Old 01-11-2014, 08:39 AM   #1
AnthonyR
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 4
Default High frequency sound when bass drum hits

Hi! I'm having a problem where when I record my drum machine into reaper, there is a high frequency sound made when the bass drum hits. I have previously recorded with the same setup, but did not hear this sound until today. I am using a korg volca beats running into an alesis multimix 6 and using ASIO. The drums sound fine through my headphones, I only hear the sound when I play back what was recorded. Any tips on what is causing this?
AnthonyR is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-11-2014, 10:14 AM   #2
AnthonyR
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 4
Default

hear is a file of the sound. When the kick hits, there is another frequency above it that isn't there until I record it in reaper. Thanks!

https://app.box.com/s/h1wrfdinkjow8u67g0gf
AnthonyR is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-11-2014, 02:32 PM   #3
chriscomfort
Human being with feelings
 
chriscomfort's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: NYC
Posts: 1,805
Default

This is kinda strange. When I play the file through my M-Audio BX-5's it sounds like a normal kick sample. But when I route through my headphones (Ultrasone Proline 650's) I hear almost exclusively the higher pitched tone. And through my Jaybird Blue Buds X, there is a little more of the normal kick sound, but there's still a significant amount of that higher frequency.

That high frequency tone sounds closest to B4, which is just under 1000 Hz. The other strange thing is that looking at the signal through Voxengo Span, there is actually a sharp dip at the 1000 Hz frequency. Very strange indeed.
__________________
http://chriscomfortmusic.com
chriscomfort is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-11-2014, 02:43 PM   #4
chriscomfort
Human being with feelings
 
chriscomfort's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: NYC
Posts: 1,805
Default

Upon closer look in Izotope RX3, its clear where the tone is coming from. I'm wondering if it was always there.



AnthonyR, do you have an older recording of that same kick sample that you could post?
Attached Images
File Type: jpg Kick analysis 2 Screenshot - 1_11_2014 , 4_40_28 PM.jpg (36.1 KB, 1837 views)
__________________
http://chriscomfortmusic.com
chriscomfort is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2014, 06:52 AM   #5
AnthonyR
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 4
Default

Thanks for taking a look! Here are two more drum parts that I had recorded a week or two ago from the same drum machine, there are more than just kick drum. Listening more closely now, I think I hear it in there, just didn't notice it then.

https://app.box.com/s/svcj3ld2ymv80n0t1y3n

https://app.box.com/s/1cenmxdohpojx6g7nyy4
AnthonyR is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2014, 10:53 AM   #6
Fabian
Human being with feelings
 
Fabian's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Sweden
Posts: 7,416
Default

Does not Chris' spectrum analysis with those spikes a 1k, 2k, 3k, etc look very similar to this:



I get this from my vintage drum machine Korg DDD-1, and asked a question about it here
http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=84757 The main difference would seem to be that for me the high-pitched sound is continuous, not only when the drum kicks. I solved it by notching out those frequencies, and that works ok.
__________________
// MVHMF
I never always did the right thing, but all I did wasn't wrong...
Fabian is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2014, 12:31 PM   #7
chriscomfort
Human being with feelings
 
chriscomfort's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: NYC
Posts: 1,805
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by AnthonyR View Post
Thanks for taking a look! Here are two more drum parts that I had recorded a week or two ago from the same drum machine, there are more than just kick drum. Listening more closely now, I think I hear it in there, just didn't notice it then.

https://app.box.com/s/svcj3ld2ymv80n0t1y3n

https://app.box.com/s/1cenmxdohpojx6g7nyy4
It seems that its just part of the sound generation in your drum machine. What I can't figure out for myself is why, in my headphones that have particularly good bass response, that my ears go only to those higher frequencies and I lose most of the "kick".

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fabian View Post
Does not Chris' spectrum analysis with those spikes a 1k, 2k, 3k, etc look very similar to this:



I get this from my vintage drum machine Korg DDD-1, and asked a question about it here
http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=84757 The main difference would seem to be that for me the high-pitched sound is continuous, not only when the drum kicks. I solved it by notching out those frequencies, and that works ok.
This is a great suggestion. And thank you for sharing your experience. I do wonder that with a continuous whining sound, that its not a power or audio cable issue. Or, that's just how an older drum machine works. I would also use a noise gate in conjunction with various levels of EQ, as to not remove all of those upper harmonics.
__________________
http://chriscomfortmusic.com
chriscomfort is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2014, 12:59 PM   #8
karbomusic
Human being with feelings
 
karbomusic's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 29,260
Default

Quote:
Or, that's just how an older drum machine works.
Never seen it with mine (when I used them) and if this where the case I'd expect to have heard it minus the DAW. I have to wonder about the circuit path etc., impendence, grounds and other stuff. It doesn't sound like those directly but some condition could be created that causes this as a side-effect. I'd want to hear it directly from the device minus the DAW to narrow it down.
__________________
Music is what feelings sound like.
karbomusic is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2014, 01:35 PM   #9
AnthonyR
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 4
Default

Well, to respond to some of this: It's not an old drum machine, actually new - korg volca beats. The sound is not present when just listening to the drum machine through headphones or monitors, it only comes out once recorded and played back. Also, whenever I open reaper I get the same high pitched hum I've seen others mention, which may play a part in this. I'm starting to think its probably the cheap alesis multimix 6, which others have said gave them a hum.
AnthonyR is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2014, 01:39 PM   #10
karbomusic
Human being with feelings
 
karbomusic's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 29,260
Default

Quote:
Also, whenever I open reaper I get the same high pitched hum I've seen others mention, which may play a part in this. I'm starting to think its probably the cheap alesis multimix 6, which others have said gave them a hum.
I think this or something similar is looking in the right general direction. Can you bypass the MM6 completely as a test?
__________________
Music is what feelings sound like.
karbomusic is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2014, 02:04 PM   #11
karbomusic
Human being with feelings
 
karbomusic's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 29,260
Default

I downloaded the above file and I had to dig hard to find this in Spectral Layers and SPAN. It's at least 30 dB down and I don't even see the 1k one, only above that. Couple things, this sample looks like a processed sine wave not a real sample (like what you would get if you used a tone generator+gate to create a kick). With that in mind the clickyness sounds added or there was a clip event or something.

Are we 100% sure this doesn't exist pre record? Finally, it provides most of the clicky sound to this kick, I think the quality of the sample is more to blame at the moment (or something is happening to it on the way in, bit depth etc).

I think this might be a byproduct of the sample itself or purposeful processing by the vendor. It looks horrible when I look at it next to a real kick sample. Can you throw a frequency analyzer when record armed and see if it appears there when monitoring and not recording? Had someone else not alerted me, I would have NEVER seen those 2,4k harmonics because they are completely off my analyzer graph (even when normalized) unless I go out of my way to zoom/zone in and find them. My current thinking is that it is an intentional quality of that sample or it clipped somewhere in some way that wasn't noticed.
__________________
Music is what feelings sound like.

Last edited by karbomusic; 01-12-2014 at 02:15 PM.
karbomusic is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 03:17 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.