hum 911

Heather Cooper · Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008, 06:28 (GMT) Post subject: hum 911

It's late and I was trying to record my part of the News
Forum before morning.
I have a hum I have not had before. This hum was noticed earlier in the week and I thought it was solved..
I purchased a new Mic cord (mogami), made sure my PC was grounded and up dated my surge protector, those were the only changes. Before the hum nothing had changed. I use a Shure SM 58,
M-Audio fast track, my PC is a Dell Dimension running windows XP and I use Sony Sound Forge Audio 8.0.

I don't know what else to check. I have tried adjusting my fast track mic input, moved the pc out of the room and closed the door, turned off pretty much everything in the room I can and I use a tri fold (self made) sound screen around my mic.
I am attaching a sample file. I only normalized & use the pan function. I record in mono.

HELP!

Chris Clementson · **Voice Seeker** Joined: 14 Jan 2008 Posts: 216

Do you still have the old mic cable? Try plugging that back in.

Heather Cooper · Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008, 15:03 (GMT) Post subject:

That did not work.

Any other suggestions, anyone?

I did look through previous threads and could not find anything that was helpful to my problem. If I missed a thread, please let me know.

Thanks!

Heather Cooper · Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008, 15:25 (GMT) Post subject:

Could a driver update cause a hum?
That is the only other thing I have done in the last few weeks.

Colin Campbell · Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008, 19:52 (GMT) Post subject:

Any other knobs on the FastTrack turned up beside the mic control?

Heather Cooper · Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008, 20:08 (GMT) Post subject:

No I have the Mic turned just a few notches below the 'all the way' up point. The mix button is about a quarter pass the middle to the right and the out put (volume) is at about half way while recording, then turn it up to listen back through my head phones.

John Weeks · Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008, 20:13 (GMT) Post subject:

Hi Heather,
What driver did you update?

Heather Cooper · Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008, 20:19 (GMT) Post subject:

The driver for the Fast track. But, then I uninstalled the software and reinstalled with out the update. NO change.

Dear Colin has been trying to help me all morning. He thinks and I agree it may be my Fast Track or my Mic. I have tried EVERYTHING else suggested and it has not helped.

Anyone ever have issue with a M-Audio Fast Track USB?

This whole thing is so strange! Nothing had changed in my set up or the room...

Colin Campbell · Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008, 21:04 (GMT) Post subject:

I have to confess that after playing with the FastTrack once, I am not a fan of the device. But... it still should not sound like that.

Heather... is the FastTrack being "bus powered" meaning there is no "AC adapter" plugged into an electrical outlet from the FastTrack?

Heather Cooper · Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008, 21:53 (GMT) Post subject:

Yes, it is bus powered.

Colin Campbell · Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008, 22:17 (GMT) Post subject:

Well... quite the quandry. All normal logic would point to the cable but you've replaced it. I wish we could replace each item (mic, cable, FastTrack) with a "known good" equivalent.

John Weeks · Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008, 23:50 (GMT) Post subject:

I wish I could help, but I'm stumped.
By the way, I couldn't find the thread for this weeks program. I know it was there earlier this week, but now I've either gone blind or just am not looking in the right place.
I went ahead and sent my story as a PM.

Chris Clementson · **Voice Seeker** Joined: 14 Jan 2008 Posts: 216

Do you have any light dimmers in or around your studio?

It sounds like something is not properly grounded. Aside from that I'm out of ideas.

Andy Quiñones · Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008, 05:32 (GMT) Post subject:

Well, this is radical but I had a mysterious hum invade my system and I finally located the source to be from the downstairs outside breaker box located in the garage.

Vibration traveling through the wooden frame of the house.

I had to shut all power from the main, loosen the attaching bolts and insulate the entire box with a piece of mattress foam and that reduced it by half.

Also check to see if the fridge is flush against the wall in the kitchen.

Have you tried putting you ears to the walls at different locations to see if you might not have a similar humming source?

Frustrating as heck good luck.

Chris Clementson · **Voice Seeker** Joined: 14 Jan 2008 Posts: 216

Those things would work if it's an acoustical hum as opposed to an electrical hum. The former can be heard by ear.