Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Noise when recording guitar amp?




Stef Van w


I'm trying to record my guitar amp with a shure sm57 mic, into a behringer xenyx 502 that goes into my pc. Problem is, when I record my guitar, and playback my recordings, I hear some buzz when the guitar is being played. As long as there's no sound coming from the amp (also while recording) there's no buzz.
Strange thing: When I record my voice, with the same setup I explained earlier, there is no hum or buzz at all when I playback in my recordings.

So I can only hear hum/buzz on the track I recorded, when I'm actually playing my electric guitar. I don't hear any kind of buzz/hum coming from the amp itself whatsoever. PLEASE help me ;(



Answer
First, try a different guitar cord.

Also avoid running mic or guitar cords in the vicinity of the computer - computers give off tons of clock noise that the amp or mic can pick up.

If you are running output from the computer to the amp, make sure the output comes from your external audio interface. The stock sound cards in most computers have horribly noisy output. You don't hear the noise much when listening in a pair of headphones but it sure does come out in a high-gain circuit like a mic input. It's unbelievably noisy. If you dont have an external audio interface, get one. A cheapie USB interface is about $30. All audio in/out to/from the computer MUST go thru the external interface or you'll hear tons of noise.

If the amp has a polarity switch try switching it.

If it is a three prong AC plug make sure you are plugging into a grounded outlet.

If that doesnt fix it, you probably have a ground loop. Try plugging something (amp, computer, audio interface) into a different electrical outlet... like one on the other side of the room or in another room. do this with one piece of gear at a time till you find the culprit. If moving the connection does not fix the loop put it back where it was. That way you change only one thing at a time.

If none of those things work, try making a 'poor man's ground lift' by plugging the amp into a three-prong AC adapter but not attaching the ground wire. Be careful when using this setup ... its possible (but unlikely) that anything plugged into it (your guitar, a mic etc) could wind up with voltage on it .. you could get a shock. For example you could have your hands on the guitar and accidentally touch the mic and get a tingle - or a jolt! So .. last resort on this one, but people do it all the time



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