DI Track cracking

[RubenSilva]

Hi everyone,

I hope you're all doing well!

I'm setting up for a recording session at home for metalcore band, and there are some sound egineers wiling to do mix/production tests on our songs.
But I'm getting some cracks and clipping with my DI's and I'm not sure if it's acceptable or not.

Bad DI's are an engineer's worst nightmare, and since this is my first time sending DI's to a professional, I need some help please!

Here's what I use:

• I'm using a 7-string guitar with an Evertune bridge and Fishman Classic open core pickups.
• I record DI's with my FM3
• My I/O input pad is at +6, tickling the red on every chord. At +12, it never tickles red, but the cracks are still there.
• The guitar is set up with a .74 string gauge for Drop F. I prefer this over an .80 gauge, and I heard Invent Animate also uses a .74 for Double Drop D#, so I guess that the issue isn't coming from this?
• I've lowered my pickup height significantly, which has helped reduce the crackling, but some still persists. My pickups are already very low compared to my other guitars.

Here are some photos of the height in mm and inches and a sound clip of how it sounds:

View attachment 140572



Sorry about the untight recording and the used strings—I'm kind of losing my mind trying to fix this!

So, my questions are:

1. Does my DI sound/look good enough for a high-quality reamp and mix, or will my sound engineer kill me?
2. If the DI's aren't optimal, how can I fix my setup in your opinion?

Thank you in advance, and have a great day!
Ruben

 

[Riccardo Ros]

I'm no expert but I'll look into this points..
1. did you record the DI from FM3 using USB, spdif or cables?
2. did you check that the level of your FM3 (output) is not too hot?
3. nothing wrong with the pad at -12 given the high output pickups... I use it at -12 with a simple Ibanez AZ

I don't think it's a guitar setup problem, it's everything in the FM3 setup and your DAW

 

[RubenSilva]

I'm no expert but I'll look into this points..
1. did you record the DI from FM3 using USB, spdif or cables?
2. did you check that the level of your FM3 (output) is not too hot?
3. nothing wrong with the pad at -12 given the high output pickups... I use it at -12 with a simple Ibanez AZ

I don't think it's a guitar setup problem, it's everything in the FM3 setup and your DAW

Thanks for the reply!

1. I record using USB
2. Yes, my outputs are normal, and it doesn't clip on my passive Ibanez. I have a BKP ragnarok bridge on it, pretty hot pickup too but no clipping
Should it be at 0 or -12 in the I/O ?
3. Ok nice, I'll go with -12 input pad just to be sure

Do you use fishman pickups ? I lowered them and it helped a lot, but I'm already at 5mm of pickup height. I've never seen pickups being lowered this much so you are probably right

Here are some photos of my input and output settings. I don't see anything wrong in it. Maybe I am wrong?
Sorry about the cat hair hahaha
Thanks in advance!

 

[Riccardo Ros]

There are some posts regarding fishman pickups where people went to 18db... so just try the best setting for your guitar.
If 18 is not enough maybe you should lower the USB out in the setup or play with the input global value.

Maybe @Chromatizm has some experience with Fishman's if I remember well

 

[Chromatizm]

I feel like what I hear in the sample is not DI but rather a direct input to output signal. It is too hot because of +18dB added on the grid even when there are no active blocks between input and output blocks.

@RubenSilva recording via USB by connecting input to output in a fractal world is not a DI path, there is +18dB added in the grid.
Did you use https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/axe-fx-for-the-recording-musician.177592/ As a reference on how to configure a proper DI path?
If you prefer to use grid path for DI for whatever reason, set the output block to -18dB to compensate the boost added by the grid.

 

[RubenSilva]

Hi guys, thanks for your answers.
@Riccardo Ros Il tried to put it on 18db and lower the USB out and it stays the same infortunately
@Chromatizm I am recording an amped track from input 1 and the DI from input 3 like they say in the link.
I might have some settings off.. Just tried to tweak everything but still not getting a clean DI :/
Some screens of my setup :







Did I get something off ? I'm trying a lot of stuff from youtube videos but nothing seem to work
Thanks in advance

Edit: Just tried with my UR22MK2, the DI looks a bit cleaner, more present, but still cracks. I honestly think it's because of the Fishman OpenCore...

Does anyone know how to properly set up these pickups?

 

[mr_fender]

You might be clipping the onboard preamp of the pickups. Have you tried running the pickups with 18V for more headroom?

 

[RubenSilva]

@mr_fender I don't have any 18V battery but I put on a new 9V one, tried uninstalling and re installing the pickups, I even increased the pickups heightto 3,5mm.
What do you guys think ? Is this usable as a DI or still crap ?

Sounds like this :

 

[Admin M@]

If you're using USB, is the DAW set correctly to 48k? A mismatch between 48k and 44k might cause whatever you described as "cracks". I'm not hearing anything like that in your clip though.

 

[unix-guy]

@mr_fender I don't have any 18V battery but I put on a new 9V one, tried uninstalling and re installing the pickups, I even increased the pickups heightto 3,5mm.
What do you guys think ? Is this usable as a DI or still crap ?

Sounds like this :

Raising the pickup height is more likely to clip...

 

[mr_fender]

I don't really hear any clipping in your second posted clip. Zoom way in on the waveform and look for clipped peaks.

 

[Riccardo Ros]

Just to note that in your screenshot the pad is on 12dB instead of 18dB.
Btw I'm not hearing any clipping as other stated above!

 

[RubenSilva]

Thanks everyone!
If everyone says the DI is good and not clipping, I'll just leave it this way and start recording.
Turns out the issue was a combination of the battery and the pickups being too close to the strings.

Thanks again and have a great day!