Help with microphone/recording/Live issues?

[bjgutierrez]

So im pretty new to recording vocals and mixing using Live. I dont have too much knowledge with using these kinds of softwares but want to learn. Moving on to my question, whenever I try recording a vocal, I get this weird static sound which makes me think im doing something wrong with my mic and may possibly be damaging it. The closest thing I can compare the sound to is "a burning sound that you hear on old 8-bit video games". I provided a link to the audio sample.

I hope that I do get feedback, as any type of feedback will be greatly appreciated!

Audio Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zHLE00 ... e=youtu.be (the static can be heard near the end)

Also, I just realized that I posted this in the 'Lounge' section...I am sorry...

[stringtapper]

Sounds like bit-dropping distortion being introduced at the converter to me.

What interface are you using to record? What sample rate and bit depth?

[H20nly]

yeah, tell us what your setup is...

interface
cables (1/4 inch or XLR?)
mic (phantom power?)

[bjgutierrez]

Yeah I probably should of included that to begin with. Sorry about that:

Laptop: Macbook Pro (Mid 2012)
AI: Focusrite Scarlett Solo (Phantom 48v)
DAW: Ableton Live 9 Lite
Microphone: Rode NT1A

As for the cable, Im not too sure what it is but its the cable that came with the mic (I have the NT1A bundle). My settings on Live are as follow:

Bit Depth: 24 bits
Sample Rate: 44100 kHz

Thanks again for the help guys, much appreciated!!

[H20nly]

cable matters here...

an unshielded cable could be affected by electrical interference from power cords or power supplies from your other equipment.

[bjgutierrez]

Well the cable that I'm currently using is an XLR cable that came with the mic. On Rode's site it does say that the cable is shielded. When I record, I usually don't have my laptop plugged in and the only other cord that is plugged in is the USB power outlet for the AI. I don't know if that has anything to do with it but I haven't had this issue before with garageband so maybe Ableton Live is the issue?

[H20nly]

Warp settings?

[bjgutierrez]

My settings are the same as the picture you posted. Thank you for the continued feedback by the way

[bjgutierrez]

Bump. Still got this problem anyone else have any idea what it could be?

[fishmonkey]

was Live the active foreground application during the whole recording, or was it running in the background?

[bjgutierrez]

Live was the only DAW software open. I don't know if I stated this before but before using Ableton Live, I did not have this issue in garage band.

[bjgutierrez]

bump for not yet having a solution :/

[yur2die4]

That sounds like noise from the computer trying to handle your recording session.

Live is pretty cpu intensive. A lot of other software is not as demanding up front (mostly because they are not usually expected to do things with a 'live' methodology), so they might not crackle at all usually.

Have you tried the test tone in preferences yet? You can set it to 80% CPU usage and turn on the tone. If you turn it on and it crackles, then you might need to change your buffer settings closer to something your computer can handle.

[bjgutierrez]

thanks for the reply!

I just tried this and let it run for a couple of minutes and heard no crackling at all. I only really hear the crackling when I start to sing into the microphone, and sometimes it happens after a few minutes of no activity. it gets annoying because when I record a good vocal, the crackling starts to happen and im left with an unusable voice sample. I'll also add that even when i do something as soft as a breath, you can faintly hear the crackling. I don't know what else to try...

EDIT: i'll try recording with a lower CPU usage and see how that goes. It was at 50% before so maybe that may very well be the culprit. I'll update if I notice improvement

[yur2die4]

Otherwise my only other guess would be some kind of short or wiggly connection. Either a volume know lf cable usually. Sometimes in rare cases, little things that change the power usage of your computer can do things to. Like hard drive activity, network adapter.

I'm just throwing out ideas now, it's hard to actually troubleshoot for those things.

Try a different mic/cable.

Try it in a different input.