picking up a bunch of noise, radio stations, etc.

[bryan_kilco]

Last night I had time to mic up a cab and work on mic placement a bit.

Discovered that the room I record in is pretty awful with picking up foreign signals. I had a pretty strong radio station coming in, figured it was coming from the cab, so I pulled the mic away and sure enough, the sound remained in the mic'd signal. I currently do not run a power conditioner of any kind, just a few surge protectors.

Would something as simple as a Furman potentially clear this noise up? Or should I look into something like an uninterruptible power supply?

 

[egan.]

Make sure your XLR cable hasn't dropped a pin.

 

[bryan_kilco]

I'll check that out tonight. Totally didn't think of that.

What worries me is the fact that I got weird noises in the room coming from the amp/cab last time I used it in there when I wasn't mic'd/recording. Occasionally a "POP" comes through, and at the exact time this happens, I noticed the meter(s) on my interface lit up as well, but if I recall correctly, it was just one single channel that lit up....but the gain on that channel was at 0. According to our bassists Furman, we are getting a solid 120v, if not slightly over.

 

[NickLAudio]

Maybe a badly shielded cable acting as an antenna? Try new cable? Ferrite beads can help with RF interference too.

I've heard some weird interference when those little (and dangerous) power plug adapters are used. The little blocks that drop the ground pin to fit into a two prong wall outlet. Don't know if you're using one but just a thought?

 

[bryan_kilco]

Just checked to make sure all pins were in the XLR, they are. Speaker cable from amp to cab is a 3ft Mogami and the XLR from mic to interface (Profire 2626) is brand new Mogami as well.

Forgot to mention that I plugged the amp straight into the wall receptacle and with no power strip because I was fighting with cord lengths.

 

[egan.]

Just to be clear, did you check for continuity on either side of the XLR on each pin? "Drop a pin" is just a figure of speech I used for continuity issues on any leg. I'd also try a different mic just for arguments sake.

 

[bryan_kilco]

Just to be clear, did you check for continuity on either side of the XLR on each pin? "Drop a pin" is just a figure of speech I used for continuity issues on any leg. I'd also try a different mic just for arguments sake.

Gotcha, was slightly wondering about that.

I'll do another test tonight with a different mic, cable, etc. And I'll dig up another power strip too. Currently don't have a multimeter here, unfortunately.....

 

[Revson]

The power isn't going to have anything to do with the radio interference coming through. Those radio signals are strictly going to come from audio/instrument cables or even the guitar itself.

Is the noise coming out of the speaker cab itself?

 

[bryan_kilco]

The power isn't going to have anything to do with the radio interference coming through. Those radio signals are strictly going to come from audio/instrument cables or even the guitar itself.

Is the noise coming out of the speaker cab itself?

I thought it was coming out of the cab itself, that's usually where it always came from any time I've heard it in my last 16 years of playing guitar. But I pulled the mic away from the cab and was still picking up the signal through my interface (had headphones on). I didn't get to do any troubleshooting last night, but I will tonight for sure.

 

[Revson]

Hmmm, unplug the mic cable from the interface and see if the noise goes away. If that works, then just replace the cable with a different one and all should be well.