Grateful Dead Music Forum

I have done some recordings from my computer, and i just cant seem to get any good quality like alot of peoples music ive heard which was recorded the same way. i use sonar 4 producer edition and it seems to work just fine but i always get an annoying buzz that i cant seem to get rid of. i tried a very nice noise gate my friend borrowed me but it only helps when im not playing, and things played lightly dont come through as good. my mic level is turned all the way down and the sound comes through the best, but still not good. is there anyone who has a little more experience? BTW, my sound card is the "stock" one that came in in maybe its just that but id like to get a few more jams on the internet ive worked out recently, any advice to get this to sound a little better? and if it is my sound card etc. what kind of equipment do you recomend on the average joe's budget?

First check or replace the cables, any connectors or adapters you might be using.

What are you plugging your microphone/instruments into? If you are using USB direct mics or the stock soundcard that's likely the issue. I highly recommend getting a USB/Firewire interface lika an M-Audio or a Tascam. It will make a world of difference and they only cost about $150 or so on ebay.

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Another problem could be your pickups. If you use a CRT monitor your pickups will get a lot of hum. Especially if you are using single coil. angle the guitar away from the monitor see if it helps

Or caused by a bad ground in the computer. try a different plug

!!Good Luck!!

FWIW I use the M-Audio fast track usb.

hey thanks alot everyone, i just changed the cables i was using and it made a difference but i think the pickups could be a problem as was said before. i know when im playing, there will be a small buzz, but if i put my hand on the metal volume knob it "grounds out" BTW, i did get new pots installed at a shop so i didnt think he did it wrong but i also got those new metal knobs the same day. ive been looking on the bay for one of those USB interfaces, i thought they were way more expensive than that. i appreciate the help! kind advice as always

how do you like that fasttrack gratefulbluez?

I was having problems with it and the abelton software recently but I seemed to have fixed it for now, hopefully it doesnt act up again.

I really like the reason-ableton combo when recording/making music on your computer. It seems i havent quite graduated to the Pro-Tools level yet..

alright, no responses....


what about:

what are the differences between the fasttrack pro and the mbox and which do you prefer

I use an M-Audio firewire solo - pretty inexpensive and works great. Not really any discernible lag.

squire758 wrote:i think the pickups could be a problem as was said before. i know when im playing, there will be a small buzz, but if i put my hand on the metal volume knob it "grounds out" BTW, i did get new pots installed at a shop so i didnt think he did it wrong but i also got those new metal knobs the same day.

There are people here with tons more experience than I have, but given what you said above, I would check the grounding on your sheilding. Seems like a bad ground wire or bad connection there could cause exactly what you described.

weirimpressed wrote:how do you like that fasttrack gratefulbluez?

I have been totally unhappy with everything I have done for the last year or so and I have not recorded with the Fast-track or anything else. I was having latency problems probably due to a full hard with lots of plugins and it just got frustrating. Mostly due to myself causing problems.

That being said, I do like the Fast-track when I have it working properly. I didnt do alot of multi tracks, just simple beats, a rhythm guitar and some solo type fills.
It worked great for my limited use I would recomennd it, it is easy enough if I can use it. . .
I use Apple's Garageband and guitar-rig 2 plugins mostly I never got the software that came with it to work very well it was buggy for me.
I have been seriously been needing to work with it again because I have some videos that need sound tracks. I am just being lazy i guess. I have an acoustic I wanna plug into it.
Good luck

I would recommend just diving in an learning protools. Now having said that i am a total amateur and still do not totally have the punch in punch out and basic editing down. But the sound quality with good mics is pretty great.

I recenyly worked my way through a lot of bugs/problems I was having with the Fasttrack, but now it is ON! I love it, great quality, can do what I need and it gets the job done. Im running the SM58 for vocals, and the SM57s on the congos/electric/acoustic guitar. its great, I feel like Im learning a lot and cant wait to move to protools.

good luck getting yours working, its worth it to at least try again!

To take this briefly in another direction, I have been using a Zoom H2 Handy Recorder for band practices and the thing sounds great with its built-in mics. I then drag the file(s) into my PC and use Audacity to chop them into separate songs. Works great.

Sorry for the hijack.