Recording Equipment

I've got a problem recording . . .
I'm not new at this - I've been recording with a computer for years - over 120 songs over a 6 year period - with no problems.
That's drums, guitar, bass guitar, keyboard, and vocals. All good.
Ok . . .
I recently started recording on a Dell Inspiron 560, which has a "Realtek Hi Defintion Audio" card.
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I can record my guitar or microphone just fine, with or without a preamp, and I can use the computer line-in, microphone, or USB inputs. All good.
BUT . . .
When I try to add bass guitar, the sound card adds a high pitched whine on top of the bass.
When the bass does not play - still recording - the whine goes away. The whine is on top of the bass signal.
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I monitor the signal, and I am not overdriving the input, nor am I amplifying a weak signal.
I am recording a clean signal - the whine is definitelty introduced within the computer.
This happens whether I record via line in, or mic in, or USB, and with or without a preamp.
Athough an instrument can have it's own hum, this is not the case here; I monitor the recording, and the bass input is a clean signal.
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I've tried different cables and such - the whine is introduced by the sound card itself.
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Again - this ONLY happens with a bass guitar. I can record a regular guitar - or a microphone - just fine.
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Do I have to trash this Realtek sound card and replace it with a better card, or is there a solution?
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I'm set at CD quality recording (16bit 44,100Hz), so there should be no discernable distortion.
It seems like this card introduce a sound artifact at lower frequencies.
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Not a distortion, mind you, but a second sound on top of the bass signal.
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Again - no problems recording vocals or guitar. This only happens at the lower frequencies, and although it's a slight whine, it's enough to make the recordings unprofessional.
I had no problems with my old computer . . . been recording for years.
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I'd like to use this card if it's good enough . . .
The theory says it IS a good card . . . but . . .
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Anybody have any suggestions?

Just guessing that you have too much LF energy hitting the A/D converters. Try running the bass through a HPF set to 40hz. If it still squeals you probably need a different A/D interface.

Try a different Bass Guitar. If the noise is still there then a new A/D interface is in order.

Maybe the card just cant handle that bass freq... I'm guessing, since you generally have a history of success, before the new Dell..maybe that particular sound card is a piece of crap in this case...? I would just swap it out. SInce the Dell is new, should have warranty coverage for a fix.

Thanks guys - all good suggestions.
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Filtering the bass is not an option; just don't want to do it.
Swapping to another bass shouldn't make any difference with a noise signal being generated on top of the signal.
Any impedence mismatching problem is automatically stripped away when I plug into my preamp. The preamp is pretty good; the s/n is about 48dB of clean gain. And I've never needed a fraction of that gain (crank it up after recording, and you can hear NO hiss/distortion).
Every 3 dB is double volume.
Anyway - it's the same clean signal into the Dell as the old computer (a Sony VAIO, which was wonderful for recording).
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It's weird, because the specs on the sound card say that the recordings are CD-Quality.
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OK I JUST FOUND THE PROBLEM!
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I was going over some old recordings on the Dell, which I had made on the old Sony computer and then transferred to the (new) Dell.
Just on a whim, I picked a song which I know is a good recording, and muted every track but the bass.
The 'bass-whine' was there.
WTF?!
Did I just develop a better set of ears or something?
. . . or maybe it's a play-back problem . . .
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So I booted the old Sony and listened to the exact same track.
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Except for a faint hiss in the background (when I cranked it pretty loud), it was a clean signal.
Back to the newer dell - same track (recorded 4 years ago): bass whine.
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So - ok!
There it is.
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I have a proven clean bass signal on the new Dell - and yet when I play i t back - theres a whine on the signal.
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It's not the recording of the bass that is a problem - it is the PLAY-BACK that is the problem.
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Well - crap; that sucks. But at least I can still record with the Dell.

Or - can I?

My next step is to burn a CD, and see if the Bass-whine is on the CD.
If the bass whine is ONLY present on the signal which is sent to the computer speakers, then I guess I can live with that.
But if the whine also gets transferred to CDs - or songs posted on the internet - then I can NOT live with that, and the sound card has to go.
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Stay tuned . . .

Life was so much easier before computers,
back then you could just reach over and slap
the bass player and tell him to get it right.

Bingo! Defective sound card. Sometimes internal cards pick up noise from the computer but this sounds defective. Maybe a warranty issue or time to get a more high-end A/D interface.

This USB interface is pretty cool. Eliminates the need for an on-board sound card:
http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i-LIN-PSUX2-LIST

A PC's Hi Def Audio was designed to bring Movies and Video Games to life, not record pristine sounds. It is arguable whether or not the on Board audio is defective, but it certainly wasn't designed to do what you are doing. It MAY work OK but, if you want to use the Dell as your Main Recording System, disable the on-board Audio in the BIOS and use a USB interface like MAudio's USB Mobile Pre or a Tascam UB-122 as your main Audio Interface. There are better units out there but If you want to keep it under 150 bucks, those two will do the trick. Also , you may want to consider bumping up to 48,000 in stead of 44,100. The bump in quality is actually discernible and you can always down sample if you choose.

Hmmm . . .

Here"s another thought about the computer. Was at a friends house using a VERY clean vintage Toshiba laptop, the kind that can drive a 40w sound system and still be clean ... used a stereo Sony mic and a cheap reverb
80's Radio Shack unit for testing. We got noise, not hum, not feedback, not
anything I could identify except high pitched whine - used Audacity, and it
showed up in the 'scope' display too - came from poorly shielded cables from the Sony mic near the computer - result was the whine came from the PC laptop itself, and entered via the shielded cables ... Joe

This thread is way old...

But if you were using the computer's built-in soundcard, that could well explain the noise. Even older computers use soundcards made with about $0.67 worth of components.

Hi on the problem with recording bass guitar I have a suggestion that will clear up all of your audio problems.
About 1995 I switched from analog recording to digital. I'm currently using an hp quad core Cubase 7.0 for the midi and a plethora of soft syths my fav is easy drummer 2.0 which I can trigger via my old work station synth or mouse in the piano roll view or notation view. after I sequence up the drums for tune and build a custom kit in ez for it at that point I export all the different drums one track at a time via usb to my korg d3200
That means all the drums are on a separate track like; kick ,snare ,toms ,hats ,over head mics. This gives finer mix down control at the end of the production. At that point all of the audio tracks go directly to my D3200. You could also use a Tascam 24 track hard disk recorder since they finally put appropriate .wav file editing in those units. After the entire production is down I transfer the final mix via usb back to Cubase for mastering and mp3 encoding. The bottom line is audio is audio. Midi is Midi. They are two separate entity's and in order to get the most out of each respectively I have my own unique take on using the correct tool for the job. I've never had any audio problems because I keep the audio separated from the synth stuff until I'm ready to merge them together. I'm also a big fan of my Roland GR-55 guitar synth and having a good pair of near field powered monitors. Computer speakers just aren't suitable for mix down work. Peace and may your audio problems be gone. Sincerely, tonyo.

Hi on the problem with recording bass guitar I have a suggestion that will clear up all of your audio problems.
About 1995 I switched from analog recording to digital. I'm currently using an hp quad core Cubase 7.0 for the midi and a plethora of soft syths my fav is easy drummer 2.0 which I can trigger via my old work station synth or mouse in the piano roll view or notation view. after I sequence up the drums for tune and build a custom kit in ez for it at that point I export all the different drums one track at a time via usb to my korg d3200
That means all the drums are on a separate track like; kick ,snare ,toms ,hats ,over head mics. This gives finer mix down control at the end of the production. At that point all of the audio tracks go directly to my D3200. You could also use a Tascam 24 track hard disk recorder since they finally put appropriate .wav file editing in those units. After the entire production is down I transfer the final mix via usb back to Cubase for mastering and mp3 encoding. The bottom line is audio is audio. Midi is Midi. They are two separate entity's and in order to get the most out of each respectively I have my own unique take on using the correct tool for the job. I've never had any audio problems because I keep the audio separated from the synth stuff until I'm ready to merge them together. I'm also a big fan of my Roland GR-55 guitar synth and having a good pair of near field powered monitors. Computer speakers just aren't suitable for mix down work. Peace and may your audio problems be gone. Sincerely, tonyo.

The OP's issue was 4 years ago. Your reply has absolutely nothing to do wiht what that problem was. But welcome to the BM forums!

Keep posting solutions. Mike loves telling you that the thread is old!

Keep posting solutions. Mike loves telling you that the thread is old!

And that the solution is ot related to the problem, too!