ghost tones - any explanation?

permanent hearing damage · Post by **permanent hearing damage** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 1:21 pm

the other night, i was tracking an electric guitar performance. i had two mics (421 and 57) right up on the cone of the speaker, and a pzm on the floor a good 15' away. one of the close mics and the pzm were going through chandler germanium pres and the other close mic was going through a sytek pre. all three went direct into different inputs on a MOTU 24io. the amp was pretty loud.

i had been using these pres and the 24io on other sources earlier (much quieter sources, specifically acoustic guitar) with different mics without any problem. for some reason, a couple times during the electric performance, i heard - very fainly - some tones. it almost sounded like a cellphone ringtone (initially, this is what i thought it was). just some soft beeping-type sound. it was not very loud and it was on all three mics. i heard them while printing, but i was monitoring off the motu.

in listening to the tracks back, it almost thought i heard it a couple times in the reverb coming off the amp. i am wondering if i'm just hearing things from the reverb being cranked or if i should suspect some sort of interference or problem with the motu. it's pretty low and i think probably useable anyway. just very strange.

i realize without an actual audio sample, i'm not giving folks much to go on. but i'm just curious if anyone has had a similar issue before.

Dakota · Post by **Dakota** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 2:13 pm

Who you gonna call?

casey campbell · Post by **casey campbell** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 2:59 pm

that reminds me one time of how i was recording this great drummer in a very large room.....40 ft. ceilings, really nice set. towards the end of the song, a perfect take, his cell phone in his pocket goes off....beeping perfectly in rhythm with the song. we kept it! very strange indeed.

BENDYmusic · Post by **BENDYmusic** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 3:08 pm

Maybe someone in the studio has an AT&T cell phone and forgot to turn it off.. I don't know what it is, but those phones (including the iPhone) put off some serious beeps and clicks when near speakers..

Gentleman Jim · Post by **Gentleman Jim** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 3:09 pm

I seem to remember reading a post a while back about iPhones causing interference while in studios. I had someone doing voice over work the other day who had a BlackBerry that's on ATT, just like the iPhone is. I also have a BlackBerry, but it's on Verizon, and it never gives me trouble at all.

Sure enough, her BlackBerry was causing interference during the session. When she turned it off the problem disappeared.

Might that have something to do with your problem?

EDIT: Yeah, what Bendy said.

BENDYmusic · Post by **BENDYmusic** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 3:24 pm

Hah, beat you too it.

Snarl 12/8 · Post by **Snarl 12/8** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 4:49 pm

I used to hear the doorbell all the time when I was jamming really loud.

My theory is that sometimes when you have a guitar amp cranked up really loud (or a drum kit, or full band or whatever) you are basically creating every frequency in the universe, so it almost becomes like a Rorshack test or whatever where you start hearing the stuff you're predisposed to hear. And the sound you're hearing is actually in there, your ear [brain] is selectively amplifying it out of the noise. Anyone?

BENDYmusic · Post by **BENDYmusic** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 4:56 pm

Sometimes you can hear a cheap mic body resonate. Chimey!!

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 6:06 pm

Snarl 12/8 wrote:I used to hear the doorbell all the time when I was jamming really loud.

with me it was always the telephone, but that was back when they had electromechanical bells instead of electronic ringers.

JGriffin · Post by **JGriffin** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 9:56 pm

the ride cymbal on REO Speedwagon's "You Can Tune A Piano But You Can't Tuna Fish" always made me think my parents' phone was ringing.

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Fri May 01, 2009 7:36 am

Microphonic tube?

nordberg · Post by **nordberg** » Fri May 01, 2009 7:59 am

room resonance? does it only happen on certain notes?

casey campbell · Post by **casey campbell** » Fri May 01, 2009 8:02 am

seriously, a long time ago i had the same problem, turned out to be clock related. it's very "buried" in the mix, but it's constant beeps.... i have also seen this with friends who had those all in one studio unit type things. i had a friend with a korg d16, every great once in a while, you could hear constant beeps.... i've heard it with a yamaha aw4416 as well. all of which is this very distant in the mix beeping sound. which was actually quite pleasant sounding, other than the fact that it didnt fit in the music.

permanent hearing damage · Post by **permanent hearing damage** » Fri May 01, 2009 5:13 pm

hmmm... the clock explanation seems like a plausible explanation. how did you correct it?

@?,*???&? · Post by **@?,*???&?** » Fri May 01, 2009 8:04 pm

permanent hearing damage wrote:the other night, i was tracking an electric guitar performance. i had two mics (421 and 57) right up on the cone of the speaker, and a pzm on the floor a good 15' away. one of the close mics and the pzm were going through chandler germanium pres and the other close mic was going through a sytek pre. all three went direct into different inputs on a MOTU 24io. the amp was pretty loud.

i had been using these pres and the 24io on other sources earlier (much quieter sources, specifically acoustic guitar) with different mics without any problem. for some reason, a couple times during the electric performance, i heard - very fainly - some tones. it almost sounded like a cellphone ringtone (initially, this is what i thought it was). just some soft beeping-type sound. it was not very loud and it was on all three mics. i heard them while printing, but i was monitoring off the motu.

in listening to the tracks back, it almost thought i heard it a couple times in the reverb coming off the amp. i am wondering if i'm just hearing things from the reverb being cranked or if i should suspect some sort of interference or problem with the motu. it's pretty low and i think probably useable anyway. just very strange.

i realize without an actual audio sample, i'm not giving folks much to go on. but i'm just curious if anyone has had a similar issue before.

Melodic lines present themselves all the time through harmonics. Find them and let the melodies write themselves. No genius to it. The main melody, timbre, overtones will lead you to the obvious and necessary support lines. The trick is to 'hear' them. Well done I say.

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ghost tones - any explanation?

ghost tones - any explanation?

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