ground loop isolation

so i found out the hard way tonight trying to record some vinyl to hard drive that annoying ass hum. ordered a nice looking isolator online, just wondering how much will it reduce my recording quality? reduction in gain, or any noticeable difference?

Is the hum coming from your record player, or is it coming from the computer sound card? I don't know how to get rid of ground loop hums from record players, but if you remove the ground on the computer it should get rid of the hum. Just get a cube tap and remove the ground plug on it, and then connect the computer to the cube tap.

try di boxes with ground lift.

or as tamas, and a lot of other people have suggested many times in the past, isolate or remove a grounding pin from the loop. i still have no conclusive info about how safe it is to isolate the ground from an appliance that ostensibly requires grounding though. (but it will remove the hum)

I've been using my laptop for over 2 years now without a ground pin.

Keep in mind that I always unplug it when I'm not home, and also when there's a lightning storm.

plug in the turntable ground cable. :)

Don't most record players and mixers have a ground post that you can run your own ground chain off of?

as far as i know removing the ground from a particular piece of kit is ok as long as something in the 'live' circuit still has it. If you do this to all the gear you are using then (i think) its very dangerous.

i've always erred on the side of caution and isolated ground loops the hard (in a money sense) but safe way, use balanced lines by using di boxes as logan five said and be dilligent with your setup, use different power outlets to separate circuits and try to use good, well shielded cables.

that said, im rubbish at electronics and i'm only talking from my uneducated experience..