Buzz in audio mix

[da_qtip]

I think this is the right forum for this, If not, sorry.

I recently had a friend bring his guitar over and jam and do a bit of recording. Whenever he wasn't playing but still plugged in there was a constant buzz in the mix.

I know there's probably tons of reasons why this is happening but I was hoping one of you might know the right reason.

We're using a pretty ghetto set up right now, he has his guitar plugged into a Digidesign Mbox 2 which is hooked up to his laptop. He then runs the audio through Amplitube Metal for distortion and then outputs to my Firepod.

Now I'm not sure if it's the terrible set up that's causing the buzz or if its some interference with my computer because as he moves around the volume of the buzz changes.

If any of you have any ideas please let me know, thanks.

[Audio~Geek]

why doesn't he just record it on his computer? Find out if the buzz is there when amplitube isn't running (which will really amplify any noise)

It could just be interference from being near the computers, crap cables, cellphones, bad wiring in your place, or a number of other things.

[da_qtip]

Ah true good idea.

This was essentially a jam that I tried to record so he wanted to hear the distortion in real time.

Do you know of any good distortion plugins for Cubase LE? That way when we do actual recording we could record clean then (hopefully) add some decent distortion afterwards.

[Lucky Leo]

Most distortions will give you that buzz when playing is idle...it's hard to avoid. I'd recommend using a Gate on the guitar track to cut out that buzz but still let the actual playing through. Move the threshold around to your liking...high enough so it will kill the buzz but not so high that it'll affect your sustain.

Hope that helps!

[tiberius]

If you don't touch the strings you get a hum from the guitar not being earthed.
If he's too near an old style monitor or TV you'll get hum.
Same with flourescent tubes and also the guitar amp itself especially if it has tubes.
Try not not doing the above or get a noise gate.

[da_qtip]

Ok thanks guys, this was my first time recording a distorted guitar so I wasn't sure if this was normal. I'll mess around with the guitar placement and throw in some gates and see which works best.