More about recording.
Nov. 16th, 2011 02:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catsittingstillWell, I have spent several hours messing about, trying to track down the source of those crackles on my vocal recordings.
And it turns out that it's probably in the laptop, somewhere in between the USB ports and Reaper.
I started by recording to the SD chip in the Zoom itself, using only the Zoom's on-board mics. When I was done I hooked up the Zoom as a removable drive and copied the file across to Reaper. No crackles. Peaked quite hot--about -3 dB but in once case I got up to about -1.5 dB.
Later in the day just as a proof-of-concept I tried hooking up the Rode NT1a to the Zoom, and that also worked fine, as long as I was recording to SD chip, and then moving the files across to the computer.
As soon as I tried hooking up the Zoom (using its on-board mics) as an audio interface and recording straight into Reaper, I started getting crackles, even peaking down around -6 to -12 dB.
I tried a different USB cord. Didn't help.
I tried using the other USB port on the laptop. Didn't help.
I tried recording into Audacity instead. Didn't help.
I even tried using my old Zoom H4, which doesn't work on batteries anymore after an unpleasant acid-burping-battery incident, but which still powers up when plugged into the wall or plugged into a USB port.
That didn't help.
That suggests two possibilities to me:
1) the design of the H4 and H4n USB output is causing the problem. This seems unlikely; wouldn't other people have complained?
2) the fault lies between the USB ports and the recording software of the laptop--either somewhere in its hardware or somewhere in its operating system would be my guess. This seems more likely to me.
I am feeling a bit glum about this. I can still record without using the Zoom as an audio interface, but if I have to do all my vocals on the H4n as a stand-alone, that means a lot more fiddling about beforehand to get everything I might possibly need on a scratch track that can be placed in one of the H4n's project files. I'll only have 4 tracks, and one will be the scratch track, which means I'll only have 3 tracks to record to. That's probably enough, if I'm careful. Setting levels will be a pain and a half, as the Zoom's level readout is tiny and doesn't provide actual numbers; just an analog style meter. But I think it can be done.
I thank everyone who has weighed in help so far and would be interested in hearing your thoughts again. Does it look like I overlooked anything? If the fault lies in the laptop, is it the sort of thing I could expect a computer tech to fix without being a sound engineer or having all my recording equipment and being taught how to use it? The laptop is a Macbook Pro running OS 10.6.8; is it worth buying Lion or looking for other sound card drivers?
Thanks for your time.
And it turns out that it's probably in the laptop, somewhere in between the USB ports and Reaper.
I started by recording to the SD chip in the Zoom itself, using only the Zoom's on-board mics. When I was done I hooked up the Zoom as a removable drive and copied the file across to Reaper. No crackles. Peaked quite hot--about -3 dB but in once case I got up to about -1.5 dB.
Later in the day just as a proof-of-concept I tried hooking up the Rode NT1a to the Zoom, and that also worked fine, as long as I was recording to SD chip, and then moving the files across to the computer.
As soon as I tried hooking up the Zoom (using its on-board mics) as an audio interface and recording straight into Reaper, I started getting crackles, even peaking down around -6 to -12 dB.
I tried a different USB cord. Didn't help.
I tried using the other USB port on the laptop. Didn't help.
I tried recording into Audacity instead. Didn't help.
I even tried using my old Zoom H4, which doesn't work on batteries anymore after an unpleasant acid-burping-battery incident, but which still powers up when plugged into the wall or plugged into a USB port.
That didn't help.
That suggests two possibilities to me:
1) the design of the H4 and H4n USB output is causing the problem. This seems unlikely; wouldn't other people have complained?
2) the fault lies between the USB ports and the recording software of the laptop--either somewhere in its hardware or somewhere in its operating system would be my guess. This seems more likely to me.
I am feeling a bit glum about this. I can still record without using the Zoom as an audio interface, but if I have to do all my vocals on the H4n as a stand-alone, that means a lot more fiddling about beforehand to get everything I might possibly need on a scratch track that can be placed in one of the H4n's project files. I'll only have 4 tracks, and one will be the scratch track, which means I'll only have 3 tracks to record to. That's probably enough, if I'm careful. Setting levels will be a pain and a half, as the Zoom's level readout is tiny and doesn't provide actual numbers; just an analog style meter. But I think it can be done.
I thank everyone who has weighed in help so far and would be interested in hearing your thoughts again. Does it look like I overlooked anything? If the fault lies in the laptop, is it the sort of thing I could expect a computer tech to fix without being a sound engineer or having all my recording equipment and being taught how to use it? The laptop is a Macbook Pro running OS 10.6.8; is it worth buying Lion or looking for other sound card drivers?
Thanks for your time.
