High pitched distortion in Reaper

[SpiderWars]

I'm a total noob at this and I know this is a longshot with so little info and no clip. I'm going from an SM57 and Audix D2 into channels 1 and 2 of a MOTU interface. Then Firewire to a PC. I'm just trying to get good signal/levels/etc at this point. I adjust the trimmer on the MOTU to get ~-18dB average signal and never going above -12dB (never above -14 actually). But I'm getting this weird distortion in the high end. Hard to describe but it's not a typical distortion and not pleasant. I notice it mainly on a clean tone. Any 'Reaper 101' things I can check? I'll try to post up something tonight.

 

[marcus262]

Have you selected correct resolution ex. 24-bit/192kHz ?
Have you checked in reaper that input, output and all in between signal levels don't clip (don't turn red).

 

[SpiderWars]

Have you selected correct resolution ex. 24-bit/192kHz ?
Have you checked in reaper that input, output and all in between signal levels don't clip (don't turn red).

Thanks. The only level I see is the one for each track in Reaper and the Master in Reaper. None turn red. Any other in between signal levels I don't know. I think I have the correct resolution but not sure.

 

[slyym]

You know I had a very similar problem and I ended up tracing it down to my older M-Audio interface driver. Had to roll back to an earlier driver and no more distortion. Probably not your issue but figured I would post this just in case.

 

[SpiderWars]

Thanks. I had to download an updated driver just to get the MOTU going so I'm not sure if that's an option but I'll keep that in mind.

 

[marcus262]

Maybe this will help

In the attached image,

- Master volume track and first track are clipping (orange colour at the top)
- Third track is fine, no clipping
- click on the "resolution" tab located top right to change settings.

 

[SpiderWars]

Thanks marcus. My mixer in Reaper shows no clipping at all, not even close really. Highest the little numeric reading shows is -14 dB and that's if I pummel the guitar on a clean tone. That's why I'm puzzled because I think I dialed it in such that it shouldn't clip. I'm not even ready to call it clipping per se, it's just a strange distortion. It doesn't really sound like clipping either.

 

[slash57]

how about posting a clip?

 

[SpiderWars]

how about posting a clip?

I'll do that tonight.

 

[NinjaRaf]

Could be the input/output routing? I know thats usually what gives me weird shit that I cant track down.

 

[SpiderWars]

My computer shut down and I didnt save anything so I quickly made a clean clip. Making a track in Reaper into an actual clip I can post here is a whole nuther lesson I haven't gotten to yet. All this crap is in the high end.
https://youtu.be/o8Q5lxv5v6A

 

[Steinmetzify]

Weird. What pickups? Does this happen with the clean stuff of an amp sim as well or only amp/mic combinations?

 

[SpiderWars]

Weird. What pickups? Does this happen with the clean stuff of an amp sim as well or only amp/mic combinations?

I'm just setting this up for the first time. All the effects are just pedals into the amp and don't affect the distortion. The tone out of the amp is clean. Both mics in each channel do it. I'm pretty sure its always there, dirty or clean, bit its harder to hear with distortion.

 

[errrrrl]

Weird. What pickups? Does this happen with the clean stuff of an amp sim as well or only amp/mic combinations?

I'm just setting this up for the first time. All the effects are just pedals into the amp and don't affect the distortion. The tone out of the amp is clean. Both mics in each channel do it. I'm pretty sure its always there, dirty or clean, bit its harder to hear with distortion.

You don't have the HiZ switch or phantom power on for the mic's right? My guess is as someone else mentioned possibly driver/asio driver related?

Oh and +1 for La Villa Strangiato Had to listen to it after watching your vid... I felt cheated not hearing the whole thing hahaha

Good luck!

 

[SpiderWars]

Weird. What pickups? Does this happen with the clean stuff of an amp sim as well or only amp/mic combinations?

I'm just setting this up for the first time. All the effects are just pedals into the amp and don't affect the distortion. The tone out of the amp is clean. Both mics in each channel do it. I'm pretty sure its always there, dirty or clean, bit its harder to hear with distortion.

You don't have the HiZ switch or phantom power on for the mic's right? My guess is as someone else mentioned possibly driver/asio driver related?

Oh and +1 for La Villa Strangiato Had to listen to it after watching your vid... I felt cheated not hearing the whole thing hahaha

Good luck!

Thanks, I love that song. I was playing Far Behind by Candlebox but then it dawned on me (prob from the chorus) to do La Villa and slowly build volume to see if the distortion would become more and more prominent as I 'faded in'. But it almost sounds like some sort of compression is going on because the recording doesn't really fade in. That compression could indicate something is getting slammed.

I don't know anything about ASIO except that was the setting the youtube video suggested. Phantom power is OFF and the only other switch on the MOTU is a -20dB pad.