I'm running my mic into a mixer plugged into my soundcard. I have a problem with crackling occuring about 30 seconds into recording. Could this be a sound card issue?

It could be that. It could be that you have it turned up too loud. Make sure that your sound is peaking at -18dbfs in whatever software youre using on your computer. Digital gear does NOT sound good when you push it too much.

If you dont believe me believe these guys...
http://www.studio-central.com/phpbb/...3761139e008642

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What's your setup? Gear? What program are you running?

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Well, what I got told was turn the mic volume to nearly off, on my pc. And then compensate from that using the mixer.

As for set up, i'm running a Behringer Xenyx 802 into a stock Dell Sound card. I'm using a shure sm58 as my mic.

Sometimes this is caused by the power management software. Try disabling it.

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How would I go about that?

Control Panel:Performance and Maintenance:Power Options.

It may be that Dell have a powermanagement applet also.

My Acer Notebook did.

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How do I go about turning it off? What settings do I change?

I would guess it has something to do with the fact that you're not using an audio interface...

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For Sale/trade, PM for info:
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^ Like an external soundcard? WOuld you be able to suggest some? Fairly priced please.

Yes, that is what I was going to suggest as well. The components on the inside of your computer may be causing interference.

Unfortunately I wouldn't be a very good person to recommend an audio interface.

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Anything that operates on a timer, especially those that relate to after x time no input do such and such.

Experiment with turning EVERYTHING off and see if that eliminates the problem.

A reasonable cheap external interface is only a Google search away. Although I had a similar problem while using one, which is how I know about the fix I have been suggesting.

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If you have some software causing problems you are probably not going to fix the problem with an interface.
With that said it wouldn't be a bad idea to check out an audio interface. These devices will connect via USB, Firewire, or PCI and give a much higher quality signal than you can get through your stock sound card.


As far as connections go it depends on what you've got available:
USB 1.0, 1.1---stick with your stock sound card. Its not fast enough.
USB 2.0---its the cheapest technology but is inferior speed wise. you'll only be able to record 1 track at a time well via usb. maybe 2.
Firewire---Faster than USB, but more pricey. This is about the best you can do with a laptop.
PCI---Arguably better than firewire. It must be installed in a desktop computer so its not very portable or easy to switch between computers. If you have a desktop you will probably get the most for your money with PCI.
All that in a longer article+some reccomendations.


Reviews of specific interfaces:
USB 2.0
Firewire
PCI

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These are the options I get.

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/8159/tudts3.jpg

Try setting them all to never and see if the problem goes away.

My problem seemed to be the hard drive shutdown timer.

O.K. I read through alot of that stuff but couldn't find any support for the 2 track limit. Now maybe I'm a freak, but with the Steinberg MI4 I have been using USB to record 4 tracks simultaneously with great quality and nil problems. I know Firewire and PCI are superior but when portablility is a major factor a bog standard laptop with USB seems to get the job done with up to 4 channels. I'd love to take my full tower system on the road, but occassionally sanity prevails.

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