Florescent Lighting

[David Katauskas]

Has anyone ever noticed how loud florescent lighting is...??? I was listening to my condenser recently thru some cans and noticed a strange hum...couldn't find it. Then I realized it was the florescent lighting.

Now I'm changing everything over to incandescent.

[Innovations]

Originally Posted by David Katauskas

Has anyone ever noticed how loud florescent lighting is...??? I was listening to my condenser recently thru some cans and noticed a strange hum...couldn't find it. Then I realized it was the florescent lighting.

Now I'm changing everything over to incandescent.

Traditional fluorescent tubes have quite a bit of hum, particular if they use cheap ballasts. Most compact fluorescents however are very quiet. Incadescents will add a lot of heat to the space, which will require running your cooling and exhaust more (depending on your climate).

[mshilarious]

Originally Posted by Innovations

Traditional fluorescent tubes have quite a bit of hum, particular if they use cheap ballasts. Most compact fluorescents however are very quiet. Incadescents will add a lot of heat to the space, which will require running your cooling and exhaust more (depending on your climate).

Yep. Especially if you put the compacts in cans with a lens over them. I'm going to use regular flourescents above a floating cloud for most tasks, then switch over to low-watt incandescents for critical recording. Be careful with dimmer switches, they can be a source of acoustic and electric noise as well. I bought some high-end dimmers a while back that are supposed to prevent such problems, but I haven't tried them out yet. Wiring the new studio is still a few months off

[Innovations]

Originally Posted by mshilarious

Yep. Especially if you put the compacts in cans with a lens over them. I'm going to use regular flourescents above a floating cloud for most tasks, then switch over to low-watt incandescents for critical recording. Be careful with dimmer switches, they can be a source of acoustic and electric noise as well. I bought some high-end dimmers a while back that are supposed to prevent such problems, but I haven't tried them out yet. Wiring the new studio is still a few months off

I would suggest skipping the regular fluorescents and going with the CFs above the clouds too. Or if you go with regular fluorescents get fixtures with high quality ballasts. It is the ballast that makes the hum.

[mshilarious]

Originally Posted by Innovations

I would suggest skipping the regular fluorescents and going with the CFs above the clouds too. Or if you go with regular fluorescents get fixtures with high quality ballasts. It is the ballast that makes the hum.

They won't give the right effect--I mean aimed upwards, near the edge of the cloud, reflecting off the ceiling. As I said they will be OFF for tracking anyway.

[frederic]

If you really want flourescents, you can fix the hum easily enough.

Drill out the rivets for the ballest xformer, and chuck it. Go to an electrical contracting supply house and replace it with a hospital grade unit. It will probably cost more than the fixture did originally

Enlarge the holes in the lighting fixture, and install rubber grommets. Then re-rivet using cherry rivets, or machine screws with an aircraft nut. Tighten 1/2" turn more than hand tight.

That solves the vibrational issue, and the back-emf noise from the fixture into the electrical of the structure, which hits your equipment of course.

Noise cancelling breakers, and recording gear on a seperate breaker (or two of three or four) never hurts.