Microphone Hiss in Music Creator LE

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Bjhen
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December 20, 11 11:08 AM (permalink)

Microphone Hiss in Music Creator LE

Hi, everyone,

  I have Cakewalk Music Creator LE and a First Act USB mic.  For a while, all recorded audio was perfectly clear, but recently, everything is underscored by a REALLY loud hiss.  It just happened all of the sudden.  The hiss isn't intermittent or timed in any way; it's just a constant, loud white noise.  Any ideas on what the problem might be or how I can fix it?

Thanks!

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    Beagle
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    Re:Microphone Hiss in Music Creator LE December 20, 11 11:23 AM (permalink)
    I'm not very fond of USB mics.  they cause problems.  "hiss" is not normally a problem caused by usb mics, unless you're picking up room noise (like the computer fan).  the condensor mics (which USB mics are) will pick up a lot more "ambient noise" in the room than a dynamic mic (like an SM58) will.

    but that shouldn't happen "suddenly" after you've been recording fine with it without the hiss.

    i'm not sure at this point what might cause that.  give us some more details on your system and your settings in MC.  are you running in WDM driver mode?  you might need to change to MME driver mode for the USB mic.

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    #2
    Bjhen
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    Re:Microphone Hiss in Music Creator LE December 20, 11 3:14 PM (permalink)
    The suddenness is what I find weird, too!

    It looks like I'm in MME mode.  My expertise at the moment really just covers, "Select track, hit record."

    The audio meter does always show sound (that is, the hiss) coming in, but if I narrow the dB range, it doesn't affect the volume of the hiss.

    Thanks for the help already!
    #3
    Beagle
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    Re:Microphone Hiss in Music Creator LE December 20, 11 4:06 PM (permalink)
    what do you mean by "narrow the dB range"?  where are you doing that?

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    Guitarhacker
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    Re:Microphone Hiss in Music Creator LE December 20, 11 4:36 PM (permalink)
    I'm gonna guess.... I think he's pulling the volume fader down and the hiss remains the same.... 

    "narrow the db range" 


    If the hiss is the same.... what happens when you mute that track? does the hiss stop or continue? 

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    #5
    Robomusic
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    Re:Microphone Hiss in Music Creator LE December 20, 11 9:22 PM (permalink)
    Could be bad speakers, or cables, or you have the dreaded studio snakes!!!

    I'd Seize the day but i can't quite reach it!

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    #6
    Tap
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    Re:Microphone Hiss in Music Creator LE December 20, 11 11:36 PM (permalink)
    Or an unregistered plug-in ....

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    Beagle
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    Re:Microphone Hiss in Music Creator LE December 22, 11 10:54 AM (permalink)
    I was thinking it might be the output of the soundcard or the speakers, too, Rob.

    I didn't think it was a plugin, James, because he said it was not periodic at all, just constant.

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    #8
    Tap
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    Re:Microphone Hiss in Music Creator LE December 22, 11 12:16 AM (permalink)
    Good point, Reece .... if it's narrow in the db range, and is not affected by the volume control, then it could very well be 60 cycle hum from poor grounding such as the from the soundcard or speakers as Rob indicated.  If not 60 cycles, then it could be internal bleed thru to the sound card which will be much harder to isolate and fix.

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