Recording pops and clicks...

For my first recording post I want to talk about the major problem I had for a month or more straight and no one, I mean no one, could tell me what was going on!!!

I started with a simple 6 channel mixer, a rather inexpensive fire-wire interface and a couple DAW's...namely, Audacity, and Ableton Live. I had a couple mediocre mics, (Behringer large condenser mic, and an EV something or other...basically, the equivalent of an SM 57, nothing special but enough to start with... I've since upgraded to a package of nice MXL's which I highly recommend by the way.

Anywho, I was all set, havin a blast, finally starting to capture some of the new songs that were gushing out, and golden oldies that have been with me through two bands...The only problem was, the final product had all these clicks, pops and transient noises that were very odd, "echoey" etc... I could not figure out why!!! I was pulling my hair out! I did some research on latency on the internet and in some manuals, I went on a couple of web based recording forums and the guys were very nice, very helpful, but anything anybody suggested did little or no good!!! However, I did not go as far as to re-format my hard drive which was mentioned by one person as his solution to a similar problem!!!

However, I would find out that their problems were not the same as mine!!! I would discover my own solution, quite by accident. I had some (ahem...porn) pop-up problems around the month or month and a half mark of my frustration and one day, decided I would disable my high-speed connection while I was recording! Wahlah! Presto! No more clicks or pops in the recordings!!! No one had even bothered to ask if I was using the internet on the same computer I was recording with!!!! *which by the way, I highly recommend you use two separate computers!!! Hehehehehehehe.

So, there is my stupid story! Yes, I feel like an idiot, but at least I can laugh at my folly, and my novice naivete! I'm getting better, my band recordings are getting better! I'm about to use an isolation room and a new laptop (with no internet!) and all new SM 57s and SM 58s and MXL's on the new CD recordings so I'm excited about the next several months. Soon you will be able to compare my old (actually, current) recordings on Myspace, reverbnation, Garageband, echoboost, lastFM, OurStage, etc... and then listen to the upcoming new releases and I will fill in all of you as to what I am doing different! ...but that is a discussion for a nother blog post!

Cheers,

until next time!
Steve
www.myspace.com/requiemforoblivion