Question

So, I have been trying to record guitar tracks for my band. I have several noise gates. I have a capable laptop that I am using. I have the presonus audiobox 1818vsl. At the beginning of my recording process, I heard hissing/white noise in the recording. It almost sounded like the gain was turned up too loud somewhere. So i tried to fix that but it was still there. I was reading online that things like this can sometimes be due to driver issues. But I thought nothing of it. I picked up my guitar another day to record again and this time the hiss wasn't as bad. Keep in mind I didn't change anything this whole time. So everything was recording just fine, but then when I heard playback, all I could hear was white noise/hissing...it was so loud I could BARELY hear the guitar.

Has anyone had this problem? How can I find out what is wrong? If this is a driver issue, what do you suggest me to do? If it is an interface issue, what do you suggest me to do? If it is just stupidity on my part, what do you suggest me to do?

Thank you so much. I really appreciate your feedback and help.

Comments

We need much more information to be able to help here.

We do not know what OS you are using, which version of the drivers you are using, which DAW you are using, etc.

Your best bet would be to open a support ticket.

Answer 1

"Hiss" noise is something I usually associate with a driver issue.  Driver, settings, and PC processing issues usually incur click, pops and or audio drop outs, but these can usually be addressed by defaulting a few basic settings.  "distorted", slow or fast audio can be incurred by Sampling Rate mismatches.  Google it, but I don't think this is your problem.  

I suggest you simplify your rig for the sake of trouble shooting the issue.  Disconnect everything.  Connect ONLY the AudioBox 1818 to your computer.  Change the default device for Windows Playback Devices to the AudioBox 1818 Line Out 1/2.  Run iTunes or YouTube and playback.  This basic audio playback from your computer should sound OK.  If not, check settings and other PC optimizations.  Open the AudioBox VSL mixer.  Click Setup.  Default the settings.

Un mute and Un solo all channels.

Connect ONLY 1 known good microphone to input channel 1.  Using the VSL mixer to hear and monitor your input signal, do you hear noise?  How high is the level/gain dial set for channel 1?  1'o'clock, 2, 3, more, when you hear the noise?

Disconnect mic from input 1 and connect to input 2, 3, etc... repeat tests.  Do you hear noise on all channels or only 1?

If you hear "excessive" noise on any 1 channel or even all of them using ONLY the VSL for monitoring, then perhaps the AudioBox is faulty.  Test with another microphone and mic cable to be sure.  

Can you record the noise?  If so, record and send a small clip to Tech Support in a ticket.  This will help us determine if you issue is hardware of software related.