Acousticism

kvngermain · Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 2:23 am Post subject: noise in my recorder - any tips?

Well, I've reseurrected my 4track, got some mikes, ect. I've hooked it up to my iMac, and I've discovered I have a bit of noise now - pops and clicks. It is subtle, but noticable. I've isolated it and I am pretty sure the source is in the iMac.

What would you do? Do you think I should open it up and blow out any dust?
_________________
My soundclick page!
Watch my vids on youtube!
Or.... read my blog

soupbone for murder · Town Drunk Joined: 08 Jul 2006 Posts: 34

OK I know this may sound rediculous but I'm gonna suggest it anyway. I was having the same problem and after researching it I found a couple of folks suggested that it may be the ground in the electrical plug. After trying the other suggestions that didn't seem stupid I tried it......and it worked. I got a 2 pronged adapter and haven't had a problem since. Now Im no electrician or techie, but Im sure if something has a ground its for a reason so do this at your own risk. I swap mine back and forth as needed (I know, what a pain right?), but hey it works. Good luck.

kvngermain · Posted: Sat Jul 22, 2006 1:45 am Post subject:

huh.... thats so crazy it just might work... I'll try it. Thanks!
_________________
My soundclick page!
Watch my vids on youtube!
Or.... read my blog

wilcosky · Posted: Sat Jul 22, 2006 2:42 am Post subject:

kvngermain · Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 12:21 pm Post subject:

hmmm! ok! Good point, I forgot about that, that the power line itself has noise, thts probally more likely.
_________________
My soundclick page!
Watch my vids on youtube!
Or.... read my blog

kvngermain · Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2006 2:35 am Post subject:

well, I haven't gotten any filters for my power, but I downloaded audacity onto my laptop and started some work from there instead of my iMac.

eeww, I don't really care for audacity, and not only that I starting to figure out I don't even like to record! This doesn't bode well =(

I dunno how you all do it, but trying to record into the various things I have really seems to suck the life right out of it. I really do prefer live playing.

Most of you folks here have got some great sounding recordings, how did you manage to capture the essence of your tunes? How long does it take you generally? I just killed about 4 hours and I'm still not very happy with the results.
_________________
My soundclick page!
Watch my vids on youtube!
Or.... read my blog

Troubador222 · Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2006 5:16 pm Post subject:

Kevin, I dont record well on my own. All my songs on my SC site were recorded at a studio with my friend and bandmate Dustin Hapli doing the engineering. The one exception is Ride a Comet to the Sun which I did record at home and had a lot of technical problems. I get a sound drop out every time I record something right around 3 min, 40 sec into a recording. I hid it in the recording on SC just by joining the wav.s together, but you can hear it if you listen closely. It is a frustrating thing. I am going to buy a stand alone digital recorder when I get a few bucks ahead. Unfortunatly there is a long list for things wanting my money, including my daughters wedding this fall. It may be a while.

I did enjoy the recording process when we were in the studio. Hap made things work smoothly.Working with a recording engineer its enjoyable.

wilcosky · Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2006 5:53 pm Post subject:

rey · I've got Rhythm Joined: 04 Jul 2006 Posts: 45 Location: Ca

Kevin, recording is a labor of love and you need to have the right equipment to do it correctly. Unlees your willing to spend alot of time messing with computer and software I would consider getting away from that format. (My friend Jim Miller is a wiz at this stuff and the results are stunning.)
It's very time consuming and tedious and and it does suck the life out of you. Unless your into big productions and the like I would look into a small stand alone recorder.
I use one and it has brought life back into my recordings and it's fun again

My number one rule is to play all my tracks in one take, no slicing, no dicing, no wave editing!

That makes it fun and challenging and I just push the red button and go!

This is a very interesting topic.
_________________
Yippie a new board for me to visit and maybe move into......

kvngermain · Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2006 1:03 am Post subject:

Hmmm, a ground loop isolator?? Thought I heard of everything... Okay, I'll try that.

Thanks Rey, point well taken. Well, for me, I do want to expand my possibilities, as in playing for larger audiences, and with my style of music I think it will help if I can have something decent to offer as a product, hence trying to record. So, whether I like or not, i eventually have to get used to this. Especially since I can't afford real studio time... Fortunatly, I do not need to lay down a bunch of tracks, just one or two guitars and voice.

That said, I have had some luck recording some of my non-guitar instruments, I play a few things actually. I wonder if any of you wouldn't mind listening to this one recording with an eye to production. It is a striaght forward middle eastern classical piece, that I play on the Oud - which is like the classical guitar, sort of. (the strings are nylon) I am wondernig how to get rid of the sounds of my fingers on the strings especially:

Acem Kurdi Peshrev

thanks!
_________________
My soundclick page!
Watch my vids on youtube!
Or.... read my blog

warmer · I'm Ready to Play! Joined: 03 Aug 2006 Posts: 4

Another, safer way of getting rid of ground loops is to get a DI box with a earth lift, use this on your way into the computer. Most good Audio shops should be able to advise you on what one you need.

Recording yourself I find is the hardest thing to do it takes me ages to get anything done because I am always changing things. Recording other people is much easier as you more detached from the music.