Studio Help...

Evening. I'm audio, I've been lurking here for some time now. But the time has come to break the silence. I have a question for the EKT's here.

I recently bought a respectable studio set-up to continue my auditory explorations, but I'm having a couple initial problems. I have a KRK 10' sub running from an M-Audio Firewire Solo, and 2 Mackie MR8's running from the sub. They sound fantastic, but the monitors and the sub are picking up sound from my laptop's HDD. The monitors are pretty close to my laptop, and the sub is about 2.5 feet away from it. There is a 1.5' TRS cable running from the Firewire Solo into the sub, and there are XLR's running from the sub to the monitors. Could they be picking up my HDD sound because the cables aren't shielded? Or could they all just be way to close together? Any input is appreciated.

Read the rules

Yeah, lots of entry level and mid-range gear picks up computer noise. All you can do is try moving things further away from the laptop.

My interface picks up hella HDD noise even though it's DESIGNED to sit under the laptop

Lots of things to try, first is it RF interference, grounding/sheilding problems, or a combination of both? As AW suggests try moving things around, not only by distance but also by rotation. If you spin something 90 degrees and the noise drops then it's RF. Even so it could be accentuated by improper shielding.

Next make sure that all line level cables are shielded, and check all cables for continuity either with an ohmmeter or by physically opening up the connectors and making sure that a ground wire hasn't broken off, etc.

You may also have a ground loop happening, try a ground lift plug for any of your power connectors that are "3-prong" plugs.

Probably the best approach is the process of elimination - start with only the monitors and sub, nothing else connected to them. Add one piece of gear at a time going upstream through the chain until the noise appears.

You might also double check the TRS cable going from the Solo to the sub - could it be an unbalanced cable being used where it should be a 3 conductor balanced line?

That's all I can think at the moment... good luck!

first thing i would do is plug your computer power into another outlet and see if it changes anything. And see if it does it when the computer is not plugged in as well.

beyond that see above post.

Probably worth mentioning that you are most likely hearing noise in the non-recording signal path - i.e. monitor and headphone outputs.

To deliver the "amazing value for money" the reviewers write about, they put well specced parts in the recording signal path, and cheap crap everywhere else - in other words the noise you're hearing PROBABLY won't be on your recordings (worth checking though)

audio,

a lil OT, but I always hear awesome things about the Austin music scene. How is it for electronic music there? Lot's going on? well received?

Hey thanks for the help guys. I figured out that the interference is coming from the firewire cable connected to my PC, as it stops when I disconnect it. I'm hoping that a ground loop isolator will stop the problem... Been on the phone with m-audio all day to see if their interface can handle a ground lift.

Brandi, the music scene in ATX is amazing. Seriously, anything you want to hear, there is someone playing it at a bar, party, whatever. There's plenty of dnb, dubstep, and exp artists here, I'm sure I'm forgetting about 30 sub-genres, but the point is, if you want to listen to it live, you can do it here. I love that.

Dry heat is the only thing that keeps me away from there tbh.

I may possibly be in san antonio for a few months tho. we shall see.

Haha, the heat is unbearable sometimes, but there are remedies... I'm actually from San Antonio, where are ya headed?

Not sure yet. Depends on if my job sends me there. And that depends on if they make a decision to. But i'd be pretty much right in the epicenter of San Antonio. I've been there before and I absolutely loved the whole river walk thing.

The riverwalk is definitely fun, but there is more!

BTW, I did a bit more research and found out that the humming was being caused by my laptop's power adapter. Went out and got one of these little guys and it eliminated all of the noise. Thanks for your help friends.

  On 2/16/2010 at 11:59 PM, audio said:

The riverwalk is definitely fun, but there is more!

 

BTW, I did a bit more research and found out that the humming was being caused by my laptop's power adapter. Went out and got one of these little guys and it eliminated all of the noise. Thanks for your help friends.

where'd you buy that/how much did you pay?

I got a Hum-X and it was ok, but it still is pretty dirty, I tried ferrites too but it got expensive, you can call me a nutter but I've resorted to breaking apart old VHS tapes with nothing special on them and wrapping that around the cord as a cheap (free) solution. It actually does have an effect, I figured because the magnetic crap on the tape is powdered ferrite. I don't know if there's some drawback I didn't think of yet but it's exponentially cleaner than it was. Plus it could potentially fit around any cord. Don't ferrites/toroids have a cutoff point, like it'll lower noise above 8000 hz but then nothing below that? Because my TREBLE is definitely better, I dunno about bass

basically I haven't gotten to the point where I'm looking for this crap online, I'm sure it's like everything else in life there is some little company that makes equipment that works and it's affordable by comparison but everyone gets Monster cables because it's fucking everywhere and it's just like layers of people thinking they're informed about things like they think Monster's an obscure company

are Furman power conditioners any good or is that another example

my problem is just noise caused by a ground loop while having a y-cable plugged into my headphone jack and having the power cord to my laptop plugged in at the same time. you are talking about recording, right?

  On 2/17/2010 at 2:30 AM, uptowndevil said:

my problem is just noise caused by a ground loop while having a y-cable plugged into my headphone jack and having the power cord to my laptop plugged in at the same time. you are talking about recording, right?

no I meant playback

I don't really record anything at the moment

I got mine at a Guitar Center here in Austin. Check that website again, and see if there are any dealers near you. Paid $60 for the one I got.

I second double checking grounding speculating prounding aprmpetulating spcrungling matfulences bering ...

  On 2/16/2010 at 9:39 PM, audio said:

Hey thanks for the help guys. I figured out that the interference is coming from the firewire cable connected to my PC, as it stops when I disconnect it. I'm hoping that a ground loop isolator will stop the problem... Been on the phone with m-audio all day to see if their interface can handle a ground lift.

 

 

Brandi, the music scene in ATX is amazing. Seriously, anything you want to hear, there is someone playing it at a bar, party, whatever. There's plenty of dnb, dubstep, and exp artists here, I'm sure I'm forgetting about 30 sub-genres, but the point is, if you want to listen to it live, you can do it here. I love that.

Hey man, as soon as you unplug the firewire cable I would imagine the unit switched off ins and outs, as I would guess its not designed to run in standalone mode (not many are). That would be a reason for the hum stopping when you unplug it, but would not suggest that it is the cause!

Have you tried without the laptop power supply plugged in? Lappy power supplies are notorious for causing buzz's in audio, you see it all the time, def worth a check if you haven't already!

I'm in the UK, my collegue at the studio is going over to south by south west in a week or so, thats by you isn't it? I also did an album last year with a producer called frenchie who runs the Bubble Studio in Austin, great guy.

  On 2/18/2010 at 3:16 PM, welcome to the machine said:

 

 

Have you tried without the laptop power supply plugged in? Lappy power supplies are notorious for causing buzz's in audio, you see it all the time, def worth a check if you haven't already!

 

yeah, i noticed that the buzzing goes away when i unplug the power supply, but then my laptop dies. there's gotta be a better solution than plugging an unplugging all the time..

  On 2/18/2010 at 5:34 PM, uptowndevil said:

  On 2/18/2010 at 3:16 PM, welcome to the machine said:

 

 

Have you tried without the laptop power supply plugged in? Lappy power supplies are notorious for causing buzz's in audio, you see it all the time, def worth a check if you haven't already!

 

 

 

yeah, i noticed that the buzzing goes away when i unplug the power supply, but then my laptop dies. there's gotta be a better solution than plugging an unplugging all the time..

hmmm, if thats the case, and it IS the laptop power supply, then there is not a lot you can do in my experience. If it absolutely is the laptop power supply then I have never found an easy fix for the problems they cause. Perhaps a power conditioner? trouble is its not like a small audio signal where moving things around, better cables or hum-destroyer boxes will help. the laptop power supply is throwing a load of stray voltage into the circuit and getting rid of it is hard.

On the plus side, the noise in your system is caused by (if it IS that) one of the most common causes around, at least you know its not your gear.

Hey, I did mention that I identified the problem component as my laptop power supply. I found this little guy and he works perfectly.