Really weird problem

A

Adam J Shaw

New member
this clicking problem is plaguing my recordings and i'm struggling to figure it out. here's a recording of it. does anybody recognise it?
i've tried two different amps, three different leads, three different guitars, different rooms, a different building and going directly into my audio interface. i also hear it very faintly from my audio interface and my amps with nothing plugged into them...

i've moved into an old house with one of those old circuit boards, the ones with four big fuses, and the house is near the mod range where they developed the rail gun in scotland. not sure if that info is relevant but thought i'd include it just in case.

any help greatly appreciated.

edit: unfortunately i can't include a link to the recording until i've posted a few times. i'll try to describe it until i can attach the link... it's a rhythmic, repeating clicking. i've been unable to find any examples of it on the net. it's not the typical hum, scratchy pot etc, which is what's making it so difficult to figure out...

posted this here as i was unsure where on the forums something of this nature should go...

edit two: i can post links now so here it is...

YouTube
 
Last edited:
You're monitoring with a guitar amp? You say ' i also hear it very faintly from my audio interface and my amps with nothing plugged into them...' Do you mean from the amp speakers? What about with headphones plugged into the interface? If all devices 'hear' it, its an outside source. Like a fluorescent bulb ballast, for example.
 
thanks for replying.
no no, i'm not monitoring from the amp, i just used it to record an example of the problem. yeah, i'm getting it through headphones plugged into my interface even with nothing plugged in but it's a lot louder with a guitar plugged in. all devices are hearing it independently so it does seem to be an outside source as you say. but i just can't figure out what it is. i've turned everything else off, moved my phone away, unplugged the router, tried different rooms...
i even took an amp and guitar to another building (like a summer house type thing that's a good distance from the house) and it was still picking it up. the other building's electric comes from our house but it has it's own independent circuit board.
it's a really weird one...
could it have something to do with the house wiring?
 
Attached is the noise cleaned up and boosted.

That is surely some sort of clock? I reckon they are 1sec intervals?

If it is getting into all sorts of electronics I think it must be a very high energy RF pulse and my guess would be a radar dish doing about 60rpm?

You could try winding power and signal cables round some 'clip on' ferites or/and wrapping things in chuck foil. The latter is hardly practical operationally but could help diagnosis, be careful not to short DC power and get the heaviest gauge foil you can find.

If you CAN prove it is MOD generated that will give some resolution of the prblem but I doubt you will be able to do FA about it!

It is almost always possible to RF proof any gear but the job needs a specialist and can be protracted and expensive when RF fields are very strong.

Ooo! One point. "Old house"? Make sure the lektrik is properly earthed.

Dave.
 

Attachments

  • ticking01.mp3
    916.6 KB · Views: 9
thanks man. that's really helpful. it's about the worst it could possibly be though :D
i was planning on having our electrics looked at anyway, so it's hopefully that.
is chuck foil aluminium foil?
could well be a radar dish on the mod land.

could you explain this a bit more please. give me an idiots guide...
"You could try winding power and signal cables round some 'clip on' ferites or/and wrapping things in chuck foil. The latter is hardly practical operationally but could help diagnosis, be careful not to short DC power and get the heaviest gauge foil you can find. "

can whole rooms be rf shielded? can individual gear be? like guitars?

thanks again.
 
Adam J Shaw said:
thanks man. that's really helpful. it's about the worst it could possibly be though :D
i was planning on having our electrics looked at anyway, so it's hopefully that.
is chuck foil aluminium foil?
could well be a radar dish on the mod land.

could you explain this a bit more please. give me an idiots guide...
"You could try winding power and signal cables round some 'clip on' ferites or/and wrapping things in chuck foil. The latter is hardly practical operationally but could help diagnosis, be careful not to short DC power and get the heaviest gauge foil you can find. "

can whole rooms be rf shielded? can individual gear be? like guitars?

thanks again.
Click to expand...

Ferrite Ring (clip on) | Health Leads UK

Not exactly what I wanted to show you ^ Maplin used to a have a rectangular ferrite absorber that would take quite few turns of cable. Those above could be useful but are a bit expensive at ~$5 a pop because you would need quite a few!

Yes, guitars can be shielded, buy copper 'slug' tape from a garden centre and solder the overlaps. YT will have sheds of tutorials about shielding guitar.

No, you can't shield an amp very well but most do not have very good RF immunity but you need a tech to do it better.

Whole rooms? Yes indeed! Copper sheets called a "Faraday Cage". Heh! You can get plasterboard aka "sheetrock'(?) that has Aluminium foil shielding for heat insulation but you would need to bond each sheet to the next with more chicken foil.

Might be worth asking on a 'Ham radio' forum if anyone can drive by with a 'scanner'? They could confirm the source of the RF. Also quiz a local Radio/TV station?

Dave.
 
One thing you can try is with a guitar with non-humbucking pickups. The impulse noise should increase or decrease as the guitar pickups are rotated. This will give a bearing. if you hold the guitar and spin around slowly, stop when it's loudest, and the source is facing you, or immediately behind you. Years ago, RAF Neatishead regularly wrecked music events in local pubs. In this case is wasn't a click but a huge buzz saw noise as the radar head direction went through the pub!
 
cheers guys. that's given me a lot to work with.

i have tried that rotating thing with a single coiled strat and it didn't make any difference so i'm hoping that means it's the house electrics. i'm pretty sure there is a problem with them as i got a shock from a wall once... the previous owners did not take care of the property and hired dodgy traders so i'm having to renovate the whole house pretty much.

i've got some aluminium foil so i'll try wrapping some stuff up in that to see what happens. any advice on how i should do that? my amp would be the easiest thing to wrap up; do i just completely wrap it up in foil and turn it on?
 
Yes, you could just wrap the amp but be careful not to make contact with any circuitry, not likely you can and don't run the amp without ventilation for more than a few minutes.

But, does the noise issue from something not mains powered? A radio, a phone? If so does it happen with all the house juice off? Does it happen outside?

Dave.
 
right, so i tried the foil thing. wrapped an amp up in it then turned it on. the clicking was still there but the volume of it was much reduced with the foil on compared to without. so, that's interference then isn't it?
looking like i'm going to have to turn my whole studio into a faraday cage... yippee...

i've not noticed the noise coming from anything else, like a phone or anything.

is there a device for checking this sort of thing?

cheers...
 
this might be of note:

i have an old technics pcm sound ex5l organ, plugged into the mains, and i'm not getting the noise from that at all...
 
If you've got a UPS somewhere for your computer (or an auto inverter), you might try running the amp or interface/computer off the battery backup for a moment, to see if the noise is still there. You would be totally off the mains, which would tell you if the noise is in the line or being induced (RF or EMI).
 
TalismanRich said:
If you've got a UPS somewhere for your computer (or an auto inverter), you might try running the amp or interface/computer off the battery backup for a moment, to see if the noise is still there. You would be totally off the mains, which would tell you if the noise is in the line or being induced (RF or EMI).
Click to expand...

+1 to that and UPS devices also have some good onboard mains filtering as well. This might be the ONE rare occasion when a 'mains conditioner' makes a difference but beware the cheap jobs in DIY stores that are touted as "surge protected and filtered mains strip". The best ones I think are by 'Furman' but I have no experience of them since 90% of our mains comes out of the ground from an armoured, i.e. 'screened' cable and we get virtually no trouble with 'dirty' power.

Dave.
 
yeah, i'll give that a go. i use a MacBook so i could just unplug it...
what's a ups though. googling it just gets me united parcel service.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top