Hey guys this is my first DJ set up so I need some help on what to do with my sound. I’m getting a significant loud “humming” noise AND to top it off I hear a loud radio host talking about politics… talk about buzz kill when I’m trying to mix
Overview:
So first I connected all the power plugs into the Monster Pro 800 (I purchased this after I went to Guitar Center and told them about my problem) Now I connected my VCI-100SE and Saffire 6 USB to my macbook pro via USB. Both are updated to it’s most recent versions.
I connected the ART312a powered speakers from it’s XLR to the Saffire 6’s TRS 1&2 Outputs (the cables are 10 feet long btw) so I assumed the connection would be balanced thus no humming/interference coming from the speakers.
I am obviously wrong.
Now when I brought my gear to Guitar Center and just hooked up one of the speakers with the saffire 6 & mbp the speaker was pretty silent. A slight hum but it was fine.
I tried in different rooms of my apartment and I still get the same radio frequencies coming from the speakers along with the humming. I re-arranged my set up at different angles and made sure all my gear was physically close together but still no luck. Also the volume knob on the speakers have no effect on the loudness/quietness of the humming and radio. I have NO idea what I need to do and these are the only speakers I have to mix with at home lol.
Third prong is ground. Those adapters are meant to be permanently installed on a plug that doesn’t have a third ground hole. You take the screw that the faceplate is screwed onto and mount the adapter to the faceplate with that. the thinking is the electrical box inside will act as a sort of ground since it’s attached to the wooden structure of the building. I would recommend looking into a ground loop isolator.
This is how to solve your problem. 1st thing you need to do is go to guitar centre and bitch slap the person that sold you that monster piece of shit if possible return it. Waste of money. If you make sure your sound card is gounded ie on any conductive surface. The laptop power is not connected in anyway.
The speakers are obv the problem. As nothing you have would be transmitting a radio show. There not a bad pair of speakers. You need to get shielding for the speakers that is where the radio problem is. Ask a local audio store to sort you out
It is the only place it can be. The ppl at guitar center should know that. Im from uk so cant say if they employee morons. But looks like they do. PS dont buy monster it is overpriced rubbish. If you want good cables go to a local supplyier and get them to make you some custom ones will be cheaper and ul get better cabling.
If you still get problems with humming run a bit of wire from the sound card to the ground. Then if you still have problems get some well shielded cables. Then if you still have problems post and ask again
Just spoke to a Man that knows his his stuff about this sort of thing. He rekons ur speakers probs aint the problem. As they are pritty good and the chances are its coming off your sound card. so get a wire and ground it phsically. That monster piece of junk creates a artifical earth. So is pritty useless to be honest.
TAKE IT BACK IF YOU STILL CAN
your soundcard aint cheap so shouldnt be shielding but could be. Also maybe as said before invest in some new cables
If your laptop’s power cord is causing a ground loop you can find out by unplugging your adapter and running on battery. I had the same problem and have had the adapter on my laptop for 2-3 years now.
@tombruton69: Lol it’s a little late to return it but its alright. It actually did dumb down the humming a little bit but the radio interference is louder than ever.
When you mentioned shielding for the powered speakers, do you mean I need a certain type of cable for it?
@Conall & @djpbe: Either/or, I still have the same level of interference whether I have my MBP power plugged in or not. Which is very strange cause I’ve been searching through the internet and majority of people that’s having this problem mention that the hum/interference goes away when they unplug their laptop’s power cord.
*So my guess is that it must be the cable that’s connecting my powered speakers to the audio interface… Hm…
**I spoke to the guitar center worker after I told him the Monster Pro Surge Protector did jack squat. He was so sure that it would fix the problem. His excuse was that since I’m living at college on campus, there must be a radio tower that’s giving strong signals… :eek:
Hey my second post is probs more correct. Create a real ground on the sound card by some wire and your floor. I actually mean you can get sheilding to put around speakers to stop signals coming in. you could also put this on your sound card.
As to your shielded cables talk. All cables have some sort of sheilding even if its just plastic unless there bare wire. I dont think using well sheilded cables are going to solve the problem but they certainly wont do any harm. Honest just ground your sound card it should solve it. if you have any mates who dj get them to bring there soundcard round and see if theres has the same problem
@tombruton69: Hey so I tried your method and the humming and radio I/F did go down a little! But it is still unbearable argh. Maybe the guy at Guitar Center was right about the radio tower near my school is sending out “too much radio frequency” lol…
how close is it. Maybe you are going to need a shit load of shielding everywhere from your sound card to your speakers. So shielding on round the card. Top quality cables and shielding for the speakers.
Will speak to my mate that does the festivals again. I know they get alot of interferance on outdoor rigs as there is shits loads of equipment and about 100k of speaker power
just spoke to my mate make sure everything is grounded.
To insulate them you can wrap ur speakers in tin foil. Also unplug everything and run ur speakers with the gain turned up and tell us if you hear anything
I’m so glad I found this thread. I bought the Saffire USB 6 a couple of weeks ago and I’ve got exactly the same problem. It’s not like radio interference, it’s just hum. So here are some things about my setup:
-The hum occurs on my desktop and laptop
-I’ve tried unplugging the power on my laptop, and I still get the problem (although in some cases it was a lot better without the power plugged in
-The internal cards in my desktop, my laptop, and my mac don’t hum
-All my testing was done by plugging headphones in to the lineout at the back (but the problem is the same with my stereo)
-I remember a little bit of hum with my old M-Audio card, but nothing like this.
-I also tried wrapping the cable with that ferrite stuff. Made no difference.
I’m ready to take this thing back to the store. People here have mentioned grounding the card by attaching a cable from the device to the floor. Huh? My floor is wooden (non-conductive). How would that help? Anyway the saffire is already sitting on the floor.
and these are the only speakers I have to mix with at home lol.
