Why Am I Getting a Signal?

[Spillenger]

Normally, we post a question when we DON'T get a signal, but I am having a perplexing problem -- I am getting a signal when all my levels are at zero.

I am recording with an E-MU 1820m into Sonar 4 running on a Dell PC. I'm using an Audio Technica AT2020 mic running off phantom power. Let's forget Sonar and the PC for a moment. When I turn everything down to zero -- my gain on the "A" Mic/Line on the breakout box, and the sliders on the PatchMix software control panel -- I still am somehow getting signal into the 1820m! I see the little green light on the breakout box lighting up, and I see the meter on my Mic/Line A in the control panel hitting up to about the 3/4 mark.

How can this be? I'm used to no signal getting to the sound card when everything is zeroed out like this.

Why is this a problem? Because clearly there is something I'm not understanding about how this setup works. And I suspect it could affect the quality of my recordings.

Any explanation much appreciated.

Paul S.

[Halion]

The most logical answer would be that something is broken. Maybe a noisy component in your mic causing strange spikes (perhaps in unhearable frequency ranges?) or some kind of grounding issue?

[DrJones]

I generally have this problem when I run Live sound. What is happinig is your input signal (PFL) is to hot. Either change Mic position or use a DB pad.

-Jones

[tangerine]

Sounds like it could be system noise from the PC, check that the graphics card is not in the slot next to the sound card, this can cause noise to register on your volume meters. You could try double clicking on the speaker icon in the systray or open up the soundcard control panel and mute the CD playback. I have had this problem with this steam driven thing I have at home and this works for me. GOOD LUCK