Clicks once in a while

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JohnnyCosmo

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I'm not sure if it's the microphone (Rode NT1a), but once in a while (not regularly) I'll get a like a click (maybe more of a tick) whilst recording. I'm fairly certain everything is set up correctly, but this is a bit of a headache now - and ruining perfectly good takes.

Any ideas?
 
Someone turning on or off the lights is a common one.
My set up is in the garage and every time the boiler cuts in, i get a little pop in the recording.
 
Hmm, no one else is in the house - nothing getting switched on or off... unless the next door would affect me. However, although it is not regular - it still happens at least 3 or 4 times in a recording (just not to any rhythm, or not seemingly connected to any changes in the recording set-up) - which seems a little to frequent for lights switching on or off etc.

Any more ideas? I read something about humidity, can high or low humidity cause this? If so, how do other people cope with his problem?
 
Yeah, it could be anything that cycles really...fridge, ac unit, etc.
 
What's your setup? I'd be surprised, but it might be a clocking issue if you're running anything from an external clock.

Have you tried recording a signal and seeing if the clicks appear even with silence (as in no source material not absolute silence) then you could see if it's related to volume or frequency.

Also what are you giving the mic phantom power from. I've never had it with the NT1A, but certain mic (e.g Neumann TLM170 and Calrec 1050s) are very sensitive to phantom power stability. Slight fluctuations in the supply can make them click or pop or even cut out for a second. This can sometimes be down to a simple connection problem in the mic cable or patching.
 
No fridge, no ac unit etc. I'm using an Emu-0404 USB going into my mac with Reaper. Not running anything from an external clock, and phantom power comes from the Emu.
 
I just tried to record silence, but it's hard to say because it's not regular. That said, I did turn off the boiler (although it's quite a distance away). Not sure if that sorted it of whether I'll still have the problem (I'll find out when I can next record properly), any other ideas - just to be sure? I'm assuming most of you don't think it's anything to do with humidity considering there was no response to that part?
 
Do it the other way...

Start recording, then go and turn the boiler on.
Go back and see if you recorded a spike.
This way you know for certain.
 
Yeah, I just thought about doing that - I'll give it a try later and see what happens.
 
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