Crackles And Pops And Hiss On The Way In Through Mic

  • Thread starter Thread starter Doctor Varney
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Doctor Varney

Cave dwelling Luddite
I had my set up for making audio books - a new/ second hand dual core system with bags of memory and (long story short) I made an error in troubleshooting a power problem and blew the motherboard. So now I'm forced to default to a crappy HP Compaq system that a friend threw out to record on. I never really got chance to enjoy the dual core machine before I trashed the board so can't comment on how well it dealt with recording. It did seem a lot better than this though, from what I remember.

After a 5 week run in theatre, I thought I'd use the rest of my spare time and get stuck into my audio recording again and now can't seem to get a decent sound, which is frustrating. My mic is the KAM KDM400, going to my Behringer UB1204FX-Pro mixer and pre-amped halfway on the dial. My sound card is the E=MU 0404 internal and I'm using some pretty decent cables to connect, only the mic cable seems a bit dodgy but fine if I waggle the plug a bit. I'm trying to record into the Edison recorder in FL Studio 10. I've tried Audacity, briefly and it didn't make one ounce of difference to the sound.

The signal is strong and clear but I keep getting these crackles and then on occasion a lot of hiss. It took me a while to position my mic stand. I wanted it at the mix position because I like to be near the controls but the hum from the computer was unbearable (even though it's barely audible in the room, to my ears). So I've had to move the mic stand to the other side of the room. Then I listened in on headphones direct from the mixer and the hiss is quite strong.

I can gate some of the hiss using my limiter plugin and/ or using the 'gate noise' feature in the Edison recorder but I just can't seem to get rid of this infernal crackling.

I've tried latency compensation, fiddling with the buffer size etc and still this crackling sound whenever I try to record more than half a minute of audio. It seems to get worse the longer the sample. I only need to be recording at least 3-5 minutes of audio at a time but I can't predict when the crackling will start.

Any suggestions please? It's frustrating to be wasting so much time trying to get a half-decent result.

Thanks
 
Hey Dr.
You've observed the hiss at the mixer's output, so it's fair to say the hiss can be attributed to
Mic, cable, mixer, or environment.

As for the crackling, it could be a computer problem or it could come from the same place.
So, set up your mic and mixer and do the headphone test again, but this time do it for four or five minutes.
It'd be interesting (and essential to know) if the cracking comes from the same place.

Since you mentioned the mic connection being dodgy, I'd eliminate that problem immediately.
Try a new cable or a new input; Whichever causes the dodgy connection.



If you do all this and you don't hear the cracking, then do away with the mic and mixer completely.
Just plug any line level source straight into the EMU.
It could be a keyboard, synth, even an ipod.
Record that down for five minutes and you should at least know where your problems lie.

Also, if appropriate, make sure that all your drivers are bang up to date and the correct versions for your operating system.
Finally, if your EMU has a +4/-10 setting for line inputs, make sure it's set to whatever the behringer operates at.
 
Some things to try! Thank you, Steenamaroo. I'll do what you suggest and post back later. Cheers, mate!
 
Cool man.
Just be aware that with Behringer UB gear, there's probably a certain amount of hiss that's just gonna be there no matter what.

I'm not getting all down on Behringer *disclaimer*, but i had a ub**** desk that was pretty hissy at anything more than half way gain.

(I didn't swear there. I just can't remember the numbers.)
 
The hiss can be attributed to a fault and following steen's advice you should be able to find where the problem lies. When I had my old laptop I used to get loads of crackling when recording for more than a few minutes / recording multiple sources at once. I was using an E-MU tracker pre at that point and I attributed it to the factory RAM and use of the E-MU. I would suggest trying a different sound card to the E-MU and see if that stops the crackle that you get.
 
Thanks. I'm in no position to try a new sound card at this juncture due to cost. In the past and with other computers, it has not exhibited this crackle, so my money is on the computer not being powerful enough. The Behringer might well be imparting some hiss. I intend to try a line directly in to the sound card to see if I can eliminate it after trying another insert on the mixer.

I appreciate, too, that Behringer might not be the best on the market. I picked up the unit second hand and for about three or four years have been delighted with it in terms of the convenience it's given me.
 
I've had a breakthrough, guys.:thumbs up: I've eliminated pretty much all of the problems by experimenting but not in the ways I would have expected. First, I placed the mic stand to the right of the desk and it is very convenient for quick editing. Next I ramped up the gain on the mixer's physical gain to full and this has, to my surprise, eliminated the hiss. I really didn't expect a good result from using so much gain, but it is certainly by no means excessive. Then, on an impulse, I changed the digital input source from my sound card to ASIO4ALL and played with the buffer settings and this seems to have successfully reduced the crackling. I guess sometimes you just have to take some risks, when nothing sensible seems to be working. :listeningmusic:
 
Full marks DV, for:

1 Solving the problem; and
2 being prepared to experiment.

Great problem solving skills!
 
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