Ableton Forum

I’m currently using Ableton 9, and trying to record some audio tracks directly. For some reason, after recording a new guitar track, I can FAINTlY hear the drums and any other tracks that have been recorded (midi or audio) in the background. Obviously this is preventing me from having a truly clean recording. I’m using a Focusrite 2i4 and recording directly into Ableton with my Fender Stratocaster. FWIW, I am also using guitar rig 5 as an amp sim but it doesn’t seem to matter if I have the plug in on or not, I can still quietly hear the other layers / tracks.

HELP!!

Are you paying the audio out of speakers when you play or from headphones?

If you are saying that you can hear the backing track in your recording then the audio is getting back into the system either through your pickups or induced into the cables. Try and monitor at a lower level or with headphones while recording and make sure the cable between guitar and interface is of a good quality.

Keep in mind it is quite common/normal for a little amount of noise to enter your recordings. If you cannot hear it when it's all in the mix, don't worry too much. Some subtle gating can help remove noise from the silent parts.

Thanks for your reply. I have the headphones going through the interface, and have the input and output set to the interface.. so I am hearing everything in my headphones as I record.

I do think maybe I’m monitoring too loudly, however does that matter at all when using headphones? I see you said use headphones as an alternative to monitoring more quietly. It’s a 3-5 ft Mogami Gold cable so I feel the quality should be fine there.

Admittedly, I only noticed it when I had the track solo’d but this particular song Is pretty busy, making it hard to hear in this particular mix anyway. Maybe I’m a little naive here, but do you think it’s fairly common of an issue in songs that I would never notice? I might try the gating idea, sounds like it could be useful. Gate when recording? Is it’s too late to apply a gate after the recording?

If ur using headphones then it "shouldn't" be feedback into your pickups from the headphones. I was thinking more in terms of if you had loud monitors blasting while you played, the vibrations could get into the pickups.

As long as your guitar cable is a decent quality then it shouldn't be that either. Just make sure it's not coiled up on the floor acting as an inductor.

It could be a ground related signal between the PC and the audio interface. Does it have a wall plug at all? I have to use some combinations of floating earths and ground loop isolators in some parts of my setup to stop induced noise, hard one to track down let alone fix without some engineering knowledge tho.

It depends on what you are saying is a "faint" sound you can hear. The issue for you is you know it's there, so you will be able to hear it but if it is quiet enough it should be easily masked by the rest of your track. It is actually very common in all recordings to have unwanted sounds including bleed from headphones, traffic sounds, jets, other musicians. It comes out when soloed but in a mix you would never notice. I use to do a lot of remixing as a youngster to progress my skills and I would rarely ever work with acapellas or stems, but rather spend hours/days filtering and tweaking the original release to remove a bassline or most of the drums then cover up the remaining frequencies with my own sound. Taught me a lot about listening to things as a whole and not to focus on having each element sounding "perfect" on it's own as often things in a mix will actually sound pretty shit on their own.

Yea, I was just making sure it’s not anything related to headphones. Also can rule out the cable as it’s not even long enough to touch the floor. However, I do notice that if I’m too close and my guitar is facing my laptop I will pick up a hum. I should note, I’m on a laptop and not plugged into an outlet while recording. I’m sure laptops present there own list of issues when recording external instruments either way.

The sound I’m hearing tho is not hum or even a guitar sound, it’s actually the rest of the song playing very faintly.. meaning when I was recording and playing along to the drums, it’s as if the drums were recorded on the audio recording for just the guitar track / layer. I wasn’t sure if it was maybe a in / out issue within Ableton or Guitar Rig. It’s like the whole song outside of the guitar is being included in the actual recording of the guitar.. albeit extremely quiet and only audible between notes. It probably isn’t as big a deal as I’m making it out to be, but I find it weird that as a note I’m hitting on guitar fades, I can hear the part of the song being played while I was recording at that moment. I may decide to just record solod from now on tho w out the song playing while recording

I’m sure I’m starting to sound beyond redundant, I apologize. It’s kind of difficult for me to find a sweeet spot when mixing digital vst and drum samples along with analog and external instruments. The digital are always going to sound bizarrely clean while the external instruments always sound warmer as well as more raw. Youre right though, trying to have a layer/instrument sound perfect won’t even be possible in the context of a full song / mix . All your advice and wisdom on the topic is very much appreciated, thank you

Things check.

What sound/audio interface are you using?

Is it picking up your audio or radio - I have to be careful where I am as my guitar cable can pick up radio. I've also had guitars pickup odd electrical disturbances from electric fences etc. Test a different cable or unplug guitar see if its still picking up anything.

Are your headphones closed back? Much better for recording regardless.

If you turn down your headphones to almost inaudible does it still pick up?