I’d like to preface this by saying I’m a total noob and have only been using Audacity for about 3 weeks. Now that I got that out of the way I really would appreciate some experienced help.
I’ve attached a short audio sample of a track I’m working on. When I pluck the higher notes on my guitar the recording gets a distorted click or pop. From what I can tell I am not recording it too hot. As I’m so new at this I don’t even know where to start looking to fix this issue.
I’m recording with my Fender Tone Master Deluxe Reverb Amp with an XLR cable to an M-Audio Fast Track pro Audio interface.
From what I am experiencing the clicking or popping happens at random. Sometimes it is there, other times it seems the recording is golden.
Any help will be greatly appreciated!
Thank you!
-Duma
When I pluck the higher notes on my guitar the recording gets a distorted click or pop. From what I can tell I am not recording it too hot…
…to an M-Audio Fast Track pro Audio interface.
Your interface should have LED level meters or a clipping LEDs. That will tell you if your levels are too hot. It’s the analog-to-digital converter in the interface that [u]clips[/u] (distorts). That’s assuming it’s not your guitar amp that’s distorting. Guitar amps are generally designed to “soft clip” in a way that can sound good.
You don’t need a hot (digital) signal, It’s OK to turn down the recording volume on your interface and it’s common to leave plenty of headroom. Sometimes the levels into Audacity can be lower due to the way it handles mono/stereo, but trust the level indicators on your interface and you will usually boost the volume after recording anyway.
the clicking or popping happens at random.
If it’s not related to volume level, it could be [u]dropouts[/u].
Your interface should have LED level meters or a clipping LEDs.
This is something I’ve been very diligent on. The pre-amp is quite sensitive on this device so I usually get it to just flicker red then back it off a bit to eliminate any possible clipping.
I will read up on dropouts. Thank you for the suggestion
Guitar amps are generally designed to “soft clip” in a way that can sound good.