Hello David, I am a producer and owner of an independent record company. My problem is this I have a digi 002 rack a Mac G4 1.25 Dual, 1 and a half gig of ram PTs 6.7 Panther 10.3.9. Whenever I record vocal I get a metallic click noise in my recordings. It is horrible. I have tried 4 different mics, I go thru the Avalon to the oo2. And when I go direct to the 002 from the mic it still does it.

Now here the BIG catch. I also took the old some to Guitar Center and it did it there.Digi sent me a new 002 rack ' for $149' and it does the same thing. I then used a Motu and garage band to test and it also made the click sound. Is the a word clock problem? PLEASE HELP as it is difficult to eat when the studio isn't recording vocals.

Thank so sincerely

Audio examples of the problem: Example 1, Example 2

David Mellor responds...

The first thing that is worth saying is that computer systems are very twitchy. It only takes the slightest incompatibility between software versions, or a wrong setting somewhere deep in a preferences menu, and either the system won't work at all, or it will do strange things. Actual equipment malfunction is more rare, although it is something to be considered.

I don't know the solution to the problem, but my line of enquiry in this or any similar situation would be firstly to check that all of your software is compatible, in particular the version of Pro Tools LE and the operating system. Having looked at the Digidesign website, I can't find the necessary information for this combination, although your computer is definitely compatible with the 002 rack. You would need to enquire directly to Digidesign or post an enquiry on their forum.

The other thing I would check is that every detail from the installation instructions in the manual has been followed to the letter. To the dot of the 'i' and cross of the 't' in fact. For instance, whether on a Mac system journaling should be switched on or off according to which version of a particular software you are using is a significant point.

Lastly, I have to wonder what the clock source is. If you have simplified everything by plugging the mic directly into the 002, disconnecting everything else (apart from the computer of course), monitoring on headphones, and switching to internal clock and checked your version compatibility with an authoritative source and installed the software precisely to the instructions, then you may indeed have a hardware problem. Usually this system works very well indeed.

If anyone can shed any light, I would love to hear -

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