Tracks imported from Mackie DL32R are hissing. They weren't before.

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Dubmaniac
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Tracks imported from Mackie DL32R are hissing. They weren't before.

Post by Dubmaniac » Sat May 11, 2019 12:49 pm

Last week, I took a hard drive with me to a bar to record a band. The sound guy has a Mackie DL32R interface, which I plugged my drive into via USB. I took it home, opened up one of the multichannel .wav files (using Audition CS6 to separate out the 32 channels into individual mono .wav files) and took a listen. It sounded great. I made a brief test mix, then exported a stereo .wav file and shut down my rig. Fast forward to today. I opened up another multichannel .wav from the same session and imported the individual tracks into Audition for mixing. This time, I got a severe hissing sound on one of the tracks, making it totally unusable and a lower level hiss on another track- not as bad, but still audible. I haven't done anything different from the last time, when it worked flawlessly. This is my first time working with tracks from a DL32R. Anybody got any ideas about what might have happened, and what, if anything, I can do about it?
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Re: Tracks imported from Mackie DL32R are hissing. They weren't before.

Post by drumsound » Sat May 11, 2019 2:32 pm

Is the second song significantly softer? Could it be that the s/n ratio was just better on the first one?

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Re: Tracks imported from Mackie DL32R are hissing. They weren't before.

Post by Dubmaniac » Sat May 11, 2019 3:48 pm

drumsound wrote:
Sat May 11, 2019 2:32 pm
Is the second song significantly softer? Could it be that the s/n ratio was just better on the first one?
Nope. Once I started hearing the noise, I went back and reopened the original track I had mixed. It's got the same noise problem on the same tracks! The s/n ratio on the normal tracks is fine, just like it was before. This is baffling and frustrating.
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Re: Tracks imported from Mackie DL32R are hissing. They weren't before.

Post by drumsound » Sun May 12, 2019 6:41 am

Dubmaniac wrote:
Sat May 11, 2019 3:48 pm
drumsound wrote:
Sat May 11, 2019 2:32 pm
Is the second song significantly softer? Could it be that the s/n ratio was just better on the first one?
Nope. Once I started hearing the noise, I went back and reopened the original track I had mixed. It's got the same noise problem on the same tracks! The s/n ratio on the normal tracks is fine, just like it was before. This is baffling and frustrating.
This makes me think its something in you interface. Are you using multiple outs into a mixer or summing system? I would re-assign the hissy track to a different out put and see if the sound follows or if it cleans up. If it does, I'd then assign a non-hissy track to the output that was hissy and see if that track now sounds hissy.

If you're using a mixer, I'd also solo each channel before opening the DAW and see if the noise if there.

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A.David.MacKinnon
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Re: Tracks imported from Mackie DL32R are hissing. They weren't before.

Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Sun May 12, 2019 9:01 am

Or it may have been happening on those channel of the bar's mix. What's on the hissy channels?

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Re: Tracks imported from Mackie DL32R are hissing. They weren't before.

Post by Dubmaniac » Sun May 12, 2019 1:53 pm

drumsound wrote:
Sun May 12, 2019 6:41 am
Dubmaniac wrote:
Sat May 11, 2019 3:48 pm
drumsound wrote:
Sat May 11, 2019 2:32 pm
Is the second song significantly softer? Could it be that the s/n ratio was just better on the first one?
Nope. Once I started hearing the noise, I went back and reopened the original track I had mixed. It's got the same noise problem on the same tracks! The s/n ratio on the normal tracks is fine, just like it was before. This is baffling and frustrating.
This makes me think its something in you interface. Are you using multiple outs into a mixer or summing system? I would re-assign the hissy track to a different out put and see if the sound follows or if it cleans up. If it does, I'd then assign a non-hissy track to the output that was hissy and see if that track now sounds hissy.

If you're using a mixer, I'd also solo each channel before opening the DAW and see if the noise if there.
I'm running out of the computer into a Tascam US-2000 USB interface. It's never had problems before. I looked at the waveform for the worst track and it was maxed out- nothing but hiss- no other signal. One of the drum tracks had a lower level of hiss, combined with regular signal. That one sounds like bad tape hiss. I'm not even sure what's on the worst track. I didn't write down what each channel was the first time, since I was only doing a quick test mix. Now I wish I had.
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Re: Tracks imported from Mackie DL32R are hissing. They weren't before.

Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Mon May 13, 2019 5:55 am

What happens when you run other things out of the computer through those same channels? What happens if you route one of the clean tracks through one of the hissy channels? Is the previously clean track now hissy? If yes then the problem is on that channel of the interface or mixer. If not then the problem is baked into the track itself and probably came to you that way.
If the problem is on the interface or mixer channel go through each step of the chain ( interface, cable, mixer channel) and swap each part for something you know works. That will let you pinpoint where the problem is.

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Re: Tracks imported from Mackie DL32R are hissing. They weren't before.

Post by losthighway » Wed May 15, 2019 9:07 am

Also, are the files you imported at a different resolution or filetype than you normally work in? There are many variables I won't pretend to predict in your system, but sometimes different DAWs get set up through preferences, interface settings etc to work on a certain file type and need troubleshooting or adjustments when you introduce a different one. Not hugely likely with a hissing noise, but worth investigating.

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Re: Tracks imported from Mackie DL32R are hissing. They weren't before.

Post by Dubmaniac » Wed May 22, 2019 8:15 pm

I figured it out. It's not the Mackie's fault. It's Audition! Whenever I render the individual wav files as a batch process, it adds noise to random tracks. I have no idea why, but that's where it's happening. I have to render my individual wav files one by one, but it works- without noise! Has anyone else had problems with exporting multiple wavs via batch processing?
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Re: Tracks imported from Mackie DL32R are hissing. They weren't before.

Post by Nick Sevilla » Thu May 23, 2019 12:42 pm

Dubmaniac wrote:
Wed May 22, 2019 8:15 pm
I figured it out. It's not the Mackie's fault. It's Audition! Whenever I render the individual wav files as a batch process, it adds noise to random tracks. I have no idea why, but that's where it's happening. I have to render my individual wav files one by one, but it works- without noise! Has anyone else had problems with exporting multiple wavs via batch processing?
LOL, yes. Every time I have attempted "batch processing" anything, on nearly any DAW, weird stuff happens.

So, my rule of thumb is: DON'T.
Howling at the neighbors. Hoping they have more mic cables.

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Re: Tracks imported from Mackie DL32R are hissing. They weren't before.

Post by drumsound » Thu May 23, 2019 1:43 pm

Dubmaniac wrote:
Wed May 22, 2019 8:15 pm
I figured it out. It's not the Mackie's fault. It's Audition! Whenever I render the individual wav files as a batch process, it adds noise to random tracks. I have no idea why, but that's where it's happening. I have to render my individual wav files one by one, but it works- without noise! Has anyone else had problems with exporting multiple wavs via batch processing?
I'm glad you figured it out. How annoying.

When you say rendering, is that like bouncing any processing/plugins, or do mean after edits to make it one file?
Nick Sevilla wrote:
Thu May 23, 2019 12:42 pm

LOL, yes. Every time I have attempted "batch processing" anything, on nearly any DAW, weird stuff happens.

So, my rule of thumb is: DON'T.

Perfect.

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