help required re: buzz in dj set-up!

Hi folks - first post, so be gentle with me ;)

I have a DJ set-up consisting of 2 x CDJ's, 2 x turntables, a mixer and 2 x speakers.

Although the speakers themselves are giving me no issues during playback, when recording onto my computer I am left with a noticable high-pitched buzz.

Having removed all components one-by-one, recording all the while, I have isolated the problem as being the two powered monitor speakers, which are connected to the mixer via XLR cables.

The moment I plug the speakers into the power socket (the mains itself doesn't even need to be powered on) the buzz appears....

I bought a seperate two-way adapter for the speakers plugs to go into, and have even tried running the plug from a seperate socket in the other room, but to no avail.

Obviously, with the speakers being an integral part of the set-up, I can't loose them for recording purposes.

I've done a bit of google-trawling and the only thing I can find of any relevance was a suggestion to use a "ground lift adapter"... Having googled this, I notice you can get XLR adapter ground lift's - would this do the trick?

If not, any other ideas?

It's driving me mental

A ground loop isolater might help. Try plugging them all into same power strip.

unplug your laptop and see if the buzz is still there...I had buzz issues with my old HP

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fent11

Hi folks - first post, so be gentle with me ;)

I have a DJ set-up consisting of 2 x CDJ's, 2 x turntables, a mixer and 2 x speakers.

Although the speakers themselves are giving me no issues during playback, when recording onto my computer I am left with a noticable high-pitched buzz.

Having removed all components one-by-one, recording all the while, I have isolated the problem as being the two powered monitor speakers, which are connected to the mixer via XLR cables.

The moment I plug the speakers into the power socket (the mains itself doesn't even need to be powered on) the buzz appears....

I bought a seperate two-way adapter for the speakers plugs to go into, and have even tried running the plug from a seperate socket in the other room, but to no avail.

Obviously, with the speakers being an integral part of the set-up, I can't loose them for recording purposes.

I've done a bit of google-trawling and the only thing I can find of any relevance was a suggestion to use a "ground lift adapter"... Having googled this, I notice you can get XLR adapter ground lift's - would this do the trick?

If not, any other ideas?

It's driving me mental

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Sounds a lot like a ground loop issue, yeah. I wouldn't recommend using a ground lift adapter on the XLRs as you're going to lose the benefit of having balanced audio (if my understanding is correct.) Also, don't use a ground lift adapter on the laptop - it's grounded for a reason!

If you call your local guitar center they sell a little $65 brick that worked wonders for me that I can't for the life of me remember the name of but they definitely carry nationwide (it's stuck way behind the desk and very hard to get at with everything wired up.) It doesn't lift your ground, but it breaks the loop and immediately killed the buzz for me (it was the only thing that did!)

Only thing I'd recommend if the standard avenues of strategic cable placement don't work.

Do you have a ground loop switch on the back of your mixer? If so, flip it and see if that makes any difference.

sounds like a ground loop. Id first do as suggested above, make sure everything is connected to the same surge.
If that doesnt solve the problem you should switch direction of the mains power cables and see if you loose the buzz.

good luck!