noise from my gear

[mscm23]

As I was working on my plugins trying to choose right reverb, I noticed noise coming from my monitors and external hard drive. The noise from the monitors increases as I increase the volume. Somehow I didn't hear it before. Is it normal or something is wrong with my equipment?

 

[studiomaster]

Are you using a balanced cable for the monitors?

 

[ssscientist]

Is it normal or something is wrong with my equipment?

The eternal quest for noise-free recording doesn't factor in much in these digital recording days, but it depends on what kind and type of noise it is. Studiomaster asks a good question, because balanced cables - especially over longer cable runs - can eliminate all kinds of noise and interference.

Other causes include improper gain staging --- pushing one noisy preamp, amp or track into another that's not quiet to start with. Another common cause of noise in a home setup is cheap gear. Behringer stuff is quite useful, but you can't expect complete silence out of a $50 mixer as you should from a $300,000 console.

As far as the noise from your hard drive, home computers are noisy beasts. Quiet studio machines start at $2000 and climb quickly in price from there.

.

 

[mscm23]

Thanks for your replies, guys...I use 1/4-inch cables to connect my Rubicon 5a monitors and Mbox 2. And I keep the monitors at the first volume mark and -2db Ribbon level, otherwise the noise starts.

 

[ssscientist]

Thanks for your replies, guys...I use 1/4-inch cables to connect my Rubicon 5a monitors and Mbox 2. And I keep the monitors at the first volume mark and -2db Ribbon level, otherwise the noise starts.

The noise doesn't 'start' - it's always there and you just turn up your powered monitors loud enough to hear it.

First of all, try 1/4" TRS (also called stereo) cables to connect the Mbox to the Samsons. The Mbox will certainly have balanced outputs and the monitors balanced inputs.

Now look at the master level on your Mbox, because that's probably where most of the noise is coming from. Can you turn your Mbox master down and the monitors up? This is a simple example of gain staging that I mentioned in my last post.

One last thing --- is your signal chain computer --> Mbox --> monitors or is there something else involved?

.

 

[NYMorningstar]

Sounds like the gain staging and feedback to me but it sure would help if you described the noise.