[Stephen Cowell]

"Nobody" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello everyone...first post here, and I'm glad this group is here.

I have been experimenting recording, and currently have a M-Audio Fast
Track USB, a XLR cable, and a Sennheiser e609 Silver microphone.

The mic seems to like volume a lot, and I can't really get my amp loud
enough to make my mic happy...level in the M-Audio box is usually near
max which picks up a lot of room noise...even "white noise" is well
heard in the quiet parts of playing guitar.

Put a good mic pre in the equation and you'd be set. Are you
close mic'ing? Doesn't seem like it to me.

I tried my Marshall's XLR Direct Out to the M-Audio Fast
Track...wow...hey...this thing sounds pretty dang good, IMHO....smooth
sounding..I was impressed...a lot.

I would perhaps consider this as a main recording line in ( in place
of microphones ) if it weren't for one thing: there is audible
noise..a "hum" if you will...like a type of 60-cycle noise.....it only
goes away it seems when I unplug the XLR from the amp.

You are experiencing a 'ground loop' problem. You may
be able to fix it by opening up the mic cable and clipping
the shield wire *if* your input is transformer isolated. Clip
pin1 as well... the balanced signal appears across 2-3.

You can do this to a short mic cable and create a 'ground-lift'
much cheaper than buying hum eliminator boxes. If you're
set up in a bar with cheesy electrics (aren't they all?) one of
these can keep your lips from being 'bit'. This is all predicated
on the rest of the equipment being earthed, of course.
__
Steve
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