Hum and Buzz

Shaz · Post by **Shaz** » Tue Mar 15, 2005 7:35 am

OK, I just upgraded one of my synths in my studio and now I am getting hum and buzz on some of the equipment in my rack including the new synth. There are three peices of equipment that are creating the same noise. I read through Ethan's article about hum and buzz, it recommends getting ground lift adapters, are these safe to use?

I have all the equipment in my rack and my mixer connected via Furman power conditioners. My three synths are connected via a power strip that I just replaced. This new strip is suppose to have an RF and EMI filtering for noise, it did help a bit but not much. My computer is connected via another power strip. The two power strips and the two furman units are connected on four different outlets but they are on the same circuit. Can I use ground lift adapters on the equipment that is making hum and buzz noise without damaging the equipment?

Should I look into hum elimination products like these? if so, what would you recommend?:

http://www.ebtechaudio.com/he-2des.html

All the lights in my studio are on a seperate circuit. What else can I do to fix this issue?

Post by **Aaronw** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 2:27 am

Did the problem begin when you added/upgraded your synth? Or was it there before?

Shaz · Post by **Shaz** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 3:18 am

I think it got worst right after I added the synth. Some of the noise was already there. Last night after some trouble shooting, I found that my trackball USB mouse was adding some noise, so I ended up removing it. I also replaced an unbalanced cable going to the audio in of my audio card with a balanced cable. I added a ground lift adapter to one of my rack synth that helped some.

I was able to lower some noise but not all, the output of the new synth I added still has the buzz and hum sound.

Post by **Aaronw** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 5:16 am

Is the equipment mounted in a rack? If so, isolate it w/ those plastic isolation clips.

Are the input/outputs balanced or unbalanced?

Shaz · Post by **Shaz** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 5:29 am

The synthesizer with most noise is not rack mounted it is an 88 note keyboard (Roland Fantom X8). Two of the other ones are rack mounted, I don't mind getting plastic isolation clips for all my rack equipment. Can I get these from Radio shack or guitar center? or is there an on-line place I can order from?

The inputs/outputs are all balanced and I am using balanced cables.

Thanks for your help!

Post by **Aaronw** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 9:21 am

Here's one link to the plastic isolators: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/src ... pid/544710

Shaz · Post by **Shaz** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 5:58 am

Thanks, I will buy some soon. I hope they work

These should be good for protecting the rack equipment from screw scratches also.

Post by **Aaronw** » Fri Mar 18, 2005 5:00 am

What kind of lighting do you have in the studio? Are you using any dimmers, halogens or flourescents? Is the lighting on a different circuit? Are you plugging them into the same electrical outlet? Are the grounds shared or do you have isolated grounds and star grounding? Does all of the equipment have a ground plug or does some have a 2 prong Hot/Neutral? Does it start buzzing when you plug in the audio cables or does it buzz when you just connect the power?

Shaz · Post by **Shaz** » Sat Mar 19, 2005 2:45 am

I have track lighting with Lutron electronic dimmers. The lights are on completely seperate circuit than the outlets where all the equipment is plugged in.

Some of the equipment has two prong plugs, like the monitors, a zip drive (I will actually just remove this, who needs a zip drive these days!!) and external hard drive. As far as I can tell it starts buzzing when I plug audio cables. The only thing I noticed lately is that there is some buzzing sound from my mixer when I turn it on. I only hear it when I put my ear next to it.

Post by **Aaronw** » Sat Mar 19, 2005 4:06 am

Have you tried unplugging the other gear and only hooking up the Roland? And does it still buzz?
Have you tried other cables?
Have you plugged the power into another outlet?
The buzz in your mixer, does it go away when you unplug something, or is it internal?
You said you were using balanced cables. So are you indeed using TRS connectors? And is the input to your mixer balanced or unbalanced?

Shaz · Post by **Shaz** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 10:38 am

OK, after a lot of trouble shooting, I finally figured out the source of ALL the noise. It was the stupid sound card on my computer!! I muted everything on it and the hum and buzz is gone!

All noise, humming & buzzing from the rest of the equipment is gone. I figured it out when I turned the volume all the way up and moved my mouse, I could hear the movement of mouse on my monitors. : )

Anyway, thanks for your help. I thought I let you all know.

Sword9 · Post by **Sword9** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 2:18 pm

I would suggest a better psu for your computer. Also, what sound card do you have? The converters must be onboard I guess.

Shaz · Post by **Shaz** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 1:22 am

This is the sound card that came with my computer, I really don't use it for anything. For audio recordings I am using an event 2X8 interface, which is very quiet.

I disabled all the inputs and outputs of the card and the noise is fixed.

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Hum and Buzz

Hum and Buzz

I fixed it!!