Hiss/static/fuzz. ART USB DualPre, Win 8.1

Annoying backround noise. https://soundcloud.com/zyr-1/hiss

I had no input when I recorded it, as in, mics were disconnected. Also, tried running the laptop only on battery but nothing changed. Changing the mic sensitivity, then it somewhat goes away, but since there are no mics connected it seems rather odd that it would do that. So, i’m thinking it has something to do with the preamp. I’ve heard clean recordings with USB DualPre, so it should be possible. Through a mixer? Can’t try that before monday, what seems to be the problem? Any ideas?

It’s a bad idea to test a microphone preamplifier with nothing plugged in. The tiny wires inside the connection become little antennas and pick up any electrical interference in the area. Engineers have a sealed “fake” microphone for testing. It appears electrically like a perfect microphone, but it doesn’t do sound at all.

When people have odd sound problems on a Windows machine, we usually send them looking for Windows conferencing or communications software, filters or tools. Newer Windows machines assume you’re a captain of industry and all you want to do is conference to the home office in Geneva. Those tools can give you very odd sound problems if you’re not talking to Geneva, and in general, the settings hate music.

http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/faq_recording_troubleshooting.html#enhancements

Koz