Static and Power Conditioning

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chris F
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Chris F

Chris F

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While I'm pretty happy with the sound I'm getting in my music room/studio setup, I occasionally get static pops on recordings, and I'd like to eliminate these if possible. At first I thought the problem might be my mics, but it seems to happen with any mic at random intervals, maybe a couple of times a week. At the moment, I have the following stuff plugged into surge protectors on two different circuits:

Mac G4800
MOTU 1224
Soundcraft M12
15" Flatscreen monitor mounted on top of M12
M-Audio SP-8 Monitors (I think that's the number)
DMP3
Behr Headphone Amp
Sony MD Deck
Teac CD Burner
A few other things like a drum machine, etc.

I'm thinking of upgrading the Teac burner to a Masterlink, and would like to power all of this stuff "correctly" whatever that means. A few questions:

Are static pops often caused by poor power supply? What kind of power conditioning should I be looking at - there are so many options, and I'm not sure what is useful and what is HYPE...basically, I'm mostly doing practice/demo stuff, so it's not like the Mona Lisa will be lost if something happens. Last, once you have a power supply/"conditioner", can you plug a power stip into the back of one for silly stuff like metronomes, drum machines, CD players, etc, or will that somehow "overload" that particular outlet?

Sorry for the Newb questions, but I be what I be! :D
 
First of all, have the pops ever happened while you were just montioring a mic through the console? The pops you are getting may be hard drive related, and not power at all.
 
Hi X,

The pops have come at various times through various mics, pres, and into various storage devices (i.e. - MD, CD burner, DP storage drive, etc.). Since I play the double bass and am usually recording that, it's hard to tell whether the static pops are happening while minotoring through the console or not - my instrument makes a lot of "clack" type of noise while playing, so I only discover that the noise was static during playback. I'm inclined to say that I have heard the static while monitoring through the console, but I guess I've never thought about it like that before.
 
Basically, if your hard drive speed isn't up to snuff, or the system bus isn't feeding it fast enough, it can cause clicks and pops etc.... It can even create them while rendering a mix. The only way to completely rule out the hard drive issue in my opinion is to recreate the problem with the computer off. If it does then, then we could look into other things. It could be a bad cable too. Are you using any outboard preamps? What kind of mixer? It could be a problem with the mixer. There are so many possibilities:( The least likely of those however would be the actual AC to me. If you were having AC problems I would imagine that you would have other and more drastic issues.
 
It happens with the computer off, either through the board, or through my DMP3. I just spoke to a studio builder/owner about this yesterday, and he said that power conditioners are basically just glorified power strips. My house is a 120 year old victorian, and I'm sure the wiring could be better. Looks like I may just have to learn to live with it!
 
The thing is, you don't have power conditioner yet--you have power strips. It's a common misconception that comes up all the time. Those surge protectors are just that and nothing more: surge protectors. Actual power conditioners take the power from your wall and recondition it to output a perfect sine wave to your gear.

It may be a great idea to get a power conditioner though. Actual power conditioners are expensive and very heavy. They have a transformer inside, which is what the weight is. Take a look at power conditioners made by Equi-Tech and Furman. Furman makes a lot of those rack mount power strips too, but the power conditioners are much more expensive.

You need to get a power conditioner that's rated properly. For example, get a 15 amp model and you should be all set. the pwoer coming from your wall is probably 15 amp, so you can use any combination of power outlets on the back of the power conditioner up to 15 amps without blowing a fuse (plus whatever else in your house is on that circuit). Music gear tends to use very low power, so the current draw would likely not exceed the conditioners output unless you ahd a lot more gear than you do. I run a *lot* of gear off one outlet here, and the only time the breaker blows is when my wife runs her heavy duty steam carpet cleaner at the same time.

I would also highly suggest you use only one circuit for your music studio. Power the whole thing off one outlet.

When you get the pops, is it at a moment when you are playing very loudly, are does it occur also in soft sections? It's possible that a loud transient is spiking through your system and causing a quick snap of distortion.

Also, since your house is so old, you may want to hire an electician to come in and do an evaluation. The wiring may be very old, and therefore a risk. At least you will know what is going on in that regard.
 
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