Voice work is one of the things that keep me busy during my off hours.
There are days when I do half a dozen or more. Other days, none. On one recent day I recorded 10 30-second commercials for national airplay. It varies and that’s what makes it fun. But on the very day that I began creating a dedicated voice-over page for this website, my studio went on the fritz. And it’s been fritzing ever since.
My set-up is simple. I have a good microphone which plugs into a pre-amp which takes the sound into my laptop with good software for recording and editing. The room is devoid of any echo and the quality is actually pretty good. Or, it was. The pre-amp power source decided to expire and finding a new one was a bit of a challenge but Matt’s Music downtown came through for me. So you’d think it would simply be a case of plugging in the new plugs and carrying on as usual. Well, you, like I, would be wrong.
The system developed a buzz that I couldn’t get rid of. Oh, it might have been a hiss more than a buzz but it was definitely unwanted. It took me hours of plugging, unplugging, moving, fretting, resetting settings, sighing and furrowing my brows before I figured out the problem was the laptop. Then I consulted Derek, a geek at a computer store, the producers I work with and my spiritual guide The Great Gazoo before realizing I was pooched. It simply wasn’t getting any better. Then inspiration struck! I would get rid of the old laptop and bring down my main laptop whenever I needed to record! Voila.
Voi-not-la. Despite being more powerful and much newer, the main laptop doesn’t have the same recording capabilities. I don’t want to get too technical on you but the producers all said my test recordings sounded like “crap”.
Bottom line: My home studio has been down for almost two weeks but the end is in sight. My wonderful husband began Franken-assembling a tower, monitor etc that we had tossed aside some time ago. It has a special recording gizmo in it and with a software upgrade and some testing I’m hoping it’s going to be the solution. In the meantime I must thank the clients and producers who have been EXTREMELY patient while all of this is going on and we’re a little distracted as we’re about to hold our third bike show this season on the weekend. I plan to be doing my thing, selling everything from restaurants to plastic surgery to cheap vacations to …you name it, by next week.
How close to your laptop is the new Pre-amp sitting? I suspect that its not actually your laptop, but the new Pre-amp which isn’t shielded and as such your laptop is picking up the unshielded noise in your recordings. Try moving the Pre-amp further away from your laptop. You could also try inserting a noise cancelling filter on the output from the Pre-amp to your laptop.
Hi Allan, it’s actually the same pre-amp but I’m certainly willing to try moving it further away! It’s all the same equipment just a new power plug.
Hi Lisa, It’s also possible that if you have the power plug, plugged into a battery backup supply it could be picking up the DC noise generated by the batteries in the unit. You obviously have a dirty signal somewhere and given that the only change is the adapter plug, moving the unit should help.
It’s something I can try next week. Strange that nothing is different in the placement and now with one small change all of these problems arise!
Is there any way to power the pre-amp without plugging it into the wall? This reminds me of the media setup in the Council Chambers at Halifax City Hall; plugging my Marantz into the power outlet created this horrible buzz, overpowering and ruining my audio. Unplugging and running the Marantz on its batteries solved the problem.
Something else I can try next week. Thank you! Again though…why all of a sudden when it was fine all along?!?!
Okay guys I’ve tried your suggestions and it truly is something IN the laptop, not an external source, not even the preamp. Even when I record without anything plugged in or near the laptop, it’s recording hiss/static/buzz. That laptop is almost obsolete anyway so I guess it’s time to move on. Thank you for the ideas, though!