This seems like a question that must have been asked a million times on this board, and yet I couldn't find anything relevant from my search.
I have a cheap strat that I play into my Presonus Audiobox, and then into Reaper where I usually use an amp from the SimulAnalog Guitar Suite. When I do this, I keep hearing fret buzz. I thought maybe my action was too low but I brought my guitar to a local shop and the owner thought it looked and sounded great. He pointed out that even if you hear buzzing when playing without the guitar plugged in, that buzzing doesn't necessarily make its way through the amp.
Then I came home and plugged in this headphone amp I have called the 'Pocket Rock-it' and noticed the fret buzz wasn't present there -- only when I play not plugged in, as though it was an acoustic guitar, and when I'm playing into my DAW.
I also noticed that the tone just sounded cleaner and more present in my Pocket Rock-It (although the noise floor is really high on it).
Now I will admit I'm not much of a guitar player, and in fact I am intending to always play right into the DAW, because I'm trying to learn backing guitar just for recording purposes. I have a digital amp but I don't use it.
So my question is, how do I get my input chain to more realistically mirror an amp, especially with regards to the masking of fret buzz?
Recommended guitar input chain (esp. to reduce fret buzz)
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 359 posts since 23 Mar, 2008
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- Banned
- 5357 posts since 7 May, 2015
That's tough. For one thing, regardless of input/type, this computer recording is going to expose every glitch there is. I have to be honest, fret "buzz" is not something I'm familiar with for masking.
Maybe an example? A guitar should not have so much that it is overly noticeable (though different players/examples, etc)
Maybe an example? A guitar should not have so much that it is overly noticeable (though different players/examples, etc)
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- KVRist
- 380 posts since 27 Sep, 2006 from Eastern US
Guitars are inherently noisy especially when located near computer equipment. I had all kinds of noise issues until I got a strat with noiseless pickups.
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- KVRist
- 30 posts since 27 Jun, 2015
Hi publicradio,
When I first read the Subject I expected it to be a problem with the guitar's action ("fret buzz") but that obviously isn't it because you've had it checked out. In my experience fret buzzing doesn't get 'picked up' unless it's really bad.
The only thing I can think of is you might have a noisy or unshielded cable. I don't know if I'm a freak or not but I use a shielded cable (is this a known guitarist thing? I don't know any guitarists IRL!) with nice clean contacts in my gear and I get delicious signal out of my ES-355. (which has humbuckers...!)
Take care...
When I first read the Subject I expected it to be a problem with the guitar's action ("fret buzz") but that obviously isn't it because you've had it checked out. In my experience fret buzzing doesn't get 'picked up' unless it's really bad.
The only thing I can think of is you might have a noisy or unshielded cable. I don't know if I'm a freak or not but I use a shielded cable (is this a known guitarist thing? I don't know any guitarists IRL!) with nice clean contacts in my gear and I get delicious signal out of my ES-355. (which has humbuckers...!)
Take care...
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- KVRian
- 1355 posts since 27 Oct, 2009
Fret buzz and electronics "buzz" or hum are unrelated.
You are hearing more of the buzz, because those frequencies are accentuated. Try reducing 3-5KHz by 3-6dB.
Personally, I would just adjust the action from the bridge until there's no buzz acoustically. And of course the ultimate way to deal with this problem is to adjust your truss rod.
You are hearing more of the buzz, because those frequencies are accentuated. Try reducing 3-5KHz by 3-6dB.
Personally, I would just adjust the action from the bridge until there's no buzz acoustically. And of course the ultimate way to deal with this problem is to adjust your truss rod.
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- KVRian
- 652 posts since 2 Mar, 2015 from UK
You need a noise gate not all peoples guitar setups are the same having guitar cables near power cables can make the noise worse, having lots of guitar pedals makes it worse.
Cheapest noise gate I know is the one in Amplitube called Slash gear Smart gate. You can demo it for free.
The best and most expensive noise gate is DECIMATOR II G-STRING
Some argue the TC Electronic Sentry is the best which is less than half the price.
Second best and far cheaper is Boss Ns-2
Cheapest noise gate I know is the one in Amplitube called Slash gear Smart gate. You can demo it for free.
The best and most expensive noise gate is DECIMATOR II G-STRING
Some argue the TC Electronic Sentry is the best which is less than half the price.
Second best and far cheaper is Boss Ns-2
Last edited by Jax Pok on Sun Feb 26, 2017 1:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
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- KVRian
- 1457 posts since 28 Jan, 2004
This is only somewhat related, but I recently discovered that a lot of yucky digital noise (particularly on higher gain sounds) was actually my pickups picking up my wireless mouse! Turned that bugger off and voilà, huge relief! (Also keep your phone away from the pickups).
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Winstontaneous Winstontaneous https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=98336
- KVRAF
- 2351 posts since 15 Feb, 2006 from Berkeley, CA
This is the correct answer, it's a setup issue, not a matter of shielding/wiring.izonin wrote:Fret buzz and electronics "buzz" or hum are unrelated.
You are hearing more of the buzz, because those frequencies are accentuated. Try reducing 3-5KHz by 3-6dB.
Personally, I would just adjust the action from the bridge until there's no buzz acoustically. And of course the ultimate way to deal with this problem is to adjust your truss rod.
If bridge action is already set correctly for neck radius, I'd adjust truss rod.
