ATOT Guitarists/Musicians: Help guide my decisions

[Cerpin Taxt]

I've put together a small home recording studio. It isn't much, but I think it has a lot of potential. FWIW, Ubuntu-Studio has some killer software if you put the time into figuring out how to run it.

For the guitar, I purchased a POD XT to record direct -- it seemed like the most simple solution. The signal is there, but I'm getting really bad line hum, to the point that it's significantly audible during play, not just while the strings are still, so it simply won't do for recording as it is.

The signal path is guitar -> POD -> Behringer mixer -> MAudio 24/96.

My main axe is one I've had for years, and it's pretty gig-weary. I've resoldered a bunch of the wires internally after they've come loose over the years, and had the tone pots taken out of the loop entirely (don't ask me why, it was years ago), so it's basically just the volume knob and the pick-up selector. I have another axe that I won in a battle of the bands some years ago, but its all single coil so I don't think it's gonna help me with my hum problems. It has a broken nut at the low E so I haven't bothered to get it out to try it anyway.

I'm trying to decide if I should have the internals of my main axe gutted and replaced, or simply to purchase a new (used) guitar off CL.The bridge pickup is a Seymore Duncan Screamin' Demon that I'd like to keep but the others are kinda meh, but just adding up costs in my head, it might not cost much more just to get a new axe. It is something I've wanted to do for a while anyway, so this might just be the time to do it.

I'm also curious about how significantly the wiring behind my desk might be adding noise to my signal lines, and I have more experimenting to do with that. I've heard also that computer monitors can inflict noisy wrath on guitar pickups in close proximity, so I need to play with that as well.

Cliffs:
Lots of hum in guitar signal to home recording PC.
Might be the old n' busted guitar electronics
Might be the cabling (power & signal)
Might be the monitor (or all of the above)
Thinking of getting new axe instead of fixing old one.
Open to other hum-fighting suggestions.
Help me ATOT! I am lost in a sea of ignorance and indecision!

 

[Kalmah]

The hum may be caused by your monitor.

Also, check all of your volume levels. Open up the m-audio console and see where everything it set at. You may have your pod outputting an extremely low signal then making the soundcard amplify that low signal(also amplifying hum)

I use software amp emulation called guitar rig that has a built in noise and hiss reduction that does wonders.

 

[Fritzo]

You might be plugging line in into a mic jack or visa versa.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

The hum may be caused by your monitor.

Yeah I'm going to test this a bit today.

Also, check all of your volume levels. Open up the m-audio console and see where everything it set at. You may have your pod outputting an extremely low signal then making the soundcard amplify that low signal(also amplifying hum)

I didn't look into the soundcard's mixer settings, so I will have a look at that.

I use software amp emulation called guitar rig that has a built in noise and hiss reduction that does wonders.

Googling around shows that Guitar Rig works pretty well in Linux under Wine. I may have to give that a deeper look. Is the noise reduction basically just a gate? Or does it do some kind of scrubbing of the signal for extraneous noise?

 

[Kalmah]

Yeah I'm going to test this a bit today.


I didn't look into the soundcard's mixer settings, so I will have a look at that.


Googling around shows that Guitar Rig works pretty well in Linux under Wine. I may have to give that a deeper look. Is the noise reduction basically just a gate? Or does it do some kind of scrubbing of the signal for extraneous noise?

The noise reduction can work however you want actually. You can fine tune everything on it. You can also use it for compression.

Beware, the distortion in Guitar Rig sucks. You'll be better off turning the amp emulation off in your pod and use its distortion, then putting an emulated amp head and cabinet in guitar rig on a clean channel.

That shit's expensive though. You should be well off with your pod. I use to use one(the rack mounted version) for direct recording without a problem until it got fried by lightning.

Check your cables as well. A bad cable may cause this. Can you plug into something else to see? Check the input jack on the guitar itself.. wiggle it around and see if it does anything.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

You might be plugging line in into a mic jack or visa versa.

I'll me more explicit about my signal chain.

Guitar -> POD L&R Out -> Stereo Channel 5/6 on mixer -> Mixer Tape Out RCA's -> MAudio 2496 RCA inputs

I've read some things about unbalanced outputs from this mixer, and I'm somewhat concerned about the fact I'm using "Tape out" instead of "Main Outs" from the mixer. I just didn't have a 1/4" to RCA cable or adapter (main outs are 1/4", soundcard inputs are RCA).

I'm going to acquire a 1/4" to RCA cable and try bypassing the mixer to go POD -> Soundcard, and alternatively to use the main outs from the mixer.

I also lack a proper connector to put my 1/8" headphones into the 1/4" headphone out of the POD, which would probably tell me a lot about where in the signal the hum is being introduced.

 

[hiromizu]

Clean up your guitar wiring - get it redone professionally.
Get GOOD cables for the guitar.
Bypass that POS mixer and go straight from the POD to the MAudio - with a good cable.
Reduce gain to further kill the buzz.
Kids play with unnecessary amount of gain these days.

 

[Platypus]

your guitar definitely sounds like the first place I would look.. sounds like a possible shielding issue and the fact that they are single coils is not helping you any at all. That said I have 3 single coil guitars and they're not *that* noisy if set up right. Make sure your wiring is sound.

It would be beneficial if a friend with a different guitar could come over and plug into your exact setup, that would answer a few questions.

 

[TechBoyJK]

Hi Cerpin,

It's quite possibly that mixer is causing the hum.

Question, do you have any other noise on the system besides from that source? Like, when you are listening to music? Or is it strictly isolated to your guitar pod/mixer/sound card setup? What happens to the noise when you unplug the mixer from the sound card? Does it go away? if it does, can you plug in headphones to the mixer and see if that noise is present at the mixer, before it gets to your sound card? If it does, then it might be the mixer, and/or the cabling.

 

[gorcorps]

Tone pots are there for a reason. Bypassing them without thinking about putting in a resistor to match what the pot was helping sounds like your biggest issue (IMO).

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Clean up your guitar wiring - get it redone professionally.
Get GOOD cables for the guitar.
Bypass that POS mixer and go straight from the POD to the MAudio - with a good cable.
Reduce gain to further kill the buzz.
Kids play with unnecessary amount of gain these days.

I think re-wiring the guitar is something I will get done regardless of whatever additional issues I have with my cabling.

your guitar definitely sounds like the first place I would look.. sounds like a possible shielding issue and the fact that they are single coils is not helping you any at all. That said I have 3 single coil guitars and they're not *that* noisy if set up right. Make sure your wiring is sound.

My main axe has the Screamin' Demon humbucker in it, actually. To be specific, its a Fender HM Strat from the 80's. It's my 2ndary guitar that has all single coils, but it's also got the end broken off the nut where the low E is. It's a Lindert Locomotive S, and it doesn't have NEARLY the use and abuse my Strat does. I'm going to plug it in today and just see how my hum changes, if at all.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Hi Cerpin,

It's quite possibly that mixer is causing the hum.

Yeah, I'm suspicious of that too.

Question, do you have any other noise on the system besides from that source? Like, when you are listening to music? Or is it strictly isolated to your guitar pod/mixer/sound card setup? What happens to the noise when you unplug the mixer from the sound card? Does it go away? if it does, can you plug in headphones to the mixer and see if that noise is present at the mixer, before it gets to your sound card? If it does, then it might be the mixer, and/or the cabling.

Well, I go straight out from my sound card to my amp/speakers, and when I'm jamming away on my soft synths the sound is clean, so I know it has to do with the input signal chain that I described earlier.

Most of the other questions you asked I'm unable to answer at the moment with the equipment I have, but I'm about to run out to radio shack for a headphone jack adapter and some 1/4" to RCA cables.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Tone pots are there for a reason. Bypassing them without thinking about putting in a resistor to match what the pot was helping sounds like your biggest issue (IMO).

I can't even remember what prompted me to do that in the first place, to be honest. That memory is probably caked under layers of malted hops and bong resin from the old college band days.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Sounds too me that the POD and the M-Audio may not be sync'd at the same khz. check the recording speed on the POD and the M-Audio control panel. I would also try going from the POD directly into the 2496 and see if that eliminates the hum, if you can get that working clean then you know the issue is in the mixer. If the path through the mixer is causing the noise then check the conections and polarity of the mixer, if the hum is still there it's likely a dirty pot on the mixer

And yes depending on the quality of your cables all the wiring behind you desk could be causing interferance