Constant buzz in master mix only

[GallainGuitar]

Hello all, I've just got the helix native and must confess i'm a complete beginner at the whole home studio recording thing.

 

I've been recording a few tracks and they seem to have a constant buzz/static noise during the whole recording. At first i thought that maybe my custom patch was just poorly set up, but then i used what i think is called the jazz preset which just runs a roland amp/cab combo and a reverb effect. That sounded fine when i was playing the guitar and even listening to the single track it sounded fine, no buzz. 

 

But then i added a few extra tracks and in the master mix there is a constant buzz, i'm not sure if it's something like a high input gain on the whole track?

 

I've attached a guitar part and then a snippet of the final mix.

 

Any idea what it could be?

 

Appreciate any help.

 

Equipment i'm using in recording:

 

Guitar- Duesenberg Caribou- neck pick up and middle pickup. Tried using just the humbucker and that didn't change anything.

 

Audio interface- Scarlett focusrite 2i2 3rd gen. Plugged into input on instrument setting. no phantom power enabled. Adjusted gain settings so it's only flashing green. Listening through sennheiser headphones.

 

DAW: Reaper

 

 

Master track buzz.mp3 Guitar track.mp3

[GallainGuitar]

Bump. Anyone? 

[soundog]

I gotta listen to this with better speakers or headphones. Will get back to ya with any thoughts....

[soundog]

I'm not hearing anything offensive in either track. Perhaps my tinnitus is preventing my hearing buzz/static, so I can't really help identify it. Is it constant? Sporadic?  If it only appears after significant gain or compression is added (on the master track, for example) it could be that it is already in the signal and is just getting boosted. If its bugging you, it can be challenging to find the source of these kinds of things, but I would use typical A/B troubleshooting to see if it might be guitar pickups, USB-related, line noise, AC interference (light fixtures for example). Use a guitar signal from another source (like a stock loop or sample) and see if you hear it. 

[GallainGuitar]

Thanks for the response.

 

It's constant. The best way I can think to describe it is if you turn the volume up really high when trying to listen to something really quiet then it kind of has that buzz.

 

I'll do a bit more troubleshooting tonight. I wonder if me strumming too hard when setting the right gain level on my focusrite interface meant that when I played the actual riff which is a lot quieter causing my input volume to be too low. 

[soundog]

Gain staging is a tricky thing. Its good to set your audio interface so it doesn't peak on what you expect to be the loudest part of your playing for a specific track. You can then tweak your Helix input so the levels are -6 dB or so going in. Despite that, you normally don't get "buzz" if your gain is set too low. If anything you might get some noise which might present as light static or hiss.

 

A constant "buzz" seem more likely to be coming from hardware (guitar? computer? cabling? lighting? etc?) and its such a low level that you don't hear it until its amplified or compressed on the master track or via plug-in(s) on the track.

 

Another thought. Does your guitar preset or track use a gate?

 

When troubleshooting, change/vary one thing at a time (example: the guitar, cable, interface input, plug-in preset, track plug-in(s), compressor level, etc) and see what changes. You can often isolate the root cause in this manner.