Silence is Golden

Sober · Post by **Sober** » Sun Aug 28, 2005 11:45 pm

Uh, could it be because I'm not using balanced cables? I've got nice fancy-pants monster cables, but they're not balanced tip-ring-sleeve.

Oh, and everything from my computer comes out sounding fine, but everything coming out of the firepod, particularly my keyboard, sounds like there's no highs.

blue · Post by **blue** » Mon Aug 29, 2005 11:58 am

it's bus noise from your computer. what are those monitors plugged in to, your sound card?

nyjm · Post by **nyjm** » Mon Aug 29, 2005 1:20 pm

The Sober Irishman wrote:http://s93909993.onlinehome.us/mp3s/noise-01.mp3

i am SO placing that in my sound library...

sorry, i can't help you with the noise thing, but great random sound there...

Bjam · Post by **Bjam** » Mon Aug 29, 2005 1:38 pm

The Sober Irishman wrote:http://s93909993.onlinehome.us/mp3s/noise-01.mp3

I couldn't hear it, so turned it up, and then I get this ungodly loud "What the fuck is that?" blasting through my headphones. My poor ears will never be the same again.

As for the problem... Call the Ghostbusters.

Dan-O from Five-O · Post by **Dan-O from Five-O** » Mon Aug 29, 2005 5:15 pm

Wow, whatever it is it's cycling at a rapid rate. You said it's not the monitor, but it changes as you move the mouse. Is your mouse wireless by chance? Bad transmitter in that maybe if so. The increase when there's a heavy load on the CPU is disconcerting to say the least, but I'm clutching at straws here. I use outboard equipment so I'm in the dark with DAW recording.

Grounding you should be able to check easily enough. I got a piece of equipment to check wiring once from either Radio Shack or a hardware store (sorry I can't remember which) that checks for ungrounded lines. Butt simple to use, you just plug it into the line. Green if you're good, Red if you're bad. You could try a simple ground lift (3 prong to 2 prong electrical adapter) as well. You would be surprised how those can find and temporarily relieve a simple hum sometimes.

Me$$iah · Post by **Me$$iah** » Mon Aug 29, 2005 5:19 pm

Im no expert, but to my ears:-
The noise certainly has a digital sound to it, so i dont think its cabling or electrical hum..

tho when it speaks ......... dude I think theres a little guy living in ur comp squeeling and talking now and then.....hey see if ya can get him to sing thatd be cool

hahahah

Messiah

Sober · Post by **Sober** » Mon Aug 29, 2005 10:59 pm

blue wrote:it's bus noise from your computer. what are those monitors plugged in to, your sound card?

Where else am I gonna plug em in?

I'm about to try some new cables, balanced.

Sober · Post by **Sober** » Mon Aug 29, 2005 11:10 pm

Well, damnit.

Ok, so I've got two different things going into my monitors.

1: RCA from the front panel of my Audigy2. This gives me the high squealy noise.

2: Input from the Firepod. I've tried both balanced-to-xlr cables and Monster instrument cables. Both of these give me a more natural-sounding, but still prohibitively annoying hum.

With all inputs unplugged from the monitors, they make no noise, except the very faint hiss at high volume.

All inputs are crystal clear. I've recorded keyboard and mic through the firepod, burned it, and played it on other speakers, and it's fine. So the noise isn't transferring to input, which is good I guess. But it's loud enough to make recording vocals in this room undesirable.

So, I've got a bunch of problems. I'll start trying alternative inputs and cables.

blue · Post by **blue** » Wed Aug 31, 2005 2:15 pm

post the noise directly from the firepod.

the noise from the sound card is unequivocably bus noise from your computer. if your sound card has a spdif out, you can try getting a D/A and running from there into the speakers. or you could get an external sound card, like an extigy.

you could also try replacing your sound card, moving it to a different slot, unplugging your CD rom audio cable... etc. i've had that problem on many computers. whenever the hard drive moves, the sound card picks it up as noise on the bus.

i have a cheapo sony receiver that has SPDIF ins, and just use those from my sound card.

the hum directly from the firepod sounds likely to be 60 cycle hum, or you have a channel turned way up with nothing plugged in to it.

best way to determine cable faults without a tester is to plug the cable into the speakers only. if it's noisy like that, you prolly have a bad cable.

best test for the speakers themselves is to plug them directly into a CD player or walkman or something. if you still have crazy hum, try a different wall outlet, or try to find a decent isolating UPS to run them from.

or they're fucked.

Sober · Post by **Sober** » Wed Aug 31, 2005 8:25 pm

Actually, now that I've swapped some cables, I'm getting no undesirable noise from the firepod at all. It's all coming from the computer. And today I bought a flatscreen, so that rules out another possible source of interference.

Thanks for the tips Blue. I'll try those.

blue · Post by **blue** » Wed Aug 31, 2005 8:53 pm

can't you use the firepod as a sound card?

Q: How can I get Windows to use the Firepod as its default output?
A: After completing the installation of the Firepod drivers successfully, go to the Start Menu, then Control Panel, and then Sounds and Audio Devices. Click on the Audio tab. From the pull-down menu next to Default Device you can select which output on the Firepod you would like Windows to use. (You do the same for input into Windows on the Default Input tab).

there ya go. it's gotta have better D/A converters than your soundblaster.

starfinger · Post by **starfinger** » Thu Sep 01, 2005 7:51 am

the way I'd do it is use the sound blaster + some pc speakers as your default windows sounds, and the monitors/firepod just for recording (tell windows to "never map through this device"). that way you have sound for normal windows crap without having to turn on all your gear. also this way windows will never try to commandeer your recording equipment while you're tracking or something like that.

if you ever absolutely must run windows sound through the firepod, it's a quick configuration change.

this is the way i have it set up with my laptop + the motu traveler.

-craig

ken · Post by **ken** » Thu Sep 01, 2005 8:57 am

Funny. I'm the opposite, and I run all my audio through my MOTU 828 mk2. If I want to listen to anything, I have to turn two things on, the 828 and my monitors. You really want to get used to the sound of your system, and the best way to do that is to listen to a lot of different stuff on them.

Ken

starfinger · Post by **starfinger** » Thu Sep 01, 2005 9:08 am

maybe it makes more sense for a laptop. but I really don't like windows beeps coming at me through my monitors. it makes me feel dirty. the alternative is, of course, to turn off windows sounds.

-craig

ken · Post by **ken** » Thu Sep 01, 2005 9:50 am

Yes. Two things, one is to optimize your computer for audio, which usually includes turning off the beeps. Also, if you don't want to hear them, don't turn on the monitors!

Even Brad reccomends XP tuning for you PC people: http://www.bradsucks.net/archives/2003/ ... for-audio/

Ken

starfinger · Post by **starfinger** » Thu Sep 01, 2005 10:24 am

yeah, musicxp.net is a great website. although, several of their suggested tweaks are not technical issues as much as they are peeves of the guy who made the list.

-craig

Calfborg · Post by **Calfborg** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 10:44 pm

So I'm having this problem with a significant noise.
This is when I have my large-diaphragm condenser plugged into my Edirol UA-25. I get that noise once I switch on the phantom power.

I know the mic isn't bad because I ran it through an external phantom power, then into the UA-25 (without the power on), and there's no noise.

I don't think the UA-25 is bad either because I can plug my small-diaphragm condenser in, turn the phantom power on, and get noise-free recording.

Any ideas?

Sober · Post by **Sober** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 9:01 pm

Dan-O and/or Leaf, can't be bothered to remember who, mentioned my former noise problems. I attribute the elimination of these problems almost entirely to this product.

Not only is it super useful, space-saving, and noise-reducing, but it also looks super cool. Obviously, that's the most important thing in any rackmount gear. Also, the two front outlets remain active even when the unit is switched off. Pretty cool.

In my portable studio bag thing, there's a space for my laptop, and two rackmount spaces. I've got that and my firepod in it, and that's all I need.

You can pick this up for about $199.

Oh, and it's heavy.

Dan-O from Five-O · Post by **Dan-O from Five-O** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 11:01 pm

It was me when I reviewed you're song this week. (Don't think I don't miss you)

But I also mentioned you're ground lift issue about 5 month's and 14 posts ago.

Not that I'm counting or wanting credit for identifying it or anything.

But I did, you know.

I have hate mail to read. Later.

fluffy · Post by **fluffy** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 12:46 am

The Sober Irishman wrote:I think Fluffy's thread on the old board was "The silent recorder."

MY thread?

Why you gotta pin this on ME?!

Anyway I think it was King Arthur.

Kill Me Sarah · Post by **Kill Me Sarah** » Tue Jul 08, 2008 7:36 am

roymond wrote: Personally, my sofa-pillow voice booth is still proving invaluable. So, I guess I've done it to a degree (even though it's about letting the neighbors sleep rather than cutting out PC noise).

I'm moving into an apartment in a few weeks and would love to know what this setup is. It's a great apartment, and fortunately our next door neighbors will actually be friends of ours, but I'd still rather spare them the pain of me yelling into a microphone. That kind of torture is better suited to you guys

Sober · Post by **Sober** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 4:57 pm

wtf man?

Silence is Golden

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Re: Silence is Golden