tech question

[soundmaster]

Right now, I'm doing really well with writing & mixing my own music, but I'm getting a lot of huming, buzzing, & grounding problems. (unwanted noise is a bad thing)!

& I'm not an expert when it comes to electronics, or anything electrical.
but My bass is making a lot of noise, the noise stops when I touch somthing metal on the bass, I assum that whould be a grounding problem!
My guitar is starting to do the same thing. I don't know if the outlet that my power strips are pluged into, is bad.

Does direct boxes help out in these situations, or hum eliminators. & I also see these power conditioners in the musician friend catalogs.
or is there any websites or books that can help me understand
about electronic etc, so I can fix the problem myself.
There isn't any good guitar techs in my area, that has the time to help me out.
& I also need help with understanding how the inotation on the guitat and bass work.
These problems seemed really small to me a one time, but now that I'm recording my own music, I realize how important quiet electronics are.
If I'm going to record my own music, I might as well learn how to repair my own eqipment.
Is there any hope for me?

 

[Guest]

soundmaster,

I'm a Electronics Technician and sometimes problems with all the crap I have hooked together can throw me. The main problem with most noise is ground problems of some sort. (ground loops, no ground, or poor ground) Make sure everything is grounded properly and no ground loops are present. This is where you have more than one path to ground. The links below have some good information in them. Go to the Guitar Tech section on the Ampage site. (check out the links there) Harmony Central has some ok stuff too. Sometimes it's going though your equipment piece by piece and eliminating one thing at a time to isolate the problem. A properly shielded guitar can do wonders. Also sometimes it's impossible to get rid of all noise. Like an amp cranked in a small room. I have found certain quiet positions in my room to stand or sit to record. And this changes depending on what quitar I'm using or pickup setup. Hopefully some others here can elaborate to help you out.

good luck

http://firebottle.com/ampage/
http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/