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Sound Devices 552 Crazy Sound interference on Wav playback


Graham Newcombe

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Hey Guys,

I have been using my 552 on a few jobs recently and listening back to a few files a crazy loud noise, resembling radio interference cuts in for a few seconds and nearly deafens me. It's not there monitoring in real recording time but is there when I listen back. Which is terrible news as I can't rely on it for work now.

It's nothing to do with radios and I'm only booming and it still happens..

Anybody had a similar experience?

I don't think it's a corrupt SD Card as its happened with two cards now.

Could it be A faulty mixer / Wav writer?

I'll try and post an example later..

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I would contact SD ASAP, and maybe look on their forums to see if anyone else had it happen.

A corrupt card would probably not record anything, or digital errors (sounding like an early 80s video game). This sounds like something is interfering with the analog signal path on the way to the recorder. The 552 (and 664) have an analog signal path from input jack to output jack, and that sounds fine you say? The recorder is split off that analog signal (like a fork in the road), so your camera feed and headphone is probably fine. Complete guess, but it sounds like something internal, and far from usual behavior. 

Another complete guess could be that something inside came loose (bad solder maybe, component jostled loose) and isn't terminated or grounded. I'm not speaking from SD knowledge, but from general knowledge of fixing audio gear that's gone wacky. 

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I experienced something similar. It was an incompatible sd card.

 

Same here.  I thought it was a radio hit and it might have been. I thought I could hear voices in the noise so it may have been nearby police or military radio traffic.  It happened 3 times that day in different locations in the same town.  It was an interview and I had the boom on one channel and a wireless lav on the other.  The hit was on both channels and it was on the card and on the mix out to camera.  I've changed cards and it hasn't happened since.  

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It was on the camera too? How can that be the card and not a coincidence?

I thought that the 552/664 was all about the analog audio path with a separate digital recorder tapped off the signal? That's obviously not working if a bad card (or any issue with the digital recorder parts) can infect the whole audio path. 

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Still waiting to hear back from Sound Devices Tech Help.

 

Bought the Kingston 32GB Card Derek is using for the time being..( thanks for that Derek and everyone else... good but sad to know i'm not the only one with the problem. )

Hope it arrives before the next big job....

 

Although I think this is a problem with the particular SD card you are using, I certainly understand your concern about the mixer not functioning properly. Here are some basic tips I will recommend to minimize, if not eliminate this behavior.

 

SD Card

 

1 - Keep in mind that all storage media is going to fail eventually. This is not something to always worry about but be mindful of the life expectancy for any particular card. I would say rotate out your SD cards at least once each year. Storage media is the last place to cut corners.

 

2 - Eliminate that model of card from your workflow entirely. If that model is not playing well with your 552, why continue to rely on it for critical applications? There are many other high quality cards out there that will suite you better. This forum is by far the best place to get great advice on what works best based on nothing less than personal experience.

 

3 - Once you find a card that works well, buy a few more and keep unopened backups in your bag. Should you run into another card failure down the road, open up a brand new one and save the old one for the DSLR's. :)

 

4 - Regularly format the SD card with the 552 and never put files on the card that come from any other source.

 

5 - Dedicate the SD cards for exclusive use with the 552. Don't use a SD card that was previously in a digital camera, recorder or anything else for that matter.

 

552

 

1 - At the next available opportunity, update the firmware if not already up to date. The latest revision is 1.4. Link provided: http://www.sounddevices.com/download/552-firmware.htm

 

2- Once you have verified your mixer is up-to-date, load factory settings and reformat the new SD card once reset.

 

3 - The 552 comes with a rubber cover for the SD slot. Keeps this on at all times. If you don't have one anymore, give me a call or send me an email and I'll send you a brand new one. Jesse@sounddevices.com

 

4 - If you have a favorite setup file stored somewhere, delete it and create a new one.

 

5 - If you continue to run into problems once you have done all you can do, give our support team a call and arrange for your mixer to come in for inspection and repair.

 

By following these simple steps, you greatly reduce the risk of card failure and data corruption. The 552 is a solid piece and you can always call upon our support team if you ever have doubts, questions or just want to say "Hi" because we like that too! :) The weak link in virtually ALL professional recorders is the storage media. I'm sure our JW Sound Groups peers will also have some other bright ideas to add! I hope this helps!

 

Sound Devices Technical Support direct line - +1 (608) 524-0625

 

 

- Jesse

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Many thanks for the help Jesse..

 

Ill reformat everyday and regularly check the cards for errors..

 

I received the Kingston in the post today.. Formatted in 552..

 

Put new Firmware on to card and put into 552 but Sven hasn't recognised the new file so maybe its already latest Frimware on 552. Mixer is less than a year old. 

Reset Factory settings also.

 

Ill do some tests today and keep my fingers crossed for the gig tomo... Haven't had nerves like this in a while..going to be a mess tomo as im already in the cold sweats..

 

Also ran Disk Utility on my previous card and there seemed to be a need to repair it on my Mac. Hopefully it was the card..

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For what it's worth, I have also taken Jesse's advice and ordered 3 brand new SDHC cards for my 552. Two for daily rolls and one for an available unopened backup as he suggests. Since I also just had this exact same issue in January of 2013, I'll start with these new cards and will follow all of his instructions listed above. That way if the issue happens again, I can contact Jesse (I've been in contact with him directly) and when we work it out - if it happens again - I'll post the update here.

 

The thing about debugging an issue is that any technical team needs to know where we stand with our machines before they can really help. Starting with the latest firmware and brand new cards is a great thing to help them out in my opinion. Sometimes issues we have in the field are hard to reproduce in the shop, even if we send them our gear.

 

I'll follow this for everyone else's experiences and input as well, and will update if I have any further issues or resolutions. Timely post OP. 

 

Cheers

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I had this exact same thing happen with my 552 as well.  It happened 3 times on two files in 1 day this past December.  But hasn't happened since then.  I believe it was the 32 gig Lexar SDHC card as I had just started using that I purchased the month prior during a Black Friday sale, upgrading from an 8 gig SDHC card that I never experienced this with prior for over a year and half.  This all seems to confirm my suspicions.  

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This sounds like the issue I mentioned here: 

 

I'll hazard a guess that because this happens to people using a variety of cards with different sizes, speeds, and manufacturers the problem is most likely wear and tear on the card.

 

Two things from Jesse's post that I was an offender of:

 

 

1 - My card was more than a year old.

4 - Although I did regularly format the card in the 552 I also, on occasion, would pre-format the card on my mac with disk utility

 

I ordered new cards and haven't had any problems since but maybe more importantly I ordered a small backup recorder.  Well worth the expense for the peace of mind.  552 bag now looks like this:

 

post-741-0-89965400-1353451340_thumb.jpg
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Same here.  I thought it was a radio hit and it might have been. I thought I could hear voices in the noise so it may have been nearby police or military radio traffic.  It happened 3 times that day in different locations in the same town.  It was an interview and I had the boom on one channel and a wireless lav on the other.  The hit was on both channels and it was on the card and on the mix out to camera.  I've changed cards and it hasn't happened since.  

I spoke with the producer again and I apparently misunderstood what he originally told me.  It turns out it was NOT on the camera.  So it makes sense that changing out the SD card has prevented a recurrence.

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