreciate all of the advice everyone gave. Thanks all :-)
 
barnabus said:
Thank you very much! I solved the problem.. I was installing the driver from the CD that came with the interface, after looking online I found a newer version. I deleted everything and ran ccleaner, restarted, then reinstalled. Now my recording is crystal clear. I really appreciate all of the advice everyone gave. Thanks all :-)
Click to expand...

Super!
"I love it when a plan comes together"

Dave.
 
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