upsetting buzz

Koushirou · Post by **Koushirou** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 10:03 pm

i am trying to record a guitar through a pod through an maudio ozone. i plugged headphones into the pod and it sounds okay. there's no problem there. but on the actual recording, i hear this really annoying buzz. its actually more like a high pitched tone. since its not the pod or the guitar, im guessing it's the ozone. i don't really want to shell out the money for a new interface, though, so i want to trouble shoot this if possible. i tried messing around with eq but couldn't figure out how to fix it. can anyone lend some help? here's the mp3:

http://www.lightningmp3.com/live/file.php?fid=6065

thank you

deshead · Post by **deshead** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 6:35 am

The noise is too broad to be fixed with EQ (i.e. there's more than one specific frequency in there .. so any EQ ducks you make will noticeably affect the tone of your recordings.)

It sounds to me like RF interference from a CRT monitor through a poorly shielded pickup. Do you have a CRT monitor? If so, try turning it off when you record.

HeuristicsInc · Post by **HeuristicsInc** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 7:41 am

I used to have to turn my monitor off when I recorded with my old crappy mic, too, so good idea.
-bill

Billy's Little Trip · Post by **Billy's Little Trip** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 9:02 am

I don't have an answer to fix why your getting the noise other than my POD also gives off an "air" noise too with certain effects, but you would hear that on your head phones. Maybe a bad usb wire? Have you tried a different effect on the POD?
But anyway, I know how to get rid of the noise. Go D/L a free demo of Gold Wave editor. Go to effect/filter/noise reduction, then on the drop down box, choose which level of noise reduction you want. I just tried it with "light hiss removal" just to test it and it got rid of it. Then I EQ'd the highs up a smidgen and it was perfect. I just did a quickie to test it, but the cool thing is that you can click on "light hiss removal" but then tweak the FFT and overlap until it's just fixing your problem without effecting your sound.
By the way, I've just learned these terms FFT and overlap as well as a few others, just in the past couple weeks, because I am brand new to all this computer recording stuff. But I record on tape, so hisses, pops and clicks are my specialty, lol. Ken would be proud of me.

Here's the demo if you want to play with it >> http://www.goldwave.com/
By the way, you want the GoldWave Digital Audio Editor, not the Multiquencer.

deshead · Post by **deshead** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 10:14 am

BLT's suggestion is one possible approach, though there's a big caveat: Noise reduction is an ABSOLUTE last resort as a way to fix a recording. You should only use it when there's no way you can re-record the track.

Further, the noise in Koushirou's sample is much more than just "light hiss":

(Spectrum analysis done with the free Freakoscope VST.) That's broad band noise, with peaks at ~500Hz intervals. (Koushirou, are you in the U.K.?) Fully removing this noise with Goldwave or XNoise or whatever, would seriously affect the sound, and no subsequent EQ boost is going to restore it.

(I'm, not saying it's a bad idea BLT, just pointing out some extra concerns.)

Billy's Little Trip · Thu Jan 04, 2007 11:50 am

Des, every time you post about digital recording stuff, it add another month to my computer recording learning agenda, lol. Thank you for the freak scope link. I don't know what to do with it yet, but when the moment hits, I'll know when I need it. You rock!

Koushirou · Post by **Koushirou** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 8:12 pm

this is strange:

i tried out a new usb cable, in case that was the problem. what i noticed was, everything sounded fine through the headphone output... until i plugged the usb cable in. could a problem with the usb port itself do something like this? then again, i tried all 4 ports on my laptop and all of them made this noise. then again, i've been having problems with the power adaptor plugging in, and for some reason the usb cables don't just plug into the ports as easily as they used to, i have to jam them in. maybe my computer's just messing up?

Märk · Post by **Märk** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 9:24 pm

Does it make the noise when your laptop is on battery power?

Billy's Little Trip · Thu Jan 04, 2007 10:08 pm

Sven wrote:Does it make the noise when your laptop is on battery power?

OoOoOo! good one. *awaits the answer*
Computer recording or good old fashion recording, the ground loop issues are like the common cold. I've seen AND heard simple polarity flipping fix these kinds of problems.
Keep us updated.

king_arthur · Post by **king_arthur** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 6:16 am

Hey - some thoughts -

In your descriptions of the problem, can you be more specific about what you're plugging into what, when the problem appears / goes away? You talk about plugging in the USB cable, but it's not quite clear what's being plugged into what when the problem appears.

There are a bunch of experiments you can try to see when the noise is there and when it isn't... eliminate the Pod and plug the guitar directly into the ozone; eliminate the ozone and connect the Pod directly to the computer via USB, or even via audio cables into your soundcard. Try a mic instead of a guitar... see if turning off the CRT (monitor) helps, or re-running some of the cables further from the monitor, power cables and wall warts. { edit: oops, you said laptop, I guess that eliminates the CRT as an issue }

Also, you didn't say whether this is a setup that used to work and stopped working (in which case, what did you change?) or some new stuff you just bought and can't get it working right? Is this used stuff bought off ebay that may have been broken before it was sold?

Also, you mentioned that the power adaptor and USB cables don't fit quite right - is it possible that the connections on the pod or ozone unit got damaged and are somehow not grounding properly any more?

Charles

Koushirou · Post by **Koushirou** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 8:01 pm

first: this setup used to work fine before.

the deal with the power adapter was a problem with the laptop, not with the pod or ozone. the problem is that the plug doesn't stay plugged in unless i fiddle with it and hold in it a certain position.

also, i meant then when i monitored the ozone without plugging it into the computer, it sounded fine. when i plugged it in, i could hear a noise.

now:

the problem has changed.

the usb port which i usually plugged the ozone into... broke. yeah. i hate dell. a piece of it broke off, and when i try to plug something into it anyway, the computer just shuts off.

because i'm required to install the ozone to each usb port i want to use it on, in order to use it on an unbroken usb port, i needed to reinstall. this i did, and when i open the control panel software for the ozone, it seems to work.

then, when i try to record with it in adobe audition... instead of saying "Ozone Input Right" or something, it just comes up as random symbols. and then when i hit record, an error message pops up.

i tried all of this with the power unplugged, and i didn't hear the noise anymore. then again, that might be because the usb ports aren't even working. i don't know.

does this just sound like a problem of a P.O.S. computer? i'm thinking i should just replace it to end my suffering, but of course i don't want to spend money if i don't have to. :/

Post by jb » Fri Jan 05, 2007 10:41 pm

Replace your computer. If USB ports are "breaking off" it sounds like you're due.

Märk · Post by **Märk** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 11:01 pm

You have a broken solder point on one of the USB ports. USB carries +/- 5V on two pins, and the other two pins are RX/TX. Is is exactly like a very basic, but very high speed, serial port. My advice is this: if the computer still works good, crack it open and completely remove and/or try to re-solder the port back in. You may have already destroyed some onboard logic by bridging +5V directly to ground or another logic trace. However, modern computers are buffered quite well for stuff like this, and it may work fine if you fix it. I would wager a guess that you've damaged the USB logic chips already, as you've described problems on all ports. All is not lost if this is the case, just get a $25 pcmcia USB/Firewire adapter card (but make sure you get that offending port out of the computer, or you could fry the whole thing)

Koushirou · Post by **Koushirou** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 11:14 pm

the thing that's strange is that i can still use my external HD through the non-busted ports... but the computer refuses to recognize the ozone through those same ports. i guess this suggests that the problem is probably with the ozone?? man, i have no idea. when i get back to school i guess i'll try the ozone out on somebody else's computer. i'll keep you posted.

Koushirou · Post by **Koushirou** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 11:53 pm

omg

ok

a new page to the saga

i figured out that there might be problems with the driver, so i reinstalled them. this works! and there's no noise in recording, either.

i then plugged in the power adapter just to make sure that that was the cause of the problem. unfortunately, it didn't work. yep, when i plugged in the power, the usb connection started going on the fritz and refused to recognize the ozone. then i got a BSOD.

okay, whatever, so i'll just use it without the power adapter.

except now i realize that there IS a noise coming from the pod! it's just that i only hear it on certain settings. here's one of the most heinous:

http://www.lightningmp3.com/live/file.php?fid=6083

...sigh...

Billy's Little Trip · Post by **Billy's Little Trip** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 9:19 am

Funny you should mention a driver issue. I was reading through my POD driver installation info yesterday, and it mentioned that if the same driver is installed more than once, it will cause sound issues and possibly choppy guitar recordings. (not word for word)

Koushirou · Post by **Koushirou** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 3:04 pm

i don't have any pod drivers installed, because i run it through the ozone

i guess if nobody has experience with this type of pod problem, i'll give em a call

HeuristicsInc · Post by **HeuristicsInc** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 5:04 pm

Koushirou wrote: the usb port which i usually plugged the ozone into... broke. yeah. i hate dell. a piece of it broke off, and when i try to plug something into it anyway, the computer just shuts off.

Yeah, I've got a USB port that used to be shorted out (bent pin) and that made my laptop turn off, same way. I was told that wasn't supposed to happen with USB, but obviously it does.
-bill