I went down 1 tooth on the front sprocket and when I am cruising at a steady pace in any gear I hear a whine. I have tried tightening and loosing the chain tension, no help. I put the stock sprocket back on and no noise. Is this normal? I did notice the stock gear has a rubber pad on both sides of it and the new one doesnt.

 

how old is the chain/rear sprocket?

 

That's normal... the aftermarket sprockets don't have the little rubber damper that the stock sprocket has, so it will whine a little bit