Hello Scott,
Welcome to the forum. Hmm... Are you using the built in soundcard with your computer? I know that there is many problems inherent with the stock soundcards, it could be that there is something called crosstalk going on in your soundcard. You may want to consider stepping up a notch and getting something better if you are going to be recording your music. I think the manufactures skip quality altogether with built in soundcards, they figure the most a consumer will do is record some speech for notation or something very basic, so they cheap out as much as they can. There are so many good values out there as far as soundcards go, so you have many different options for all kinds of budgets. I would recommend getting something that is quality. M-audio, PreSonus and RME are the best choices.

Never thought about that but it seems TOTALLY plausible. Just out of curiosity, how much would I be looking to dish out for a card suitable for professional recording? I spent pretty much my entire budget for gear just recently, I'll make room for a suitable card but what should I be looking at?

Can anyone provide Specs or a link to a great card, value/performance.

Thanks Again!!

Things you should think about are making choices as to how your going to record. Firewire vs. USB, drives internal vs. external since your OS needs one drive and your track data needs another.

Since you are wanting something high on the bang for the buck factor I have heard very reasonable feedback on this device:

emu 0404 - Google Product Search

My local music shop has something pretty similar to this. It's made by Roland and comes with a condenser mic for $229 I might go check it out. So just to clarify, If I get a USB audio interface I can bypass my internal soundcard and thus eliminate this problem without directly replacing the current card? This would be a better alternative for me if that is correct.

Thanks

I have the same effect when recording guitar. Guitar pickups "pick up" signals from headphones. Do you record using headphones?
Same as in your scenario, I have a lot of different backing tracks going into my headphones when recording, but only the click seems to bleed into the guitar recording. OK, here's how to solve this: turn down the volume of the headphones and see (or hear...) if the click-bleed reduces. If you're going direct, the volume doesn't matter so it's not a problem.

RiF, post: 345558 wrote: I have the same effect when recording guitar. Guitar pickups "pick up" signals from headphones. Do you record using headphones?
Same as in your scenario, I have a lot of different backing tracks going into my headphones when recording, but only the click seems to bleed into the guitar recording. OK, here's how to solve this: turn down the volume of the headphones and see (or hear...) if the click-bleed reduces. If you're going direct, the volume doesn't matter so it's not a problem.

Yeah as mentioned in my original post the click track bleeds into the recording even when recording with no inputs connected so I can confirm that it has nothing to do with my guitar/headphones or mics. This leads me to believe that it is definitely crosstalk on my soundcard but if I get a USB audio interface can I bypass my internal soundcard and thus eliminate this problem without directly replacing the current card?

I've been considering buying a USB AI anyway so if this is a reasonable solution I will just go with this rather than replacing my internal SC.
Can anyone shed some light on this issue?

Thanks again everyone.

Scott MacAdam, post: 345676 wrote: Yeah as mentioned in my original post the click track bleeds into the recording even when recording with no inputs connected so I can confirm that it has nothing to do with my guitar/headphones or mics. This leads me to believe that it is definitely crosstalk on my soundcard but if I get a USB audio interface can I bypass my internal soundcard and thus eliminate this problem without directly replacing the current card?

I've been considering buying a USB AI anyway so if this is a reasonable solution I will just go with this rather than replacing my internal SC.
Can anyone shed some light on this issue?

Thanks again everyone.

yeah, the interface is an audio card.
the best way is to uninstall the onboard audio, then install the interface drivers.it will replace your audio card for everything.

1. Disable the internal sound card in your bios.
2. I would stay away from USB-based audio interfaces, but that might lead from my bad experience with them (Line6 and Digidesign). Go for firewire or PCI, if you can.

The crosstalk is more likely to be in your mixer. Depending, of course, on the brand. It COULD be the soundcard and its likely that its either one if not both. Since you are returning the signal through the board and using the aux's, I'm thinking that a send is leaking this. Effects, monitor, even the subs. Crosstalk in a board not originally designed for recording isnt that rare.

Davedog, post: 345746 wrote: The crosstalk is more likely to be in your mixer. Depending, of course, on the brand. It COULD be the soundcard and its likely that its either one if not both. Since you are returning the signal through the board and using the aux's, I'm thinking that a send is leaking this. Effects, monitor, even the subs. Crosstalk in a board not originally designed for recording isnt that rare.

As mentioned in the original quote and again above, the click still bleeds through with the inputs to my PC disconnected (thus the board all mics and DI instruments have no line in). Thanks for the thought though I will keep this in mind when purchasing my next board as my current one only supports 12 channels.

RiF, post: 345681 wrote: 1. Disable the internal sound card in your bios.
2. I would stay away from USB-based audio interfaces, but that might lead from my bad experience with them (Line6 and Digidesign). Go for firewire or PCI, if you can.

Sorry, I'm not sure I understand. If I were to disable my sound card AND not use a USB-AI how will I record at all. Maybe I misunderstood.

Just for further reference when I am purchasing gear, why do you suggest staying away from USB-AI? I'm relatively new to recording but don't you NEED a M-Box to use Protools and isn't Protools one of the most popular DAWs? If there is a better quality solution I will go for it, but at the same time my budget is pretty tight right now and I really just want to work out all the little kinks (like crosstalk/bleeding) so I can begin recording without all the little imperfections.

Just for you reference into what I'm using I currently run Sonar 8, Cubase 5, Ardour 2 and a few other little mastering programs that I like using depending on the project, in case that affects the hardware I should be using.

Thanks again everyone, this is really helpful for me

~Scott MacAdam

The only time you should need a loud click is when laying drums. Then, presumably, you won't need a click any more.

Or if there are quiet passages where a click is needed, it should be real quiet. Otherwise, through whatever means the click is bleeding, its disturbance will be minimized.

maybe in your software you have the click bused to the same input as your recording track on your daw or mixer ??? Nuendo allows me to send a click track to any output i want. just shooting from the hip here.