could someone help me figure out this noise? (.mp3 attached)

[Bierce85]

for posterity, somehow recording at 32 bit (I was using 16 since these were just demos) seems to solve the problem. kinda bizarre

[tINY]

Sounds like it may be digital switcher noise... Have you tried running the computer on batteries only?




-tINY

[Bierce85]

That was the first thing I tried and the sound remained, much to my surprise, seeing as I've heard lots of stories on the internet of laptop PSUs causing noise. Simply switching from 16 to 32 bit seems to have gotten rid of the noise.. go figure

[tINY]

Weird...

It seemed very low, though. Was that about -60dB from nominal?



-tINY

[Bierce85]

I'd have to open the session back up which I can't do at the moment. I compressed that clip a bit to get the noise louder, it was a little quieter before that. I also was having this weird swishing sound that would almost rush in like it had been gated after a transient would fade. All gone after the switch to 32 bit. Very strange. My best guess is a bug with PT at 16 bit which hasn't been discovered, most likely due not many folks recording at 16 bit.

[tINY]

...or your nominal peak levels are way too low...

16 bit should give you better than 75dB S/N if you set levels properly. At 24 bit, you can leave 20dB of headroom on the converters and still have better than 75dB S/N.



-tINY