MOTUNATION (formerly UnicorNation) is an independent community for discussing Digital Performer and other MOTU audio software and hardware. It is not affiliated with MOTU.
Hi Guys. i realize that this thread is old, but I am in the same spot. One monitor I have hums at 60 Hertz. I want to clean it up. I looked into Furman and Monster and wanted to ask what you all thought about the APC products that are being released in Q2 of 2007. They are comparably priced and designed primarily for AV situations, however, they are also fine for studio setups. Anyone heard good or bad about APC?
Best,
Stefan
James,, If you are willing to spend some $ to really attack the problem - and it sounds like with your pending order of the Furman unit you are - I would consider finding a guy who wires pro Audio/video suites and have him come out and run tech power to your studio in your home. this will separate your studio from everything else in the house. Done right with the grounds and all and you won't even have to run home-run grounds from your stuff t a ground stake. [sometimes that can even be worse I'm told].
Take some care in your lighting equipment choice :
- no fluorescent light
- no light variators
- no low voltage light, unless they use toroidal transformers
If you're really looking for silence :
- no single coil guitar and bass pickups. Go for humbuckers. Gasp ! I have a 1971 Telecaster and have changed the bridge pickup for a Seymour Duncan stk-t3b wich is humbucker and same fitting in place. It broke my heart, but now I have a "silentable" guitar, and not so bad sounding after all.
- try to replace every power transformer by a toroïdal power transformer. This is a long run task. You can try to locate the most offending ones by making a guitar-search (moving your single-coil-guitar around your place with some distortion engaged).
Test your voltage power on different times of day and night.
If changes excess + or - 5%, something should be done. Perhaps a real power regulator installed, and/or changing the electrical installation from your house power entrance straight to your studio.
Buy a few audio isolation transformers and start a big "groundlift-buttons-game". Some 600-600 ohms and some 10k-10k ohms. If you're moving with your rigs those are your absolute must have.
Keep your fingers crossed !
Last edited by daniel.sneed on Thu Dec 28, 2006 3:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I had a hum problem for a while, that I tracked to lighting on a rheostat. I replaced the rheostat with a switch, and installed low wattage bulbs (for the dimming effect), and my hum vanished.
I use a $99 APC UPS from Frys to power all my gear and condition the power.
I still occasionally get a hum from guitars DI'ed. Moving the guitar or changing the cable usually fixes it. If not, change the guitar.
I'm not a super-pro at this. Maybe just lucky.
recording: Mac Mini 2018 - 32GB RAM - 3.2 GHz 6-Core Intel Core i7 - two Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 - OS 14.7.2 - DP 11.34 mixing: Mac Mini M4 Pro - 64 GB RAM - Focusrite Scarlett Solo - OS 15.3.2 - DP 11.34 VIs and Plug-ins: hundreds (amassed since 1990)
Hi,
THe noise stays the same, around 60 Hertz. I believe it to be AC powerline noise. I just bought a monster unit with basic filtering, not as high end as the 3500. I will try it today and return here with the results. I hope it works.
Thanks for your input
Best,
Stefan
Schubert, filtering won't help with a ground loop, which is what it sounds like you have. Are you plugging all devices into the same outlet? This is the place to start your troubleshooting.
EM had a great article a few months back by Eddie Cilletti. It may provide the kind of info you need.
HC Markus M1 Mac Studio Ultra • 64GB RAM • 828es • macOS 15.4.1 • DP 11.34 https://rbohemia.com
Ever notice when recording guitar that the null point of hum points the neck of the guitar directly towards or away from the main pole power transformer?
The line drop to your house is a giant em field from the transformer.
Know this is old post but thought some may find this interesting.
The comment about the space heater is interesting. My MOTU MIDI box is like that so much I can't use it any more. Certain gear will dirty up the line and you have to watch out for that too.
I had a separate 20 amp feed run to my gear from the mains outside with big honkin ground wire. helped!
James is the bass the only thing making noise? It almost sounds like you are getting pickup noise from the bass. Do you get this from any of your guitars? Have you plugged a guitar into the bass amplifier? The fact that as you change orientation of your bass and the noise changes makes me wonder if it is the bass or amp. Have you walked around with the bass to see the noise may be coming from?
Mac Pro 2.8G 8 core,16G ram, 500GB SSD, 2x2TB HD.s 3TB HD, Extn Backup HDs,Nvd 8800 & ATI 5770 video cards,DP8 on OS 10.6.8 and OS 10.8; MOTU 424PCIe, MOTU 2408; Micro express. Video editing deck on firewire, a bunch of plug-ins and VI's.Including; MX3 and M5-3. FCP, Adobe Production Bundle CS6. PCM88mx, some vintage synths linked by MIDI. Mackie 16-4 is my main mixers
, kelsey and Yamaha mixers, Rack of gear. Guitars, piano, PA and more stuff.
