John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Hi, I'm getting very close to renting a space in an industrial building in Connecticut. I just noticed that there are high tension power lines running above the building. (This in addition to the train tracks along which the wires run). The trains are actually pretty quiet since they are running slowly over this section of the tracks. However, what should I expect in terms of hum and noise from the high tension wires? And, yes, most of these trains are electic trains run by their own set of overhead wires. How can I test for line noise etc before committing to the space? Help! I don't have much time.

Many, many thanks for all ideas.

Just being next to RR tracks in general, I'd try not to do it. You may not here the clackidy clackof the track, but definately will transmit through the ground into the structure. As far as power, they're probably on a completely different system (grid) than your building. You would have to check w/ the city on that.

I know a guy who has a sweet studio that he just built in Brooklyn and he is right by 2 diiferent bridges one being the Brooklyn, there is constat noise from that, but with a lottle isolation and window acoustic treat ments he took care of most of it, and still has a aweseome vibe.

As for the High tension wires I am really not sure, I have never had a problem at any studio I have wired with "out side source" issuse. Such as RF towers, Power, Cellualr. But I have never been that close.

You have to figure there are studios all over NYC near tons of juice, especailly from the subway and they don't have very many issues.

You should test it out. Take a small pa or recordign rig they with some VERY long cables and hook it up and see what happens. Best Way to find out.

I own a studio wiring company in CT and if you need any wiring done or supplies please feel free to contact me.

dave@livewiresi.com www.livewiresi.com

Here is a thought, take a 1/4" cable with no termination, and the wires separated. About 20 feet should do (the length will affect the frequencies that the "antenna" is most suscepible to). run it into a board and bring up the gain. Any stray RF in the area should be picked up. Change the orientation of the cable to sweep the room.

Old thread, but only one I see that's related.

I'm looking at some property outside the city limits, and there is a power co. easement across the land with two sets of the 'big boy' main trunk transmission towers. Have only begun to consider whether they may have any radiation impact. Judging by the right of way standards, they may be 230K volt lines. They appear to be at least 350 feet from the existing house structure, but will be closer if I end up building a studio on the site.

I'm off to do more research, but wonder if anyone has seen a noise impact from similar transmission lines.

but wonder if anyone has seen a noise impact from similar transmission lines.

A few years ago I built a video post production facility for a customer, in a building that is about 30 meters from towers with 220kV lines on them. We tested first, found a little more hum than normal but not excessive, so we just took extra care with grounding and shielding. It worked out fine. You should be OK, as long as you do the same: careful design and installation of a proper star ground system. Ground everything.


- Stuart -

Thanks Stuart. I understand as of today that I can get an official field report from the power co, so I will request that if it moves forward. I did find that it is a 230K and a 100K side by side.

My friends made a short film a few years ago. the location was directly below high tension wires.
Both the dat audio recording and the 16mm film stock came back with these almost alien hum. 50hz bars on the footage and a fairly loud constance hum on the audio.
lil

lilith_envy wrote:My friends made a short film a few years ago. the location was directly below high tension wires.
Both the dat audio recording and the 16mm film stock came back with these almost alien hum. 50hz bars on the footage and a fairly loud constance hum on the audio.
lil

Rolling bars on FILM?