Microphone Repair?

[mikehalloran]

The Silicon Valley is a very noisy corner of the world, electrically that is. RF, EMF, microwave, the neighbor's HVAC, 2-wire electrical with no ground from 1960… If it can cause interference, I have going on around here.

I don't recall when I discovered that star-quad mic and interconnect cable was a requirement for me but it is. Probably worth snagging one on Amazon and trying it out just to see.
https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Basics-4- ... ref=sr_1_4

BTW, I do not buy into the mystic mumbo jumbo nonsense about cabling. I'm the first to admit that almost no one needs star quad. If you can't hear the difference, it doesn't exist. Having recently spent a ton of $$$$$ to upgrade the electrical around here to 3-wire w/ ground, twisted-twisted audio cable might not be needed anymore but I ain't throwing it out.

A pleasant surprise was that, by having SESCOM make them for me through Markertek, I saved a ton of money over buying off the shelf 'premium' standard cables offered by any of the name brands.

[James Steele]

Forgive any mistakes in grammar or spelling in this post. I’m having to use dictation. Yeah, when I think about it now I’m probably pretty sure my phone was no more than four or 5 feet away from the microphone. Plus the last time I used it, I may have had a less powerful phone.

I won’t have a chance to try this for a couple days as I’m going out of town for a few, but I’m hopeful that this is the solution. I’ll just use airplane mode when I’m recording vocals. Funny thing, and it sounds like a stereotype, but I am down in San Diego, California, and I was definitely getting “Mexican radio“ when I connected my GT 66 to my preamp. Although I think it was just a cheap mic, cable, and should go away with a better quality one.

Nonetheless, I will be quite relieved if it turns out that it was just RF!

[EMRR]

Star-quad is a lifesaver with hundred+ yards of mic level signal in hostile environments. I had a yearly sports broadcast gig that required several 600 foot runs through the floor of an arena and out to a broadcast truck. Right through the middle of a lot of AC runs. Never any problems with star-quad.

[mikehalloran]

One thing nice about that $10 star quad cable I linked is that, if it doesn’t help James’s situation, he has 30 days to kick it back to Amazon.

When I tested them however many years ago, Amazon wasn’t carrying any so I ordered a pair from SESCAM/Markertek. I needed those cables anyway and they had by far the best prices. It was a no-lose situation for me.

[James Steele]

Thanks for the link, Mike! I am going to first test to see if it’s my iPhone causing the issue, which I hope that’s it. If so, I’ll order one of those star quad cables to see if that will block the RF from my phone as I’d prefer not to have to remember turning Airplane mode off and back on when recording vocals.