Too much case noise

  • Thread starter Thread starter darkagent71
  • Start date Start date
D

darkagent71

New member
Hey so here is my dilemma:
My mics pick up too much case noise and I need a way to soundproof my case. I do not have the option of having the case in another room (sadly). Any suggestions on how to do so without overheating
 
gecko zzed said:
Get a low noise PSU and a silent fan for your CPU.
Click to expand...

The only problem with this is It is also optimized for gaming. And as for what i mean by case noise i mean my case fans are the noise. I may eventually consider liquid cooling to get rid of the fans or buy quieter ones. As for sound proofing the case this is what I was planning to do but I was asking how to go about it: Sorry i may not have sounded very clear originally
 
darkagent71 said:
The only problem with this is It is also optimized for gaming. And as for what i mean by case noise i mean my case fans are the noise. I may eventually consider liquid cooling to get rid of the fans or buy quieter ones. As for sound proofing the case this is what I was planning to do but I was asking how to go about it: Sorry i may not have sounded very clear originally
Click to expand...

You want to do two things that are the opposite of eachother.

Air cooled = air moving as freely as possible.

Soundproof = Airtight

Even with liquid cooling you'll still need rad fans, and case fans.

Advice.
Try to reduce the fan speed, or better yet , buy bigger, slower, quieter fans.

I've seen guys fit like 10" fans to the side of the case but they do like five revs a second or something daft.

Make sure there are no obstructions near the fans (even cables).


What are you recording? Density between you and the pc can help if it's a one mic application like voice work.
If you're podcasting or something, get a board of 8" insulation or similar and stick it in between the mic and the pc. That way heat isn't an issue.
Sure, you'll still get reflections and it wont be perfect, but it might be enough.

Obviously it's not practical but the only real solution is to record in a different room.

I have the same issue over here, so I actually track on the laptop.
 
You really have to get the mics into another room.
Even if you switch all of the fans off, the hard drive whines.
 
Jim Lad said:
You really have to get the mics into another room.
Even if you switch all of the fans off, the hard drive whines.
Click to expand...

I get the idea of how those 2 are contradicting ideas (quiet and fast) but can't i use like sound proofing stuff to set it up. Plus i turn my case fans down when i do audio and up when i do gaming
 
If you don't have more than one room to record in then you could probably use something with a flash drive such as the Zoom R16.
 
You will need to do some hard thinking. You obviously realise that audio requirements are different to gaming, and your machine is optimised for gaming. If that's your priority, then you will need to live with the consequences for recording. Or you can optimise for recording, which means undertaking a number of noise-reducing activities.
 
darkagent71 said:
can't i use like sound proofing stuff to set it up.
Click to expand...

You don't get the idea then. Sorry to be blunt but as i said, sound is carried through air and solid objects etc.

What you hear is primarily carried through air.

To sound proof your case is to at least dramatically restrict the airflow. This will lead to overheating.

You could of course soundproof a much larger enclosure around the computer, but for it to be effective you're talking about the size of a room, and if you had a spare room there wouldn't be a problem.

Other than what's listed (bigger, slower fans, water cooling, dense absorption panels) there isn't a whole lot you can do.


You may not be interested in this, but I used to run my q9550 at 3.4ghz thinking i needed all that power.

It ended up being far too noisy and I didn't need the power, so now I actually underclock it. I run it at 2.4ghz with the fans down very low.
It's still noisier than I'd like but it's much better.

I replaced the case fans and psu fans with 'silent' fans, and upgrade to a bigger cooler on the cpu.

Perhaps you could have a separate boot profile for audio?
 
Worried about over heating while trying to isolate ...hmmmm... put the case in the frig!


I'm at a hotel right now and the case for the computers here in the lobby are locked in the bottom cupboard below this desk and I can hear the fans but I believe that if I were to be recording on the other side of the room I wouldn't be picking up those fans.
 
I used to run my q9550 at 3.4ghz thinking i needed all that power.
Click to expand...
I'm using my old reliable Compaq C with Windows XP.
I record on a Korg mind you but all of my editing is done on that computer.
It's off line and not bunged up with all sorts of extras.
In other words... "The right tool for the job".
Good luck with your recording.
Have some fun with it.
 
Jim Lad said:
If you don't have more than one room to record in then you could probably use something with a flash drive such as the Zoom R16.
Click to expand...
I'm not getting this. I record 4 feet away from my Fostex D1624 and it's loud as hell.

I simply make sure the null spot of the mic is aimed at the unit and I've never had any problem.
The only time you can hear it is if it's in a moment of silence but otherwise even an acoustic git is louder enough to mask it.
 
I suppose it depends what you're recording though Bob.

I've no problem recording a vocal or guitar track over here, but the last full band multitrack i recorded suffered from accumulative hiss across the tracks because everything was recorded separately.

It became noticeable, but luckily it sounded like it was tracked to tape and they kinda liked it!
 
Steenamaroo said:
I suppose it depends what you're recording though Bob.

I've no problem recording a vocal or guitar track over here, but the last full band multitrack i recorded suffered from accumulative hiss across the tracks because everything was recorded separately.

It became noticeable, but luckily it sounded like it was tracked to tape and they kinda liked it!
Click to expand...



How ya gonna fix that Paul?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top