Do I need a Hum Eliminator?

C

COA23

New member
So, my band is upgrading our recording studio. Our performance room is pretty much ready, and I'm getting ready to begin working on the control room.

I'm gonna try to get a rack soon. There's some decently priced ones on Amazon. I'm not good with building things, so no building my own. Lol. That's not the topic of this thread though.

I've got my interface, a TASCAM US 16x08. I'll have a Furman power conditioner powering all the control room gear, just a $50 one. The interface is USB.

So, the flow would be mics -> interface -> computer, with the power going wall -> furman -> interface & laptop (plus anything else I decide to plug in.

Do I need an EBtech Hum Eliminator anywhere? Maybe just a HE-X (the wall-wart style one) plugged into the power conditioner?
 
IMO you do not need any kind of hum eliminator. As BSG said, if you get hum it will almost certainly be due to earth aka, ground loops. Much has been posted on this subject here and at Sound On Sound | Recording Techniques | Audio Technology | Music Production | Computer Music | Video Media

Try to use balanced lines wherever possible, this especially so if you are contemplating a patch bay.

A tip for rack building. Look about for some "Humfrees" or Racksnaps. These are plastic cage nuts that use an insulated threaded bush. Thus each piece of gear in the rack has its chassis isolated from every other and you can then either rely on the mains earth where provided (and don't even THINK about dissing that!) or tie the chassis back to a common earth point. You can buy multi-way brass earth blocks used for electrical installations.

N.B. Keep any wall rat/line lump power supplies WELL away from any signal wires. Small, poor quality transformers radiate tons of ***T!

Finally, don't rely on ears to check for hum levels. Run the output through RightMark RT analyser or similar and be prepared for a shock!

Dave.
 
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