Recording artifacts

dlenaghan · #1 12-12-2011, 12:05 AM

Hi, and let me thank you for joining the forum in this capacity; I think I can speak for all of us when say I'm grateful to talk to a working, gigging bassist about the ins and outs of music and its process.

I apologize if this is basic ignorance, but I've exhausted the search function and Google, and because of your experience as arecording artist. I also probably don't know exactly what to look for, and I have yet to find a recording glossary on the web that isn't just a repository of the author's perceived wittiness, so here goes -

I've just gotten into home recording, using the DI out from a small Hartke combo to a Korg D4 digital 4 track, which I put into Audacity. All in all, I'm pleased with the quality of the results, especially for a first try. However, there's a sonic artifact of some kind that appears, I think from the Korg (which is set to maximum quality, the signal doesn't clip, etc) that almost sounds like a high-pitched digitized whistle. I've heard this casually referred to on forums as 'microphonic', but this term has turned up no useful information. Do you know what I'm talking about? It even happens on Ed Friedland's videos, though I don't know enough about his setup to know if his stuff is mic'd or DI, or what sort of gear he uses. It seems like a VERY common artifact on almost all YouTube videos, whether they are mic'd or DI.

Here's a link to the project I'm referring to, and you'll notice it's most prominent over clean, low-frequency signals, perhaps if only because the harmonics of higher frequencies or more complex sounds might mask it.

I'm really hoping to produce some listenable material (I can see many arguing with my content and structure, but that's not really what I'm worried about here - I love Steve Reich enough to know what I'm doing can work), and I don't have a big budget to work with. These artifacts never show up as I play - they are only apparent upon listening to the playback.

Any suggestions about editing it out, or preventing it in the first place, and what conditions cause it would be of great help to me.

Thanks so much,

Dan

waleross · #2 12-12-2011, 01:52 AM

Two years ago I bought a Korg D3200, which got me started. Now I just use an ZoomH4n and a Canon Vixia Camcorder. These last two allow me to record my ideas until I get to the studio where I let the engineer do his craft. I rehearse more and concentrate on the music , so when I get to the studio I am ready to go. I am pleased that I didn't go overboard by buying more recording stuff. The studio is light years ahead of me and always upgrading. It became a black hole and I didn't want to spend $$ on an imperfect home studio and then spend more to have it mixed in a studio.....The example you link to is very good and perhaps you will be able to reach your goals at home. Reminds me of Moby, who has his own recording studio in his apartment in NYC, but then that is him and I am just me....best of luck in your endeavors....

dlenaghan · #3 12-12-2011, 05:44 PM

Thanks for the encouragement! If I can deal with the whistle/artifact I'm talking about, I'll be set, I think.. Some of my favorite albums were recorded on the cheap, so it's just a matter of diagnosing the issue and working around it for me.

adamnitti · #4 12-13-2011, 09:03 AM

hi dan-

i'm definitely hearing the sound you are referring to on that recording. it's like a digital noise that is very high-pitched. it actually sounds very similar to the noise i get from my headphone output on my macbook pro if i have an external hard drive connected to the machine. i've done some research on my issue and it seems it comes down to less-than-adequate shielding between the data connections and audio connections on the motherboard... (fwiw, youtube videos are almost never going to be a good example of pristine sound reproduction in any configuration, as file compression and resampling, etc will significantly reduce the quality of what you hear when once it has been uploaded online like that.)

are you using an external audio interface, or are you just running the output of the D4 to your computer's audio input? if you are doing the latter, there is a very good chance that that is where your noise is coming from. built-in audio inputs and outputs on computers are not known for being of the highest quality, and as i mentioned before, i even have this issue on my laptop... the way to get around those types of issues is to use an external audio interface that has its own shielded inputs and outputs.

hope that helps!

adam

Quote:

Originally Posted by dlenaghan

Hi, and let me thank you for joining the forum in this capacity; I think I can speak for all of us when say I'm grateful to talk to a working, gigging bassist about the ins and outs of music and its process.

I apologize if this is basic ignorance, but I've exhausted the search function and Google, and because of your experience as arecording artist. I also probably don't know exactly what to look for, and I have yet to find a recording glossary on the web that isn't just a repository of the author's perceived wittiness, so here goes -

I've just gotten into home recording, using the DI out from a small Hartke combo to a Korg D4 digital 4 track, which I put into Audacity. All in all, I'm pleased with the quality of the results, especially for a first try. However, there's a sonic artifact of some kind that appears, I think from the Korg (which is set to maximum quality, the signal doesn't clip, etc) that almost sounds like a high-pitched digitized whistle. I've heard this casually referred to on forums as 'microphonic', but this term has turned up no useful information. Do you know what I'm talking about? It even happens on Ed Friedland's videos, though I don't know enough about his setup to know if his stuff is mic'd or DI, or what sort of gear he uses. It seems like a VERY common artifact on almost all YouTube videos, whether they are mic'd or DI.

Here's a link to the project I'm referring to, and you'll notice it's most prominent over clean, low-frequency signals, perhaps if only because the harmonics of higher frequencies or more complex sounds might mask it.

I'm really hoping to produce some listenable material (I can see many arguing with my content and structure, but that's not really what I'm worried about here - I love Steve Reich enough to know what I'm doing can work), and I don't have a big budget to work with. These artifacts never show up as I play - they are only apparent upon listening to the playback.

Any suggestions about editing it out, or preventing it in the first place, and what conditions cause it would be of great help to me.

Thanks so much,

Dan

dlenaghan · #5 12-13-2011, 10:08 PM

Shielding! Damn, that makes a lot of sense. I don't run audio into the computer, but it's an inexpensive cable DI into the D4, so it may happen there, and from the D4 I just transfer the mp2 via USB and import directly into audacity. I may have to upgrade my cables.

Thanks. I will certainly give this a try.

dlenaghan · #6 12-16-2011, 03:18 AM

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.