Serious problem with white noise

[H.Quality]

Hope someone can help with this..

Basically, every time I record, I pick up a LOT of hiss. I mean an unreasonable amount, often almost equal to the vocals.
Here are some examples of what I mean

(The hiss by itself)
http://www.mediafire.com/?dz92abem8bsa67b

and heres a vocal with the hiss behind it. (I know, the verse isn't that great, I don't rap much lol)
http://www.mediafire.com/?4gececyvx3r0f9m

I'm using a Scarlett 8i6, and a cheap dynamic mic. I get the hiss even when the mic isn't in though, if I turn up the gain. The mic picks up the vocals really low for some reason, so I have to turn it up a lot. I've tried leaving it down, and then boosting in the mix, but it doesn't seem to make a difference.
I've been having this problem for a couple months, and still haven't found an answer yet. I know that its nothing to do with cables crossing or anything, I've checked that out and it doesn't seem to make a difference.

So..yeah. Any ideas on what this is and how to avoid it?

 

[slik da relic]

were u havin this prob b4? sounds like u'll hafta start over rewiring ur setup... check each piece of equipment seprately and see if u can locate the prob, it might be the Scarlet... also, maybe there's one bad cable... check for that as well.. ive listened to it... doesnt sound too bad... almost sounds like ur recordin to tape... can u hear it with the beat playin alongside the vocals?

da relic

 

[H.Quality]

were u havin this prob b4? sounds like u'll hafta start over rewiring ur setup... check each piece of equipment seprately and see if u can locate the prob, it might be the Scarlet... also, maybe there's one bad cable... check for that as well.. ive listened to it... doesnt sound too bad... almost sounds like ur recordin to tape... can u hear it with the beat playin alongside the vocals?

da relic

This is the first interface I've used, so I've nothing to compare it to really.
I can sort of hear it when theres a beat, some tracks more than others.

Heres the track that acapella was from

http://www.mediafire.com/?8xbgv9cpowa3p6d

See, its there, but not a problem. But on other tracks, it REALLY gets in the way of things.

Rewiring..I wouldn't know where to start. I'd most likely do more damage than anything else haha

 

[slik da relic]

can u run the mic cable into another input? try that and see what happens.. also, u might have a volume/trim/gain level up to high in ur DAW.

da relic

 

[wizard]

turn all your channels down mute them
then turn 1 on by 1 with others mute and see if u still get it
could be the input gain could be a wire could be the channel u are recording on i had a problem like this years ago and found out it was a channel i just couldn't record on its a process good luck!

 

[H.Quality]

can u run the mic cable into another input? try that and see what happens.. also, u might have a volume/trim/gain level up to high in ur DAW.

da relic

Nope, same result! Thanks anyway though!

turn all your channels down mute them
then turn 1 on by 1 with others mute and see if u still get it
could be the input gain could be a wire could be the channel u are recording on i had a problem like this years ago and found out it was a channel i just couldn't record on its a process good luck!

I think I tried this earlier, but didn't get far. The problem is on all outputs that I turn up.

I might have found a solution to the problem though. Posting this in case anybody else has a similar issue.

My problem was that my interface picked up a lot of white noise. Sometimes overpowering the mic. So, I made the mic louder, before it touches the interface.

My brother used to play guitar, and I found this cool distortion pedal, from the 80s.

I haven't had a chance to try this out yet, but it has a volume boost (Pic is blurry, its the one on the left!) that I can use, to make the vocals much louder. And then I just turn down the gain until I'm at a comfortable level. I don't even have to distort them, I can set that to 0, and just use this as an amplifier, so yeah. All seems to be working now. I'll update with results.

 

[2GooD Productions]

Im having a similar problem, our external audio interface picks up a lot of noise, when the mouse moves it picks up white noise, the mouse is WIRED??!!
It also picks up noise from the hard disks, Ive never had this issue before, Im a bit confused.
I have tried moving wires around and the interface but still get noise.
Any ideas.

 

[Relic]

2Good, that is WEIRD lol.
I have NEVER heard of a mouse making noise on a track...
Is your cpu being maxed out?

 

[2GooD Productions]

2Good, that is WEIRD lol.
I have NEVER heard of a mouse making noise on a track...
Is your cpu being maxed out?

Ive only been working with external soundcards for about 6 weeks, but Ive already had enough. :<

 

[Relic]

I feel you! May need to reorganize everything.

 

[2GooD Productions]

I feel you! May need to reorganize everything.

If you saw the space im working in, you would see that even if I reorganized, everything would end up back in the same place afterwards.

My workspace is little bigger than a cupboard, lmao. Im going to make a little video of the studio and show you what I mean. That will be funny.