Strange Interference From Beyond????

[sonicdefault]

Hello fellow gear lovers. Anyone experiencing strange, noisy, crackly interference from beyond? Last night I started getting wierd noise in my mic lines. I've tried everything, and even started unplugging my bay and moving things into and out of the control room trying to figure it out. And after wasting about three hours, all I can determine is that the noise is in the air. The only thing that seems to have minimized the disturbance was using very short mic cables (about 3'). My normal cables are new 25' Kiwis, so they aren't the problem. I looked on the net to see if I saw any reports of solar flare/wind activity, but I didn't see any clear report of this. Anyone else having trouble? I hope it clears up soon. It's too severe to work under these conditons. Some of the spikes were registering the -40 lights on my Apogees!


-SD

[cornutt]

I looked, and it appears that there was a somewhat active period last night. It would have been from 7 PM to 10 PM Central. But compared to past years, solar activity has been generally very low this year.

[H-Rave]

I had/Have a similar problem sometimes I have the leds light up on my tascam fw 1884 with a very slight noise, almost indistinguishable I think it comes from my neighbours baby intercom or possibly a microwave oven I'm not sure, Do you have your sound equipment isolated and protected electrically.I don't think it's a cause for alarm,it's just annoying.

[Birdi]

Originally Posted by H-Rave

Do you have your sound equipment isolated and protected electrically..

... been any changes in the way stuff is grounded?

B

[sonicdefault]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the help and encouragement! My studio is grounded properly with an isolated true earth ground. As far as power conditioning goes, it's only half done. The other half uses some nice Iso-bars though. I'm not sure if the problem still exists. I'll be trying to record again later tonight, so I'm hoping it's gone back into the twilight zone. The bizarre thing is, I haven't been having this trouble. The studio has remained unchanged over the last week, and I've been recording without the noise up through Saturday. I'll report back.


-SD

[sonicdefault]

Originally Posted by cornutt

I looked, and it appears that there was a somewhat active period last night. It would have been from 7 PM to 10 PM Central. But compared to past years, solar activity has been generally very low this year.

That's interesting, because that's exactly when the noise was the worst. It progressively got better into the early hours, but never completely subsided.


Thanks!


-SD

[sonicdefault]

Well, the noise is still occurring, but much less frequent. It sounds like tiny bursts of pops or static, and comes on average about every 8 seconds or so, but it's very random. I can even hear it through my headphone amp,or monitors with nothing else on. I experimented again with cable length, and once again, the only thing that helps is using very short cables. The cable I used tonight, was a .5 meter Monster Studio Link (their best). I think it must be the short length rather than the characteristics of the Monster design which helped, although I'm interested to know what a longer version of that Monster SL would do. I've also tried other cables such as Whirlwind instead of the Kiwis I've been using, but it actually sounded worse (the Whirlwind is a little longer though, perhaps 30'). I don't have any other high end brand around to experiment with. This is really disturbing, and for the first time, I've considered moving my preamp(s) into the recording booth. I realize that longer cables are more susceptible to noise, but that with moderate runs and quality cable, there should be no problem. However, this is not like any noise I've encountered before. It's some serious, demonic static . I'm at a loss what else to do except pray it clears up soon. It's somewhat better but still not acceptable. Anyone have any ideas?



-SD

[Birdi]

So the noise is definetly getting in at the 'capture' end of things? doesnt appear in the monitor path?

have you tried a different mic, and pre? Why Im mentioning this is that I remember years ago having an AKG 451 develop an intermittant fault : a spitting sound, that was quite unusual. And dont failing caps make noises as well?

And probably worth remembering when trouble shooting, that somtimes coincidence comes into play... it just maybe that your fault has just happened to occur when theres some sunspot activity, not because of it.

hope you get it sorted! let us know.

Bird.

[Dale]

Originally Posted by sonicdefault

Well, the noise is still occurring, but much less frequent. It sounds like tiny bursts of pops or static, and comes on average about every 8 seconds or so, but it's very random. I can even hear it through my headphone amp,or monitors with nothing else on. ... However, this is not like any noise I've encountered before. It's some serious, demonic static . I'm at a loss what else to do except pray it clears up soon. It's somewhat better but still not acceptable. Anyone have any ideas?

-SD

cell phone interference?? (new client with nextel service)
maybe try a star quad mic cable to lessen em/rf interference??

[sonicdefault]

Well guys, I've been set free! the noise vanished as mysteriously as it came. My last post I mentioned it was already less severe, and a few hours later, around 3 am, it had completely gone. And I had none nothing else. I put the studio back in it's normal config yesterday, and quite simply... the noise just slowly went away! It's absolutely freaky. I think it had to be some sort of electromagnetic interference. Thanks for everyone's help!


-SD

[sonicdefault]

Originally Posted by Birdi

So the noise is definetly getting in at the 'capture' end of things? doesnt appear in the monitor path?

have you tried a different mic, and pre? Why Im mentioning this is that I remember years ago having an AKG 451 develop an intermittant fault : a spitting sound, that was quite unusual. And dont failing caps make noises as well?

And probably worth remembering when trouble shooting, that somtimes coincidence comes into play... it just maybe that your fault has just happened to occur when theres some sunspot activity, not because of it.

hope you get it sorted! let us know.

Bird.

These were very good suggestions-thanks so much for taking the time. That noise was so pervasive, it was in everything which had a long cable, and then some sort of gain stage, such as my monitors, headphone amp, and of course my various preamps. I tried different mics, cables, pres, location, and even a standalone Mackie compact mixer I brought in from a live rig just to check (so I could isolate it from everything else). And, as I've mentioned, only the shortest cables minimized the noise. Interestingly, I could hear it with the .5 meter cable, but barely, and it was about 95% less. This, in conjunction with the fact that it just appeared out of nowhere, is why I came to the conclusion that it was in the air. The first night, it was very bad, almost continuous and loud, and the second night, like i reported. I guess it's just one of those strange things that are hard to explain. Anyway, I hope it never happens again! Thanks again for the help!


-SD

[sonicdefault]

Originally Posted by Dale

cell phone interference?? (new client with nextel service)
maybe try a star quad mic cable to lessen em/rf interference??

Hi,

I appreciate that. Yeh, I always make sure there's no cell phones around. I know that Blue Kiwis are quad cable. But like i've said, this was some serious spiky static. It was little bursts that would occur very fast and random. It must have truly been from beyond. I've been recording for about 23 years, and I've never encountered anything like it. When it was gone, it seemed like the noise floor was quieter than ever! I'm sure it's because i was so relieved, but it was still kinda eerie.


Best regards!


-SD

[Birdi]

thats good news!

I just remembered that years ago I was involved with a recording at a home studio that was affected by sunspot activity: seem to recall it involved noise and radio station interference. It was during a dry hot summer, and the solution was re cabling.

or maybe a space ship landed near your studio??

Bird.

[loujudson]

Last week the bass amp on stage started spouting Christian noinsense about getting right with the Lord, as Jesus is coming back to get us...

Restoring the ground lift on the bass Baggs preamp to normal silenced the creep, though.

Might be related?

I have a filmmaker friend who is doing a documentary on communication with the dead, and it is much nore real than simple crackly noises. They speak, given the correct receiveing apparatus and intention.

Beyond, huh. Beyond the walls of yon studio lies a random radio source. Might be aliens, might be the CIA.
L