Interference when recording with magnetic pickup

[lppier]

Hi I’m trying to record my fishman rare earth blend into my daw, monitoring it live through my speaker. I’m hearing interference when I have the pickup at the magnetic settings. When I roll the setting towards the microphone, the interference sounds disappear- any idea how I can work around this?
I would to record the blend of both magnetic and mic from the pickup, thanks!

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by lppier

Hi I’m trying to record my fishman rare earth blend into my daw, monitoring it live through my speaker. I’m hearing interference when I have the pickup at the magnetic settings. When I roll the setting towards the microphone, the interference sounds disappear- any idea how I can work around this?
I would to record the blend of both magnetic and mic from the pickup, thanks!

Not sure about the interference but if you're using a microphone, even an internal microphone, and monitoring through your speakers, the mic is going to pick up the speakers.

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by lppier

Hi I’m trying to record my fishman rare earth blend into my daw, monitoring it live through my speaker. I’m hearing interference when I have the pickup at the magnetic settings. When I roll the setting towards the microphone, the interference sounds disappear- any idea how I can work around this?
I would to record the blend of both magnetic and mic from the pickup, thanks!

So you're recording the pickup, right? Magnetic pickups pickup magnetic fields, that's basically how they work. They're notorious for issues everywhere, even in live settings, where you have stage lights, amps, various things that create electro-magnetic fields. You have them in your house too. You computer, speakers, etc, all create magnetic fields that the pickup can detect. You may find that by moving around, you can find a location/orientation that minimizes it, but it likely won't go away. Mics work better for recording than any pickup, and this is just one of the reasons why.

[lppier]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

So you're recording the pickup, right? Magnetic pickups pickup magnetic fields, that's basically how they work. They're notorious for issues everywhere, even in live settings, where you have stage lights, amps, various things that create electro-magnetic fields. You have them in your house too. You computer, speakers, etc, all create magnetic fields that the pickup can detect. You may find that by moving around, you can find a location/orientation that minimizes it, but it likely won't go away. Mics work better for recording than any pickup, and this is just one of the reasons why.

Yes I’m recording the magnetic pickup. I did find a location further away from the speaker that minimised the interference. I also found that if I place my fingers on the body of the pickup , the interference grows.

However, the interference doesn’t seem to be “recorded” , or at least I don’t hear it.

[lppier]

Originally Posted by jim1960

Not sure about the interference but if you're using a microphone, even an internal microphone, and monitoring through your speakers, the mic is going to pick up the speakers.

Yup this is feedback, but the issue here is caused by the magnetic side of the pickup, not the mic side .
My monitor speaker is pretty soft.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by lppier

Yup this is feedback, but the issue here is caused by the magnetic side of the pickup, not the mic side .
My monitor speaker is pretty soft.

Ok I am confused is the sound "interference", or is it "feedback" ? As far as an issue while they might be related they generally refer to different issues. Interference coming from an outside source like a radio station, fluorescent light, bad room wiring, etc. Feedback is a loop within the system itself where the output is getting back to the input .

Regardless trying record mic or pickup while having a speaker play in the same room , is a fundamentally poor not a great idea.

So unless your are overdubbing the simplest "workaround" is set the blend while monitoring, then mute the speaker output and record away.

If overdubbing get a set of closed back headphones and monitor through them

[keith.rogers]

Originally Posted by lppier

Hi I’m trying to record my fishman rare earth blend into my daw, monitoring it live through my speaker. I’m hearing interference when I have the pickup at the magnetic settings. When I roll the setting towards the microphone, the interference sounds disappear- any idea how I can work around this?
I would to record the blend of both magnetic and mic from the pickup, thanks!

A bit short on information here. Is the "my speaker" in your acoustic guitar amp, or a studio monitor connected to an audio interface, or...?

The obvious solution to me would be to monitor with headphones.

[lppier]

I was referring to the quote where someone said it was feedback. My issue is not feedback, but interference.

I’m using my acoustic guitar amp as a monitor.
Will try out using headphones to monitor.
Actually as mentioned earlier, the problem is mostly alleviated by positioning myself further away from the speakers.