Question for home studio guys

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boxofrocks
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Question for home studio guys

Post by boxofrocks »

Ok this question is for home studio guys....
I am setting up a home studio. I'm having a glitch I need to get figured out and was wondering if anybody else has had the same problem, and what you did to fix it...
I got the laptop going to the interface. got everybody plugged in, and want to monitor through the PA. I plug in a cable from the headphones out of interface to the input on PA and I get all kinds of noise, I can hear my mouse moving and the hard drive spinning through the speakers... Here is the funny part. I plug in headphones into the same output and no noise, its crystal clear. I tried 4 different amps, guitar amps, bass amps, PA, new cables, and everything I only get the noise when amplified... Do I have a ground loop problem? Maybe a bad firewire pcmica card with a bad ground? Do I need shielded cable from the unit to the speakers? Ground lift switch needed? All of the above? Any home recording dudes had this problem?
Thanks
subgenius88
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Post by subgenius88 »

I had that problem once, but then I realized I had a live microphone laying on the desk.
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Post by Garr »

How close are the speakers to the computer? What type of mouse are you using?

You may be getting ESD from them. Hard drives are run on magnets which could be affecting your speakers. I'm not sure how optical mouses (yes, it's mouses: trust me) work, but there may be interference from the laser. . .

Other than that, I can't think of anything specific to be causing that problem.
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Post by Silencio »

On any device, headphones out is not line out. A headphone jack is amplified - a lot - so you are hearing a lot more gain than you should at the input to the PA.

Of course it sounds good when you plug in the phone, it's supposed to be driving phones. Find a line out on your interface and use that to drive the PA.
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Post by bassjones »

Silencio wrote:On any device, headphones out is not line out. A headphone jack is amplified - a lot - so you are hearing a lot more gain than you should at the input to the PA.

Of course it sounds good when you plug in the phone, it's supposed to be driving phones. Find a line out on your interface and use that to drive the PA.
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Post by therecordinghouse »

maybe if you tell us more about your setup. like, which audio interface are you using? which laptop? specifically what is your PA setup?
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boxofrocks
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Post by boxofrocks »

I can do that...
The laptop is an Acer 5100
The interface is an Alesis IO/26
PA set up is 2 celestion 12 + horn cabs and a small 4 channel powered head.
I also tried my ampeg b3 bass amp and a guitar amp.
I thought about the mouse thing so i unplugged it and just used the track pad and still had the noise so that wasnt it... And I get the noise from the headphone outs and the direct line outs too.. It doesnt record the noise just anoying monitoring it all loud.
Alesis told me to try it with the laptop unplugged and try a different firewire card and maybe try a shielded cable to the PA. I'm going to try that this weekend.
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Post by therecordinghouse »

from what i understand from the alesis unit, it has eight balanced ouputs on the back. this is what you need to be using for your outputs. also, what kind of "4 channel head" do you have? what inputs are you going in to? does it have a power amp in? if so, this would be ideal as it would totally bypass the mixer section of your "4 channel head".
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Post by therecordinghouse »

for the record, using pa speakers is not ideal for studio monitoring. although it will work, you really should invest in a pair of near field monitors. pa speakers are designed for far field listening. in this day and age there are several options of near fields for only a couple hundred dollars.
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boxofrocks
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Post by boxofrocks »

A good pair of studio monitors is my next purchase. I've heard good things about behringer truth monitors. What do you use? We are using the PA for now while we play as a live band and run through the Alesis to capture our rehersals. The guy at AMS where I bought the gear (they got ez payments) said I've been using the wrong cable. Said I should be using 1/4" "TRS" - Dual 1/4" "TS" cable. Said guitar cable would act like that. So I'm off to the music store for some cable... I'll post back if that fixes it. If someone else has this problem maybe this thread will save some headache.
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Post by supwichya »

you said you're getting noise but are you also hearing your mix or just the noise? I agree you shouldn't be using h/p out for monitoring, use the main outs on the interface. The h/p output usually uses a separate (cheaper) D/A converter than the mains and is not intended for additional amplification.

You should always use shielded cables (TRS or XLR), but that is not going to be the sole issue here. Never use any instrument cables in your rig, you're just begging for noise.

If you're only hearing noise and not music, you have a bussing issue to figure out. You don't say what software you're using so it's hard to t-shoot that. If you're not routing your outputs correctly with the software, all you're gonna get is noise.

Give us some more info on your rig....
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Post by luki »

Hey dude,

Outputs 1 and 2 are what you should be using if your tracks are bring routed via firewire.

Your PA will really suck for mixing though. I have the behringer B2031A monitors and they rock for the money. Half of their gear is crap though, right out of the box. If you buy em, just make sure you can exchange them if you need to.

If you have a small shelf system or a home stereo, use that if you can. Buy cables 1/4 to RCA and run into an AUX channel on your stereo. Not ideal, but a little better.

If you can't afford monitors right away, at least get a good set of headphones. Sennheiser HD 280 are my favorites under $100. Awesome for mixing and tracking...even great for tracking drums. Fit very tight on your head, but go AROUND your ears. Extremely comfortable, and sound fantastic.

If you have to use guitar cables on your outputs, do it....but again, it's not ideal. It will work though.

If you need more headphones, for the rest of your band....don't buy Y adapters and use your existing headphone outs. Behringer makes a cheap little unit called the AMP800 for like $40 that works great. You can run 8 phones with it, and still have the 2 on your alesis also.

Have fun with your alesis. Very cool for the money.
boxofrocks
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Post by boxofrocks »

Well, it looks like that was my problem. It was a combination of using the wrong cables and the wrong outputs on the interface. Sound is nice and clean now. Well as clean as it can get still have the normal hissing from the PA but thats normal it always has had a hiss a high volume. The Alesis IO/26 is a great unit for 399$. I did a real stupid song with it last night, I'll post it if I can figure out how, and you can hear what it can do for cheap.
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