Super loud hum when I turn up the gain....?

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Keyz316

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Hi -

I just wired up my home studio, and for some reason I'm getting a super loud hum if I turn my mixer's Main Mix past unity gain. There's no problem unless I do that. Of course I instantly pulled back the gain to avoid damaging my stuff :D

Here's my setup:
Mackie 1202 VLZ Pro
Echo Mia soundcard
4 Monster Studiolink 500 patch TRS-to-TRS cables (to/from soundcard)
Yorkville YSM1p active nearfield monitors

I have the cables plugged into the mixer as such:
Line-In 11-12 goes to the Echo Mia left and right outputs (so what comes out of the computer is heard through the monitors)
Main Out goes to the Echo Mia left and right inputs (so that what's going through the mixer is recorded to the computer)
Control Room Out is going to the pair of Yorkville monitors

I also have some other gear, but the loud hum happens with or without it plugged in so that's not it.

Anyhow - I "really" don't know what I'm doing haha... I've probably created some horrible loop or something I'm not supposed to do hehe... so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

-- Dave
 
haha my bad -

I think I was supposed to have the monitors plugged into "Main Out" and the soundcard's inputs into "Control Room"
Or maybe I have the in's and out's backwards on control room as well hehe... bah... I'll get it.... I hope :D

Still, guidance would be excellent.. so if you have any tips I'm all ears.

Thanks.
 
I'm not sure about your setup, but it would be more normal to have your "control room out" go to your monitors, or monitor amp.

Your main outs would go to a 2 track recording deck. If you have more than 2 tracks available, you would use channel direct outs.

Returns back from your recording equipment should take up a block of channel inputs.
 
It sounds like you probably have a feedback loop. If the soundcard outputs are going to channels that are being sent to the main outs then they are going back into the soundcard and causing the feedback. You can mute the channels in your software so they don't play while you are recording. Since you are monitoring off of the mixer directly you don't need to hear the tracks coming out of the computer while you record them. Only send prerecorded tracks back to the mixer not the live track you are recording.

You could use the Alt 3/4 buss for sending signals to the soundcard so the main buss and control room are only for monitoring. Or you could use the Inserts to send the signals directly.

There are a lot of options but once you understand the principles you will see the advantages of doing it the different ways.
 
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