Please identify this intermittent buzz noise...

[jnorman]

lately i am experiencing a random, intermittent buzzy kind of noise on one of my tracks, and i cant quite figure out what it is. it is just on one channel. i am attaching a short clip so you can hear it. could this be from one of the mics? RF interference? it doesnt sound like a cable problem. what do you think it might be? thanks.

[NorseHorse]

It comes from cell phones. The closer they are to your cable/mic/recorder/speakers, the louder it will be.

Turning them on silence does not help, as they are still communicating with the cell towers, which is what you are hearing.

[jnorman]

thanks for the info, but how in the world do you deal with that? and why is it just on one channel?

[Corran]

One of your cables or possibly a connection in your preamp or microphone is allowing the interference into the line. On my Zoom H4, I can get this interference fairly easily. Once, only one side of a stereo ribbon got the interference.

I believe that supposedly a balanced connection should not be affected by cell phone interference. So if some connection (either by design, or due to a bad connection) might be unbalanced, perhaps it would let in the cell phone interference.

I am starting to buy quad cables - they are supposed to reject interference more.

[d_fu]

Originally Posted by jnorman

thanks for the info, but how in the world do you deal with that?

Since this is essentially a fast sequence of sharp clicks, one can get rid of it with a declicking/decrackling tool fairly well. Or even with manual waveform drawing...


D.

[jnorman]

danke herr fu - i will check into that.

[Kyle S]

only way to stop that stuff is taking the battery out of the phone or PDA. Good luck getting the audience to co-operate with that. One band I record in particular refuses to turn off the cell (wife) so lots of their tracks have lil tat tat tat tat tat. I warned them about it so im not going to sit here and edit all tht garbage out, its full band with his phone, not just clicks. Thing is, it comes it at cool moments sometimes and adds to the song haha.

[chris319]

only way to stop that stuff is taking the battery out of the phone or PDA.

Well, no, you could smash the offending device to itty bits with a hammer

[Don S]

Originally Posted by Kyle S

only way to stop that stuff is taking the battery out of the phone or PDA. Good luck

Sometimes you can get them to either power down completely or put the (i)phone in airplane mode.

[Corran]

Most phones I think have airplane mode these days.

iPhones are the worst for RF interference.

[DCtoDaylight]

Originally Posted by Corran

Most phones I think have airplane mode these days.

iPhones are the worst for RF interference.

I'll second this - I learned quickly after getting an iPhone. I always shut mine down entirely now when I'm recording, but on one live occasion I got a nice little burst of that tak-tak-tak-tak noise from one that must have been either in the audience or the orchestra.