How can I get rid of scratching sounds in recording equipment?

I.E. Recording equipment. Or synthesizers?

simple answer buy better quality recording equipment.
it is hard to diagnose your problem from the limited amount of information you have given. the most probably suspect is internal noise, the cheaper the equipment the more internal noise it has,

one solution would to be to increase the input levels of the instruments you are trying to record. this (up to a point) will mask the internal noise of your recording equipment.
however too much input may result in over saturation or distortion. creating even more problems. of course if you are using an old tube type of amplifier some distortion may be a good thing.
OR you could try just the opposite and lower the input of the instrument and let the internal amplifier of your recording equipment handle the load. its going to be a lot of trial and error i’m afraid, since there are so many variables involved, but you have to find the weakest link and work around (or upgrade) that.

try varying the gain on your inputs and outputs, it can be a hit or miss kind of thing and it really depends on what type of equipment you have, what power levels you are working with and the various instruments you have. that’s why sound engineers get paid big bucks to make things sound perfect. very hard to do in a home studio.
another thing you need to be concerned with is your wiring and connections, make sure to use good quality wire, keep the wires separated as much as possible (to eliminate crosstalk between wires) and use good quality connectors, if you have the old type bare wire into the spring loaded or screw down clamp, twist the end of the wire tightly and apply some solder to it. this will prevent fraying and to some degree oxidation of the copper wire, giving a much better connection.
hope this improves your quality

2 Responses to “How can I get rid of scratching sounds in recording equipment?”

  • Michael D says:

    simple answer buy better quality recording equipment.
    it is hard to diagnose your problem from the limited amount of information you have given. the most probably suspect is internal noise, the cheaper the equipment the more internal noise it has,

    one solution would to be to increase the input levels of the instruments you are trying to record. this (up to a point) will mask the internal noise of your recording equipment.
    however too much input may result in over saturation or distortion. creating even more problems. of course if you are using an old tube type of amplifier some distortion may be a good thing.
    OR you could try just the opposite and lower the input of the instrument and let the internal amplifier of your recording equipment handle the load. its going to be a lot of trial and error i’m afraid, since there are so many variables involved, but you have to find the weakest link and work around (or upgrade) that.

    try varying the gain on your inputs and outputs, it can be a hit or miss kind of thing and it really depends on what type of equipment you have, what power levels you are working with and the various instruments you have. that’s why sound engineers get paid big bucks to make things sound perfect. very hard to do in a home studio.
    another thing you need to be concerned with is your wiring and connections, make sure to use good quality wire, keep the wires separated as much as possible (to eliminate crosstalk between wires) and use good quality connectors, if you have the old type bare wire into the spring loaded or screw down clamp, twist the end of the wire tightly and apply some solder to it. this will prevent fraying and to some degree oxidation of the copper wire, giving a much better connection.
    hope this improves your quality
    References :
    Electrical Engineer for a large telecommunications company

  • Kinan says:

    If the scratchiness occurs when you are moving controls and knobs then the contacts inside of these controls are dirty. This is easily fixed. Go to radio shack and get a can of contact cleaner and with the equipment off, spray a little of it into the cortrols while moving the knobs back and forth.
    All potentiometers/rheostats get dirt in them and this is used to clean them.
    References :
    http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://i.ehow.com/images/a04/pj/53/remove-guitar-potentiometer-1.5-120X120.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.ehow.com/how_5033123_remove-guitar-potentiometer.html&usg=__AM_-_gHkRlQtNSYatFyHdZeoFkA=&h=120&w=120&sz=16&hl=en&start=10&zoom=0&tbnid=gJuvWI42yQhp_M:&tbnh=88&tbnw=88&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dradio%2Bshack%2Bcontact%2Bcleaner%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DG%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26gbv%3D1%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1