Recording artifacts

  • Thread starter Thread starter dlenaghan
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dlenaghan

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Hi guys,

Well, where to begin.. am I a noob? More or less. But looking over a lot of the stickies, a few things come to mind - I'm working on a very small budget for a very simple purpose, and I've been on the playing/performing end of music for about 17 years in various respects, from total middle-school 4-track plastic Sony tape recorders to a recent band effort put through one of the best studios we could find here in Seoul. ('Arne von Brill' over at Bandcamp for those interested in garage rock. I tried to post a URL but it looks like I've got to do some posting before I'm allowed to do that.)

But I'm here to ask what I'm sure must be a totally basic question, and I lack the proper vocabulary. I've been through recording glossaries online, and asked around over at TalkBass, where I'm a supporting member, no dice yet.

I'm doing a solo instrumental minimalist project in the vein of composers like Steve Reich, Philip Glass, John Cage, and so forth.. Monophone, my solo project over at Bandcamp, is my example. (Another URL I can't post yet, but it's just Monophone((dot))bandcamp((dot))com)

There's a recording artifact that is especially prominent over low-frequency clean signals, perhaps if only because more complex harmonics mask it - it sounds like a high pitched digitized whistle.

My setup is basic, and the artifact only appears on the computer (Audacity) and during playback (pretty sure, I'm so wiped out now I'm having trouble remembering - oh the life of an elementary school teacher); 1970/72 Guild JS-II bass to a signal chain (Sansamp> Arion Parametric EQ > Boss PQ-3B > TC Electronic Vibrato > Fuzzrocious Grey Stache > Sansamp GT2 > EAR AD4096 > TC Electronic Flashback delay), to a Hartke combo amp (I think it's an A-25, great for the price point) which I DI into a Korg D4 digital 4-track.

I've balanced the overall levels and the signal never clips (there are one or two deviations, but most of the clipping that does exist is intentional), and frankly I'm quite pleased with the overall quality of the recording (the Korg D4 is set to its highest quality setting, I just tried to find a bitrate for you guys but there's literally nothing in the manual), and I'd be set if I could just get rid of this bass-induced whistle!

I'm sure you've heard it; it's all over YouTube. Even Ed Friedland's gear demos have this artifact. I'm stumped and I don't even know what to call it so I can hardly begin to troubleshoot.

Well, I'd appreciate any advice you could give, and enjoy the tunes. Arne von Brill is good for Saturday night mayhem, Monophone is better for Sunday night 'sad bastard' music, as John Cusack said in High Fidelity. Awesome movie.

Cheers,

Dan
 
Not sure about the 'artifact' you are referencing, but if it is a high pitch, can you not just remove it with a narrow-band parametric EQ?
 
I don't think so... though I'll work through some filtering options on the Korg D4, which has a few. It seems like this artifact (did you take a listen to the Monophone page? The whistle/buzz thing I'm talking about is pretty apparent) is actually produced during the recording process. It's absolutely absent while I'm playing - it's not a product of the amp, the instrument, or the signal chain. It's not 60 cycle hum or ungrounded electronics.
 
Post some more (you only need 10 and there's a special thread set up for it) and then post a link direct to your problematic file and you'll find people will be more likely to help...
 
I listened to just a little of each track. Ellipsis has a noise at the start which sounds like a ground problem. I did not hear the same noise on the other tracks, so not sure that's what you are referring to.
 
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I don't hear a whistle but i hear ugly distortion (IMO), and loadsa fret buzz.

Could you maybe pin point an example for us?
 
No, the noise at the beginning of Ellipsis is just ground noise, so I hear what you're talking about. It's most evident at the beginning of 'Rereich', and instead of a continuous sound (like the ground noise, which persists even when there is no input signal) it accompanies the low frequency signals conspicuously. It's like a very high pitched, very digital sounding layer over the low frequency input and it stops as soon as the low frequency input does, and returns when that low frequency is looped.

The other noise, the white noise, and ground noise, I'm aware of all that as well and while parts of it I'd like to have less of, I'd have to rewire my whole house to do so.

So, specifically, the track 'Rereich', right off the bat, when the low frequency signal plays. I don't know how else to describe it except that it's like a digitized, whistley layer in what sounds like only a very high frequency range which only seems to accompany very low frequency tones - mids and other high don't seem to produce it. Adam Nitti over at TalkBass has suggested a shielding issue with low quality cables, or possibly between the USB and audio channels on the computer I use, which is admittedly a low-end ASUS netbook which I'm sure was not manufactured with components anywhere near approaching audiophile quality.

As for the fret noise - I wish there was more of it in modern music. I've really come to despise clean tones, which is why I'n not especially bothered by the ground noise. It's this one particular thing i want to get rid of or prevent. It's also very prominent at 4:17 in Rereich, you can skip right to it if you'd rather not suffer my lofi minimalism. ;-)

I'll get some posts up, but I'm just starting to navigate the forum - besides, I don't want to just weigh in on things I know nothing about, which pretty much sums up what I know about (home especially) recording.
 
OK, I heard that, but wasn't sure if it was something you wanted! Isolate the cause. Start by getting rid of all the pedals/FX in your signal chain. Then add 1 by 1 to see if it's any of them. With all those pieces, cables and power supplies, you're ripe for noise-making.
 
Got a possible solution: Instead of going amp > DI into Korg D4, I went end of signal chain > Korg D4 > amp input.

No artifacts.

I don't know if the amp is contributing, or maybe the cable is just very poor quality.

Harder to play this way because the Korg seems to cramp the sound a bit and I have to adjust more parameters to get a clean sound, and the dynamic range is reduced, but it's clean in the recording. A good start, I think.
 
Well.. almost no artifacts. Diminished in volume and overall presence. So much for that.
 
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