High pitch background noise w/ imac

[spider651]

I've been struggling with this for awhile. When I'm set to record and Check Level, the meters are not at zero and I can hear some feedback.  After recording an album, the sound is pretty good except when there are quite parts in the music, like a guitar solo, or at the end of tracks.  At that point, I hear a high pitched sound.  I think I'm using the rumble filter correctly.  Click removal works great.  I've communicated with the folks who sold me the phono preamp.   They have offered suggestions but said they've heard the same complaint with some imacs.  I'm using OSX El Capitan 10.11.1.  They tell me they've taken pre-amps back from people with the same problem and the preamps work fine.  They think it is caused by DC OFFSET, which they say is correctable with Windows versions.  They don't have a lot of suggestions for mac, told me to check imac forums.  I've moved things around so I don't think it's acoustic feedback.  I've been trying the trial Vinyl Studios version with my old Windows computer but I've had similar issues.  It may be a little better but the high pitched noise is still there to a degree.  The preamp folks say that problem is corrected by downloading the OEM device drive.  Tried that but I don't know if it worked properly as my PC is super old, which is why I upgraded to a new mac.  I'm ready to send the preamp back for testing but I thought I reach out to the forum and see if any other mac user has come up with a solution.  Thanks,

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

Hi,

They're giving you the runaround, it's the phono preamp, a USB device, presumably.  What is it?

And DC offset is nothing to do with it and can, in any case, be corrected by applying VS's rumble filter.

[spider651]

TEC TC-756 USB.  Thanks for your response and I agree.  When I had the exact same problem with the meters after I hooked up to my PC, I strongly suspected the preamp.  I think I'll head send it back and head to a local shop in town to try a new one. 

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

Sounds sensible.  I'd take your computer with you, if you can.  No 'wiggle' room then.

[spider651]

Are you kidding about the computer?  Do you prefer Windows?  I've working at this for a long time trying to find the right sound  recording vinyl, long before I bought Vinyl Studio.  Do you have any suggestions for the best set up?  preamp? computer?

[spider651]

Paul, don't worry about responding to my last post.  I picked up a new preamp today, Pro-Ject, and everything works great.  Thanks

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

Ah, a proper preamp.  Good, good luck.