Anyone using LED lights in the studio? Trying to reduce guitar hum.

cmorris975

New member
Hi there,

I am trying to figure out if LED lights would be good for my little project studio. Fluorescents are out because my girlfriend is epileptic. I suppose incandescents could work if I moved them far from where I record (6-7 ft. would be max). Thanks!

Chris
 
Hi Chris,
In my experience Fluorescents are the worst for hum/buzz.
LED or incandescents should be fine. Avoid anything with a dimmer or step down transformer.
 
As far as I know it is more the dimmers or having the fluorescent lights on the same circuit as your recording gear or amp.

I have a couple of those colored 'party' CFL bulbs above my desk and have no noise issues. Also a dimmer for the overhead lights 'incandescent' in the back of the room. Also no problems there, though the lighting is on a different circuit that the outlets in the space.

LED's are cool but keep in mind they can be bright as hell without a dimmer. And many times I have installed them in homes and had issues with certain dimmers that make the lights or the dimmer itself make some seriously annoying buzzing sounds of their own. And I do mean 'all by themselves'.
 
My last studio had all incandescent bulbs on heavy duty wirewound rheostats (dimmers) .

All outlets and lights were on the same circuit. No noise whatsoever. Maybe I got lucky.

Current studio has fluorescent. Noisy as all hell. But I just turn em off and use lamps.

The worst offenders for light originated hum, however, are those damn lava lamps. The hum kind of ebbs and flows with the motion of the lamp.

Just kidding. :D
 
Re: the epilepsy issue. The problem with fluorescent over incandescent is that they can flicker at the mains frequency - they have a very quick rise time and cutoff, and if somebody has epilepsy that is triggered by high frequency flashing, the fluorescents are a bad choice. Just be aware, though, that LED lighting can also have extremely fast flashing capability. When they are fully on, they don't flicker because they use a DC supply to the LEDs, BUT LEDs that are designed to dim - don't actually dim at all - they use a PCM system where half brightness means they are on full for half the time. These flicker, hence why the video people get very cross at weddings in hotels where the LED lighting cycles through Red, Green and Blue colours giving slow colour changes. On video it looks bad, as many of the fixtures flicker at frequencies locked to the mains frequency, like flu tubes, but faster. I've never heard of epilepsy triggered by LEDs, but as we can't see the flickering, except in our peripheral vision, we don't notice LEDs flickering. No idea if they can cause issues, but they certainly do flicker.

One thing about them is that they are a very hard and cold light. I have them in my edit suit, and ordinary GU10 types in my studio, and the studio light is MUCH nicer to work in.
 
I have LEDs throughout . . . not for decorative lighting, but for general lighting, replacing incandescent. No problems. No dimmers, but.

Edit: I just noticed Rob's post. I've noted the hard light of LEDs before, but current replacements for incandescents match their colour temperature.
 
I had to redo my studio last year and I figured as long as I was doing everything I shelled for an all LED setup.

$300 or so later and I'm pretty happy. Things don't get as hot as well.
 
Yeah, LEDs shouldn't cause a problem with that. 100% LED light in my studio, no problems, and some of the LEDs are on the same circuit as the gear.
 
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