[Tekker]

Originally Posted by carol m

Hi Tekker, I have the line in on max on the soundcard, but something I'll have to experiment with is the volume controls on the guitar itself. I had the volume turned way down because when I recorded with a louder volume it sounded 'brassy' ie tinny on the high notes and I wanted it to have a better tone.

Ah, then there's a big source of the noise. Crank up the guitar volume to where you get a good signal but no clipping and back the line input volume off a little too.

I have a graphic equaliser on the guitar too, and I had them equal but low for the same reason. So maybe up the volume, up the graphic equaliser with the treble lower than the middle and base, and experiment from there.

Yep, that's exactly what I would have suggested. You can also tweak EQ after recording, but it's best to get a sound you're pretty happy with before hand. If it's sounding brassy or harsh (ie, ear piercing) then this is likely caused by distortion in the high frequencies, which is probably why it sounded better when you turned the volume down. Distortion is a lot harder to improve after recording (you need special tools for this), so it's best to get a good neutral sound while recording, then you can make adjustments afterwards during mixing.

I tried increasing the gain more on the plain original (+9 or +12) and the 'noise' increased as much as the music so that's not a solution.

Once the guitar and noise are recorded together, raising the volume will increase both by the same amount. So at this point you can't change the relative volume between the guitar and noise, this has to be done while recording.

Do you know why I got the buzz at 10secs on the sample with effects, or how to avoid it when I do things like echo or compression? It isn't clipping. It wasn't on the original before adding effects. Also there is a high pitched click about half way through where someone turned on a light!

I'm not sure. It sounds like fret buzz, but you're right it's not in the original recording at all. Very strange. Try adding just one of the effects at a time until you find the effect that is causing that sound.

Thankyou for taking the time to listen to this. I have more questions but I'll give you all a break and save them for another day.

You're welcome, and if you have more questions, fire away.

-tkr