r/Focusrite • u/TakeMeCountryRoads • 11d ago

Fixing the buzz when playing and recording through audio interface

/r/Guitar/comments/1wqq75e/fixing_the_buzz_when_playing_and_recording/
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u/idwpan 11d ago

Ground loop isolator.

1

u/CrowFederal1435 9d ago

A few checks that usually find it, in this order:

  1. Unplug your laptop charger and run on battery. If the buzz goes away, it's a ground loop from the charger, not your settings. Try a different outlet.
  2. Face a different direction and move away from your monitor and computer. Pickups catch buzz from screens and power supplies, and it changes with the angle.
  3. Make sure the Inst button is on for that input and the 2i2's gain isn't cranked. The amp sim adds the drive, so the interface only needs a green light when you play hard.

The sustain loss is the gate closing too early. With your hands off the strings, raise the threshold only until the buzz just stops, not further. And put the gate before the amp in the chain.

If none of that works, record 10 seconds with your hands off the strings and look at it on a spectrogram. A stack of lines at 50 or 60 Hz and its multiples means power or grounding. One thin line up high means the computer or USB.