Do you always get some noise when DIing?

[aviel]

so i've just got my country man 85, i plug it into a soundcraft spirit board (solit state preamp) and into the RME. i've noticed some excess noise, it's un-audible on the clean di tracks, unless you listen to quite part where the guitar didnt played and boost it really loud.
Or, when you reamp. then you can hear it.

i wonder, is it normal? i guess the preamp adds some noise, but unless you have a really expensive digital pream i guess there is always some noise, no?

can someone listen to the DI and maybe try some ampsim on it and tell me if it sounds normal?

i will just say that i use high quality cables.

link: http://min.us/mXrj13hKa

thanks!

 

[XxSicRokerxX]

Just loaded this DI into TH2 and I didn't hear anything unusual. I too have a countryman. There is nothing there out of the ordinary that I could hear.

 

[deLuther]

Nothing criminal about noise. There is only some strange frequency rolloff from 21kHz.

 

[metalfanat1c]

Nothing serious here.

 

[aviel]

Good to know guys. thanks a lot. i guess the hiss noise is something coming from the amp or ampsim then. i just noticed that there is some hiss when the guitar isnt playing. but when i trim the di tracks, like a gate, i dont get huss on silence parts. it means that something in the track is causing the hiss.. strange thing abiut the freq rolloff. might be the preamp?

 

[Mutant]

Every piece of analog equipment has its own noise floor.

It is always best to stage your gain in a way that will put your signal away from that floor on one side and away from clipping on the other side.

AFAIR the S/N ratio of an active guitar pickup is about 80dB, so ideally your signal should peak at about -5db and the noise should lie at -85 dB.

If you go for -10dB or -15dB and -90dB to -95dB noise floor, you can hit the noise floor of some other pieces in the signal chain (like your preamp for example) and that will negatively impact your total signal to noise ratio.

Also put some ampsim on your guitar input track, set it to high gain and find a place in your recording room where the noise is quietest and turn off that TV in the other room (i see a frequency peak between 15Khz and 16Khz in the silent part of your recording) and any CRT monitors and other sources of electro/magnetic/static fields you may have nearby.

 

[aviel]

well the computer the transformers /the monitors/ the console and it own transformer, they all create magnetic field right?

 

[Mutant]

Right

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

It is always best to stage your gain in a way that will put your signal away from that floor on one side and away from clipping on the other side.

What do you mean? Example?

 

[Mutant]

What do you mean? Example?

I mean using as much of the signal to noise ratio range of an analog to digital input device and all other devices in the chain as possible.
But of course without going above the max input voltage (0dB in digital) and without drowning quieter parts of the signal in the noise floor.