Re: Digital Recording, was something else

On 05 Sep 2007, "Lumpy" <lumpy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
alt.guitar.beginner:

Derek:
Thanks for the info. I am on the fence about
whether to buy a DAW and go with my laptop,
or get a stand alone unit like in the Boss
series...
....
A typical computer with cooling fan(s) and
power supply fan(s) will generate a lot of
noise. Generally the only reasonable way to
reduce that noise is to place the computer
in a separate room from where you're tracking.
That isn't a problem in a typical studio with
more than one room. But in the typical home/bedroom
studio it's some logistics that we should probably
think about.

This is a very real problem with mics, though for home recording non-
pro purposes, it may not be noticable enough to worry about. Dynamic
mics help in reducing the abient noise pickup anyway, though not a
perfect solution.

Certainly for pro results, you need to consider all noise sources.

Computer noise is absolutely not a problem if
you're recording digital midi signals and or
editing loops and samples.

That is perhaps a bit strong of a statement because all audio sound
cards do add some noise (look at the SNR - Signal to Noise Ratios on
your model of sound card). Some are a lot better than others. But it is
obviously an order of magnetude better than the problem with mic-ed
inputs.

Computer's internal digital noise is part of the problem (in the SNR),
which sound card manufacturers go to great lengths to avoid. Hence the
general principle that quality sound cards give you quieter/cleaner
recorded samples. Try not to go cheap on your sound card.

Also, consider that builtin sound support == cheap and lower quality.

Computer noise is reduced with a laptop. But
processing power is typically much less with
a laptop than with a tower or desktop computer.
Laptop monitors tend to be noisy and may inject
noise into the signal.

There are many sources of noise-- bad computer power (switching)
supplies is one very often overlooked source. If you have a lot of
electrical noise, consider replacing your computer's PS. They're not
that expensive.

Flourescent lights are probably the worst offenders. Sometimes when my
basement lights get offensive, just turning them off and on cures the
problem (at least for a while). I've also heard people complain about
street lights causing electrical noise at night.

ANY computer used for audio should be optimized to
eliminate unneeded background processes. If your
computer suddenly starts checking for Windows updates
or virus checking or internet time, it can put a bloop
in your audio.

I had a bad experience moving "up" in computers recently. Replacing the
family computer with a newer faster one, meant that I got the old one
to upgrade to (bonus!)

But what I ran into was that my Audiophile 2496 card, even though it is
a quality card, wasn't able to record without gaps 'n glitches on the
newer computer (it worked great on the older slower one).

I did a lot of tuning to no avail. I had a much faster CPU etc., enough
memory etc., but the problem persisted. A lot of "what the freek?" head
scratching was going on about then.

Some googling later, the problem turned out to be the video card!
Freekin wicked, man!

Some older non-AGP video cards (PCI video cards) hog the PCI bus so
much with video traffic that your incoming audio samples get held up in
a PCI bus traffic jam. This results in some of them being lost, leading
to -- you guessed it -- those nasty gaps 'n glitches. Reducing the
colour quality and the video resolution helped some, but it was clear
that I needed to replace the old video card.

The solution is to replace your PCI video card with an AGP graphics
card. This leaves the PCI bus free to do your more important data
traffic, since AGP provides a different path for the video traffic.

If you are using a builtin video graphics controller on your MB, find
out if it is using AGP or PCI. If its not AGP (which is normal these
days), then make sure you get an AGP card.

On my older computer I ran into a different problem, related to video
graphics cards (and audio). Running graphics intensive programs like
Sonar through the builtin motherboard (MB) video graphics controller,
took so much CPU, that it caused audio glitched recording and playback.

The solution then was to put in an "accelerated graphics" card. At the
time, the PCI ATI card I had sufficed, but AGP is definitely the way to
go.

Even if your MB supports builtin AGP support, you might want to offload
that processing to a separate AGP video card. This gives you extra CPU
horsepower to do all those software effects and vocal processing.

So sometimes audio recording problems can be VEWY VEWY SCREWY my furry
wittle wabbits!

Google is also your friend.

The little Fostex/Boss and other standalone digital
multi track recorders eliminate that noise source
(no fans). Plus they are probably more intuitive for
people used to using analog mixers. They have real
knobs and faders. It's hard to visualize until you
do it, but when you want to increase the volume of
some signal, sliding the slider a notch vs going
through several mouse clicks is a very real
and annoying concern.

Record on the Fostex, transfer that to the PC/Mac
for later editing. That seems like a sensible way
to go. Cost of those little multi trackers has
come way down lately.

I like the idea of doing recording without a computer. I hate all this
mousing around when I have a guitar strapped on.

In fact, I want to take apart an old USB mouse and make myself some
computer foot pedals to allow some foot mouse stomping (but its more
complicated than that because you have to send the mouse clicks to the
right buttons in the software). But I digress..

I suppose you could record your computer "tracks" to one track of the
fostex, and record new tracks on the other tracks until you get it
right. I would definitely need at least that to include the drum beat
etc.

Hmmm... might just be my next Christmas/birthday wish list item. Put me
on your Christmas list Lumpy!

Snark.

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