Please help... I have Tried everything!

[Courtchapp]

In a nut shell... I am suffering with a great deal of noise when I try to record my ukulele. I am using a high quality ukulele with a built in fishman pickup. I have replaced the jack cable with a Hugh quality replacement with metal ends. I have a new interface too, which is incredibly quiet and crisp when I record vocals via my condenser microphone.

The ukulele pick up works great and sounds very clean when plugged into an amp/speaker. I have taken apart the instrument and inspected all of its wiring etc and it's all in top shape with no breaks in its circuit or anything.

I have updated all drivers, checked ram etc. No problems found. I am using logic 9 if thst helps... I am not sure how to diagnose whether the problem is caused by such DAW/software.

I have also ensured that all wires are in (visually) good condition and have plugged them into the same output in the wall to avoid any extensions causing a grounding problem of some sort.

Please advise me in novice terms because I am no more than an amateur and do not understand technical terms what so ever. Would using a behinger hum destroyer get rid of the problem? If so, would this be bridged between my ukulele and the interface? I am out of ideas.

It may be worth noting that this noise isn't just when I record something, but once I plug the ukulele/jack into my interface. It can be heard through the headphones too once monitors are off.

I appreciate your help!!

 

[gecko zzed]

My guess is the noise comes through your using an unbalanced guitar cable form uke to interface, and it is picking up a mess of interference, probably from the computer itself.

You actually have described a very adequate solution to the probem in your post.

Why not record the uke using your mike? That is bound to give you better quality sound than the pickup, and you will not have the hum.

While pick-ups are delivering very good results these days, and I am grateful for them when doing live sound, using a mike is nearly always better. The exception is when the pick-up itself is actually a mike.

 

[VMaxdog]

Is the pickup line out or Hi-Z? You need to match the two to your interface. And, just because you looked at the wires etc. means nothing. You have to test them. You can get a cheap outlet tester for under $10 and it will tell you voltage and it will also show if the wires are in the right places and if the ground is working. Also, the pickup may be microphonic. But something is telling me that you have a setting on your DAW/effects set to cause the issue. I've been up against this before and it's always like "duh, I forgot to turn down knob X..."

 

[RFR]

Is it hum or noise?

Just a thought but maybe you need a seperate preamp to run the fisman into.

If you have a good condensor mic, why not mic the Uke?
If it is actually a high quality instrument, recording via a mic rather than using the Fishman should sound much much better.

Edit: gekko beat me to it.
But a mic is superior to the pickup. Pickups are very useful for live use, but an acoustic instrument properly miced is always superior for recording.

 

[ecc83]

Do not FFS buy any "hum destroyers" mains conditioners or any other such hyped tripe. They rarely do any good, can make noise worse and in rare cases are downright dangerous!

Make and model of interface please. Model of Fishman pup please! I also suspect it is a passive device and the AI is not working well with it in some way. Passive acoustic guitar pickups should "see" a very high impedance, 5 to 10 meg Ohms otherwise the bass end is poor but for a uke? The 1 meg common guitar input should give decent, low noise results I would have thought?

Can you post a half minute MP3 (320kps if poss) attachment so we can have a harken?

Dave.

 

[Pinky]

Make and model of interface please. Model of Fishman pup please! I also suspect it is a passive device and the AI is not working well with it in some way. Passive acoustic guitar pickups should "see" a very high impedance, 5 to 10 meg Ohms otherwise the bass end is poor but for a uke? The 1 meg common guitar input should give decent, low noise results I would have thought?

Along the lines of what Dave is suggesting, make sure the input on the interface has NO phantom power enabled. If there's a toggle for mic or instrument, use the instrument option.

I have a volume pedal that acts wonky if phantom power is enabled. I even returned it thinking it was defective, then when I got the second one and it did the same thing I started looking elsewhere for a cause.

 

[Courtchapp]

My guess is the noise comes through your using an unbalanced guitar cable form uke to interface, and it is picking up a mess of interference, probably from the computer itself.

You actually have described a very adequate solution to the probem in your post.

Why not record the uke using your mike? That is bound to give you better quality sound than the pickup, and you will not have the hum.

While pick-ups are delivering very good results these days, and I am grateful for them when doing live sound, using a mike is nearly always better. The exception is when the pick-up itself is actually a mike.

I will try to reply to these responses as clearly as possible per feedback/suggestion.

I have tried multiple jack leads from my ukulele to my interface, the most recent being a brand new fender lead.

Currently, I am recording via microphone however, I often pick up unwanted noise such as rubbing on clothing, house mates moving around and so on and so, came to the conclusion that recoeding via pickup would eradicate such regular issues.

 

[Courtchapp]

Is the pickup line out or Hi-Z? You need to match the two to your interface. And, just because you looked at the wires etc. means nothing. You have to test them. You can get a cheap outlet tester for under $10 and it will tell you voltage and it will also show if the wires are in the right places and if the ground is working. Also, the pickup may be microphonic. But something is telling me that you have a setting on your DAW/effects set to cause the issue. I've been up against this before and it's always like "duh, I forgot to turn down knob X..."

I am not sure what 'line out' or 'hi-z' is? Please explain? I will look at some outlet testers. Could you possibly provide me with a link to a recommended product?

I have a great feeling that the problem is most likely coming from my software for sure. I have looked around at settings and cannot figure it out!

 

[Courtchapp]

Is it hum or noise?

Just a thought but maybe you need a seperate preamp to run the fisman into.

If you have a good condensor mic, why not mic the Uke?
If it is actually a high quality instrument, recording via a mic rather than using the Fishman should sound much much better.

Edit: gekko beat me to it.
But a mic is superior to the pickup. Pickups are very useful for live use, but an acoustic instrument properly miced is always superior for recording.

I will attach a short recording tomorrow so you can hear the noise and avoid any confusion.

I admire the sound when recoeding via micorphone but struggle with house mates closing doors, walking around and simply living within close proximity of my 'studio'. Thus making it near impossible to get a quiet environment.

This being said, if the conditions were the latter and i had absolute wuietness, i would still seek the solution to this problem because im determined and stubborn! Lol

 

[Courtchapp]

Do not FFS buy any "hum destroyers" mains conditioners or any other such hyped tripe. They rarely do any good, can make noise worse and in rare cases are downright dangerous!

Make and model of interface please. Model of Fishman pup please! I also suspect it is a passive device and the AI is not working well with it in some way. Passive acoustic guitar pickups should "see" a very high impedance, 5 to 10 meg Ohms otherwise the bass end is poor but for a uke? The 1 meg common guitar input should give decent, low noise results I would have thought?

Can you post a half minute MP3 (320kps if poss) attachment so we can have a harken?

Dave.

No hum destroyer, understood.

Interface is a scarlett 2i4 2nd gen. Kula fishman pickup. I am not entirely sure what you've just said. Sorry for my lack of knowledge...

Yes I will post a short clip demonstrating such noise.

 

[Courtchapp]

Along the lines of what Dave is suggesting, make sure the input on the interface has NO phantom power enabled. If there's a toggle for mic or instrument, use the instrument option.

I have a volume pedal that acts wonky if phantom power is enabled. I even returned it thinking it was defective, then when I got the second one and it did the same thing I started looking elsewhere for a cause.

I have tried both with and without phantom power... and i have tried both 'Line' and 'instrument' options too. Nothing eradicates such problem.

 

[gecko zzed]

If you don't find a solution to the noise when using a lead, you have two choices:

1 noise all the time from the system
2 noise part of the time from outside the system

Personally, I would go for 2. Go for a better quality sound and pick the times to record. Or tell them to shut up.

 

[ecc83]

Is it perhaps the USB version of these two?

Kula Ukulele Onboard Preamp System OEM | Fishman

If so you can plug it straight into the PC. Note, should have the USB connected AND a jack lead there is every possibility of a conflict of some sort.

I await a clip with interest. Sorry about the jargon! Always difficult to know where to pitch things.

Dave.