Karaoke Forums

Here's my little issue:

I'm trying to record guitar onto my PC. I've done this many times before, but something kinda wierd is going on.

I have an accoustic/electric...... and a couple other accoustics as well....... I've recorded all 3 onto my PC.

There's always been the slightest bit of a "hum" in the recording when using my pickup on the acc/elec one. Now.... it's so annoying..... it drives me bonkers.

So, rather than use the built in pickup, I switched to using a sound hole pickup. Same thing. What's funny is, if I move away from the computer a bit, and turn my back to the computer, the hum is greatly reduced. Why would it do this?

The hum comes through my headphones, and IS on the recording as well, when I listen back to it. Of course, turning down the main volume or the input volume helps, but then the recording is too quiet. (and to raise the volume AFTER recording...... gets the same result)

Is is maybe cause I'm using the guitar jack plug in rather than the XLR one? Cause it does NOT have this hum when the mic is plugged in and I sing.

I'm using a small mixer plugged into my sound card.... headphones & everything comes off of that. I can plug the guitar into the Line in jack for mics.... If I try to plug it in to the left side of line in 2/3..... I can't get any volume from it.
Ummmm....... what else to tell ya? My guitar..... plays fine plugged into an amp, no hum. My sound hole pick up- I use it alot. (Dean Markley Pro Mag) So it's neither of those things. It's something I'm not doing right. Or shouldn't be trying.

Maybe this wasn't meant to record guitars with? (then why all the line ins?)

[schild=1 fontcolor=FF0000 shadowcolor=C0C0C0 shieldshadow=1]S.O.S.[/schild]

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

Go to homerecording.com

Register in their forums.....You shoulda already been a member...Those guys there are very helpful....They will walk you thru anything you want to do recording wise.

Make sure that you have the right recording levels, the gain on your mixer (little black rotating knob) should be just enough that your input does not clip. Also make sure that your channel input on the mixer is not at a higher input then the output slider of the mixer.
Here's an example:
the gain on your mixer @ 15%
channel input slider @ 25%
mixer master volume slider @ 50%

Another thing you should be looking at is the grounding of the pickup. Do you get more humm from the system when you take your hands of the strings? If that's the case, you have a grounding problem.

I think maybe I've been there, but maybe not...... I'll go check it out. Thank ya.  :wave:

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

Regarding the recording end of this lil Miz,  I think Keith, Karyoker, Lonman (who also plays guitar), and even Don Weiss have alot more recording knowledge than I do..  You will get some hum and electromagnetic interference on an actual pickup alot of the time.. I wonder if (although I'm not sure)  the monitor, or other components are causing a 60 cycle type electrical interference hum, might be flourescent lighting yet when you back away from the computer it subsides, so it sounds as if your computer, or something on your computer desk is causing electrical interference with your guitars pickup system.  When you are close to a microphone the soundhole of your guitar, would create a type of resonance that would feedback with a microphone very easily, especially depending on your settings.. soundhole feedback is notorious, and annoying too.  We used to have to stuff our semi-hollow guitars with foam and newspaper for the same reason,  The Gibson ES-330 model especially (missing the center block thru that the ES 335, 345, and 355 has) would scream near an amp.... hollow body guitars DO feed back alot.. so we'd fill the cavity with paper (stuffing it into the F holes) or even foam hoping to prevent the body from acting as a resonating chamber


THe best way to record your guitar and balance it depending on the type of onboard electronics it has.... are often using a Shure SM-57 or 58 in conjunction with your pickup settings... Yet that's thru a PA... When recording into a computer, I honestly don't know..... would you need a type of DI box or not ?  Don Weiss would likely know more,  as would Lonman, Keith, Karyoker...


Sorry,  I've never put acoustic guitar into computer before  
Yet my guess would be that since everything is within closer proximity of everything else given a computer systems peripheral devices.. An acoustic guitar might be a tougher thing to record with computer speakers or even headphone turned up.. and so close.   WIth a pa, the speakers loved to scream and hum when too close too with acoustic turned up. Yet now you have more electrical components close to you too, alot of electromagnetic interference.

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Ummm........ I don't have any "sliders" so I'll assume you mean the volume knobs.
But-gotcha- that little volume knob has for sure never been down to ANYwhere near 25% since I got it.  :shock:

But, the "ground"..... I actually do need to put a new pickup IN the guitar.... it used to hum when plugged into an amp.... and grabbing hold of the cord near the input would stop it.... but I'm not using that now. I'm using the sound hole one.  No difference if I'm touching the strings or not.... the only thing I've noticed that really makes an impact is turning AWAY from the computer.... it cuts it atleast in half.

??? I'll play with those things, thanks.

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

Charmin ~
The pickup is the problem.  If changing your position in the room makes the hum get  louder or go away than it's the pickup and/or it's cable causing the problem.
Plus the computer and monitor are going to generate a lot of interference that the pickup will catch.

Hmmm..... I'm sure most people DON'T record their guitars like I try to. I just wanted to find something that works for me- without having to deal with the hum. And I dunno why it's gotten worse it seems. Never heard of stuffing something in the guitar though..... funny as it sounds, I'll try that.

I get way better sound if recording it using my Shure SM57..... BUT..... when everyone is home (such as last night) and the house is not-so-quiet, I'd like to be able to do guitar tracks. And, well yanno, the Shure would pick them all up, the pickup wont. That's why I'm going back to this. I spent alot of time on it last night, jsut playing around. But then I nearly yanked my hair out trying to get a clean sound.

Yeah, If Don would ever get his tail back over here, maybe he COULD help. But I really don't know how much recording INTO a computer he's done either.

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

Well, then- WHY do I get the same thing if I use the built in pickup? Maybe they are BOTH bad?



Now here's an idea, why don't I just freakin' forget about ever recording my guitar again, and all will be well?  I figured that would give me something to do while I can't SING for crise sake. Maybe I'll just use the MP3 recorder, and then transfer that to the comp...... heck, I don't know.

Maybe just nevermind..... gawd, I hate stuff that don't *&#^@^ work right!!

_________________
♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

If you have a practice amp, you can mic it while you sort out the direct input issues.

Lil Mizz....How about not allowing the soundhole to get too close to the microphone, relocating the monitor further from the guitar, and making sure you don't have flourescent lights on nearby ?   I've gotten even electrical hum from wall electricity when my electrics PUs are turned up,  not to mention every radio station in the area ...HEHEHE..

You seem to have two main sources of hum....

assuming it's hum, and not buzz,  I'd think it's electrical interference when close to the desk AND resonance from your soundhole...  I've even put cardboard over the hole itself when gigging on acoustic to try to keep it from feeding back using a microphone... I wouldn't stuff your acoustic with anything, I'd reposition myself and not have the soundhole too close to the microphone for one..  the soundhole will really create alot of feedback looping

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

it's not that the pickup in the sound hole is bad and the built in pickup is bad.  It's just that some pickups are a lot touchier than others when it comes to picking up hum and interference.  Scott had this same kind of problem over at Albert's studio.
It's not uncommon.  Just position the guitar as far from the computer as necessary and sit at an angle that has the least hum.  This should solve the problem for now at least.  Then maybe look into a pickup and wiring that is less prone to these problems.

I'm wondering,  (and like I said I haven't a clue), assuming she's putting this into her Behringer passive mixer,  Can't she just move the whole setup further from her computer desk away from electrical and speakers ?

Lil Mizz,   do you have anything like an onboard Fishman transducer system, or piezo pickups that might feedback less than your soundhole pickup,  they can be tough...I've had those scream on me...


I think as a few have said you are working with more than one source of extraneous noise....  Electrical interference, AND feedback are the probs...  often a soundhole pickup is tougher to use than the piezo onboard systems....


Yet computer recording, and acoustic guitar work aren't my strong area... I've done acoustic work, and know what you are dealing with in terms of noise...But I will defer once again to the techs here...  Don know's his stuff,  Karyoker is away for a few days. Keith knows his stuff....yet when it comes to PC recording... I haven't a clue...

_________________
Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Another very usefull tool in the studio for recording guitars is a DI to match impedances and eliminate hums.

Here's some info on acoustic guitar recording that might interest you.
"Getting a faithful reproduction of an acoustic guitar or bass takes a good deal of patience to master. Generally speaking, don't put the mic directly in front of the sound hole... it'll usually get too muddy. I find that it works better to put the mic either ahead of or behind the sound hole, and aimed towards it. An SM-57 will give you a good tone with enough experimenting, although I prefer a more expensive and transparent condenser. Acoustic guitars also seem to respond very nicely with a room mic to pick up the ambience, or just use a single mic far enough away to pick up both the guitar and the room's reflections.  If you'll be distant micing, it's better to use a large diagphragm condensor in omni mode.  This will give you the most natural sound of the guitar's interaction with the room.  For obvious reasons, you'll need a very quiet area to record this way.    


Try an X-Y mic setup on an acoustic, and pan the resulting channels a little left and right of center.  This provides a full sound without being too wide.  An X-Y pattern is using 2 of the same mics with the capsules about 1" apart.  The body's of the mics will point away from each other at an angle between 75* and 120*.  Record this to a stereo track. "

Some more tips for recording acoustic guitars

"Get down on your knees and position your ear as if it were the microphone while somebody else is playing the guitar. Move your ear around to find "sweet spots"."

"Try this on for size. Use a guitar with a built-in pick up and a microphone to boot. You will undoubtedly get some phase anomalies, but that's part of the sound. Experiment with moving the mic closer and farther. That will affect the phase relationship of the two sound sources. Sooner or later, you'll hit on something that will put a smile on your face. You can pan the two signals left and right to get a broad stereo sound, but make sure that if you check the sound in mono, that there's still some signal left."

Shyguy,  Can you give me an idea of a decent DI box to compress bass with when I go into my Tascam MK 424 tape studio ?  I must have a DI for bass..  ANy idea's of a decent unit ?   affordable ?

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

, let's start talking about affordable? That could keep us busy for a while.
Anyhow, I use the Radial ProDI Passive Direct Box, slighly more expensive then the Behringer @ $40 but virtually noise free.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/ ... sku=153915

Oh my gosh, atleast speak my language people, you may as well b writing:

LKSJDJHSDFHSDFIDF!! And then, LKSJDLKSDJSHDDHFEDLFKJ!! Try that.

Cause I can understand it just as well.  :roll:

Frick, I'm not used to this kinda stuff.  Recording onto my comp with the guitar is a heck of alot different than just playing it in the dang back yard.

I'm gonna try to catch up.... and make sense of some of this.....

_________________
♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

Thanks Shyguy,  I'll look it up.

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Ummm, WHUT?? Yes, I have a small Peavey amp. (which ALSO makes a hum/buz if ya touch the wrong knob....or cuts out completely... the knob needs replaced) But I can use it- and just leave that knob alone, haha.

"Mic it"?? "Direct Input Issues".....

I'm thinkin' my new name shoulda been somethig more like "Dazed & Confused".  LOL

You LIKE my new name, doncha Steven?



If I was USING my mic, I wouldn't have this prob. It's always been fine when recording just into the mic. I did learn to get a pretty okay recording with the mic. I'm having to plug in the mixer (to eliminate outside sounds.... like kids, and husbands, and TV's....) from getting in the recording.



Okay, so if you say so...... I wont go running my guitar off to the taxidermy shop just yet.  :D
Hum..or buzz...hmmm........ I would say hum. But I could be wrong. I'd have to hear the 2 to be able to tell the difference I think. (remember, prior to about two years ago, my only recording EVER done was into Sound Recorder, just to play around) So I'm not used to humming & buzzing sounds coming from stuff like this.
And, slap my face if I'm wrong..... but isn't that Dean Markley SUPPOSED to pick up the resonance from the sound hole of the guitar, isn't that it's purpose?
I can move away from the computer, get longer cords to run teh mixer in, so I can move it to the other end of my comp desk...... but I still get this noise- just not as strong. Don is my witness, he's heard me plug my accoustic/electric in both at my house and a couple times playing live..... it doesn't DO this..... only when recording to the PC.



That's basically what I did. And I looked like an idget in the process. With the headphone chord (which I realistically guess I don't need to wear anyhow while doing guitar tracks, haha).... But, it helped me gauge the noise being picked up.... and the cord to the pickup: I was as far away as I could get, had the cords stretched out. Then it was a pain in the arse to stop & restart my CEP the many, many times my fingers fumbled on the strings & I wanted to start over. I guess becoming a better guitar player would be a good start, eh? Haha, not gonna happen anytime soon though.



Yes, suh, Mista Steven suh......



Ummm.......whut-whut?



Oh, so PATIENCE is what it takes? Well, then........ I'm screwed. Cause I'm fresh out of that.  :D



Okay, I think I've read that somewhere on the net before, something similar. So, I need a mixer with more than one mic input? Don??  :whistle:  Wanna sell me YOUR mixer? (kidding..... I'll just resort to "borrowing" again if I really want to spend a whole day or two getting these done. )  Cause, I have ONE mic input. But that makes sense, I understand that concept anyhow.



Now, that I would giggle at, except..... I've done that..... it was part of my "learn to record using my SM57" crash course.  And I know the best place to self tune my guitar........ is with my ear laid on top of it, I can just hear a truer sound that way. And if/when I play the fiddle, I like a guitar player to sit a certain way, so I can hear the backup better. So, yup, I know depending on where the mic is placed would be important- same as if you're just listening to it with your ears.

And the rest of that bologna was just "guy talk"....... so I'm gonna ignore it.  :wave:

I guess I'll just rearrange my music room, haha, run everyone out of the house so it'll be quiet here..... move out of Oregon so I don't have wind/rain/hail pounding the windows to screw up a recording...... and, last but not least, hire a guitar player to lay the tracks for me...... then I'll be all set. (taking my guitar to the taxidermist to be stuffed: still an option)

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥