Noise in recording... anger... grrr... help.

[sleeper1400]

i didnt hear any buzz. but i did hear a few mic bumps.

sounds to me like a ground loop issue.

try not to have too many plugs in one outlet.

also, get a couple of ground lifts.

[Obese Black Man]

Here's a new sound clip of the noise, slightly amplified for emphasis.

[AlexK]

Sounds like dirty power going down the USB into the preamp. Have you got a different PC you can try it out on?

[Obese Black Man]

I've used two computers- one old desktop and the Dell laptop I'm using right now. Recording on both give me the same problem.

[63hz]

Originally Posted by sleeper1400

i didnt hear any buzz. but i did hear a few mic bumps.

sounds to me like a ground loop issue.

try not to have too many plugs in one outlet.

also, get a couple of ground lifts.

ground loop issues occur when you you plug into different outlets that have different earth

as long as your not going over the recommended amps the outlet can draw it is better to use the one outlet

[soul&folk]

If what the other posters said about it being a ground loop issue is correct, you might be able to eliminate it by unplugging your laptop and running it on the batteries while recording. At least try that to see if this will help. If it does, you know you're going in the right direction.

I had an annoying hum when recording with an MPA gold into my laptop and that was the root of the problem. Once I realized that unplugging the laptop got rid of the hum, I then brought in a 50 ft. extension cord and plugged the mpa gold in every outlet on the floor until I found an outlet at the other side of the house which for some reason I don't fully understand, solved the problem. Go figure!

[theblue1]

Originally Posted by Obese Black Man

Here's a new sound clip of the noise, slightly amplified for emphasis.

OK... is that with a live mic up? It sounds like ambient sounds in a room to me. I listened to the VO clip to get some perspective. It's not insane but I can see why you might want to eliminate it, particularly if you're worried about follow-on compression.

If it's ambient sound, there's probably not much you can do besides isolating gear with fans into an equipment closet (watch out for heat, of course, that gear has fans on it for a reason), and/or working on further soundproofing your work space.

OTOH, if it's self-noise from your gear, that's a bit more troubling (and perplexing, as there are elements there that really don't sound like typical gear noise).

Since you work on a computer, I would suggest, if nothing else, using look-ahead gating/expansion, carefully set up to handle leading transients and vocal tails sensitively/appropriately.

[Roofliss]

That's not ambient noise brother, that's electrical noise.
Get some power condishhh in your life. monster pro mp3500 $200 on amazon. Changed my life. Are your outlets grounded?

[theblue1]

Originally Posted by Obese Black Man

Here's a new sound clip of the noise, slightly amplified for emphasis.

Originally Posted by Roofliss

That's not ambient noise brother, that's electrical noise.
Get some power condishhh in your life. monster pro mp3500 $200 on amazon. Changed my life. Are your outlets grounded?

Are we talking about the clip immediately above? (The one without the VO announcer, just the noise floor.)

Because I sure think I'm hearing sounds like someone moving about, knocking into things, and perhaps subvocalizing or muttering. Seriously. It would be very hard for me to convince myself otherwise.

A lot of times people resort to power conditioning for problems more easily solved in other ways. Sometimes just lifting a -- or making a proper -- ground connection can 'fix' things. It's relatively rare when problems with power (in modern, western urban areas) cause prominent problems -- but it's not necessarily rare that prominent problems sometimes exist coincidentally with power line issues. A lot of times when you find a rig with one thing messed up, there are a lot of other mess-ups, too.

[Roofliss]

Originally Posted by theblue1

Are we talking about the clip immediately above? (The one without the VO announcer, just the noise floor.)

Because I sure think I'm hearing sounds like someone moving about, knocking into things, and perhaps subvocalizing or muttering. Seriously. It would be very hard for me to convince myself otherwise.

A lot of times people resort to power conditioning for problems more easily solved in other ways. Sometimes just lifting a -- or making a proper -- ground connection can 'fix' things. It's relatively rare when problems with power (in modern, western urban areas) cause prominent problems -- but it's not necessarily rare that prominent problems sometimes exist coincidentally with power line issues. A lot of times when you find a rig with one thing messed up, there are a lot of other mess-ups, too.

We are indeed. What I'm hearing sounds alot like what I had going on before I had clean power. The noise was definitely more noticeable on outlets that weren't properly grounded however so that's why I asked about them at the end there. That could absolutely just be a sh*tty ungrounded outlet. And FYI just because your outlets are three pronged DOES NOT MEAN THEY ARE GROUNDED!!! You really need to pull off the face plate and make sure the ground is connected.

[0bazooka_joe0]

FYI lights can be quite a problem. with everything off in your room, turn your lights on and off and see if there's hum coming from them. i've got florescent lights that hum like a b**ch so i use a lamp when i'm recording.

[Obese Black Man]

MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service

So I've gotten ahold of another computer since my last post, and now it seems the problem is even worse than it was before.

The equipment is all the same, so I'm guessing the answer is no different than before.

[ysmgj]

early turkish film history, nice

its a power thing,....

using a power strip?

how many things you got plugged in?

does the power strip go straight to the wall or is it plugged into an adapter?

if it goes into an adapter, remove everything and then add stuff back one by one until the sound comes up again. remove everything even if you think it isnt the cause, even if its off,... tv, lights, radio, printer, charger, usb hub thingy, whatever.

ideally, if you're using a power strip you want it to go directly into the wall.

if you're plugging into the same powerstrip/adapter thingy then a different computer is isnt going to fix it.

occasionally i've gotten rooms where the building owner cheaped out big time and even the wall plugs were dirty,.... i hope that's not the case for you.

[Lee Cardan]

have you tried arming the preamp of the interface with nothing plugged in and monitoring for noise? that's the first thing I'd do to see whether it's there from the start or not

then plug in your lead and mic and see when it gets introduced, it could be either of them as well (for instance of the gnd pin is floating) - have you tried a different cable / a different mic? these are the first things I'd be testing

[Obese Black Man]

Originally Posted by Lee Cardan

have you tried arming the preamp of the interface with nothing plugged in and monitoring for noise? that's the first thing I'd do to see whether it's there from the start or not

I've tried that, and yes, the problem continues even without a mic plugged in. Also, I've been using a power-stick the whole time, so I'm guessing the problem lies either with the wall plugs the power-stick is plugged into or the preamp itself, but I'm not entirely sure.