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Crackling!!

spectorbass83

spectorbass83

Jun 6, 2005
1,594
50
canada
#1
Sorry for this long post everyone, but I need your help..again!

Well my producer just got a new computer he is gonna use for recording. After some experimenting with recording some guitar tracks, we listened to them and heard some crackling noises coming from the speakers. We are using Cool edit, M-Audio Delta 1010 interface and a Behringer 16 channel mixer. We are using a Behringer 4x12 cabinet (400W) and a Peavey Transtube 100W SS head. The guitar is an Ibanez RG.

On the old computer we had no problems with any crackling...now when we recorded with the new computer and played back some tracks we found the crackling. We also played back some older tracks that we recorded using the older computer and the crackling was there.

After testing out a few different mics - SM57, Apex mid-sized condensor mic and Apex overhead pencil condensor - we found that only the SM57 did not give us any static, the others did. This creates a problem because we want to use two mics to record guitar, but once we add a 2nd mic we get that blasted crackling!

Another weird thing is that when we first start up Cool Edit and record a track we get no problems. When we record another take, we get static, crackles n' pops. This makes me think it's the software..

If you wanna hear what I am talking about, listen to the track on this website - Link Removed
That track was recorded with a different guitar amp, but we get the same results with both guitar set ups.

What do you think is causing this problem? What would you recommend doing to fix it?
 
#2
What's the difference between the old computer and new? Is it possible that the sampling/bitrate is set differently and no one's checked after the re-install? Is it an off-brand motherboard, possibly with limited bandwidth through the USB/Firewire/Whatever interface your using?


Another possibility is that there's just too much midrange information in the tracks, if it only happens when you start adding tracks. More info, please?
 
#3
jabberwock777 said:
What's the difference between the old computer and new? Is it possible that the sampling/bitrate is set differently and no one's checked after the re-install? Is it an off-brand motherboard, possibly with limited bandwidth through the USB/Firewire/Whatever interface your using?


Another possibility is that there's just too much midrange information in the tracks, if it only happens when you start adding tracks. More info, please?
Click to expand...

Thanks for your response....

New pc has an Asus motherboard. CPU is 3x the speed of old one, with double the ram. It is using the same harddrive to read/write the music. The old mother board was actually known as a less-stable one.

This system is using XPHome, old one was XPPro.

The audio card is the same.

Where do you change the bitrate. We have experimented with
different buffer sample settings with the Delta's control panel.
What is "midrange information"???

Thanks again for your help!
 
#4
By "midrange information" I mean, the midrange. Between 1khz and 6khz. If every instrument (distorted guitars are really notorious for this) occupies the same set of frequencies, it will add up, and even though individually they're not peaking, as soon as the mix goes through the master faders (in a DAW or hardware mixer) there'll be a ton of clipping, audible as distortion.


In short, it sounded to me like the guitars had way too much midrange, and as soon as you started adding more overdubs on you started clipping. Try dialing down some of the midrange frequencies in the guitars, and other instruments. Just a db here or there, gradually, and see if anything changes.

Unfortunately, I don't know much about the software driving the Delta 10/10, so I can't help you there. I don't really think the new motherboard is responsible, but occasionally I hear horror stories of someone who "upgraded" with a cheap Chinese knock-off and runs into strange problems like you describe. Asus wouldn't do that.


The bitrate shouldn't be a problem, either, but the recording software you're using, and the Delta's own software mixer (all audio cards have them) should allow you to change the bit/sample rate. Good luck.
 
#5
Sounds like a mis-configured driver to me!
Experiment with different buffer sizes in the Delta's
control panel. This is NOT a recording problem - otherwise
your old tracks would play just fine!
 
#7
Okay, so after trying some of the things everyone suggested we decided to try and record with another program. We got a copy of a recording program called Sonar. We hooked everything up and voila! Crackling was gone! But, the plot thickens....

Last night we recorded drums, everything was going smoothly. Then we recorded bass, and it was crackle city all over again!!!! I am going crazy! What on earth could this be? Why would the crackling return once we recorded bass? Someone please help!
 

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