Rasmus Wedin Posted April 7, 2012 Report Share Posted April 7, 2012 I'm on a gig right now where I only have a couple of G3s as lavs. Now and again I'm getting this weird, fuzzy noise. Kind of sounds like a connection that isn't completly tight or some moisture has gotten into a connection. I've checked everything thoroughly and neither is the case. It then struck me that it might be static electricity going into the receivers. We're shooting in -10 Celsius, so everybody, including me, is wearing lots of cloaths. Once when I got the weird noise, I started shaking my audiobag. This seemed to increase it slightly for 2-3 seconds, and then it stoppet. Kind of feels like it's some kind of discharge happening. Now to the real question: How do I counter this? Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpforet Posted April 7, 2012 Report Share Posted April 7, 2012 Sounds like martian fax machines to me....er, I mean, data packets being sent and recieved from smartphones. Iphones are the worse for this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Tirrell Posted April 7, 2012 Report Share Posted April 7, 2012 I would go with somebody's smart phone or some other kind of intermit ant data transmission. I have heard what you are talking about twice before in a hospital once with the G3 and once with an old Lectro. Both times changed frequency to something as far away from the original as I could find and had no problem. Point is those places are full of all kinds of equipment that sends periodic updates and lord only knows what is on what frequency, I think what you describe is similar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rasmus Wedin Posted April 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2012 I thought so too at first, but the noise is not that of drop outs or frequencies messing each other up. It's more of an "electrical sounding" noise, comming very irregulary. I have scanned and changed frequencies, but with similar results. I also feel it's something within the bag, since the noise was effected by shaking the bag. I have used this audiobag extensivly the last 9 months and never had any problems like this. The two main factors that have changed for my current project is the temperature (-10 Celsius) and everybody wearing lots of warm cloths because of that. We also do alot of jumping in and out of cars and I often get a slight electrical shock when climbing out of a car with all these cloths. Thats why I thought it might be related to static electricity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted April 7, 2012 Report Share Posted April 7, 2012 OK: it could be static electricity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macruth Posted April 7, 2012 Report Share Posted April 7, 2012 sorry but just out of perverse curiosity, where are you currently shooting where it's -10C? in late april i'll be in the patagonia region of argentina (don't know exactly how far south yet), i sure hope it won't be -10C! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason porter Posted April 7, 2012 Report Share Posted April 7, 2012 I have worked in -40C (near Kiruna, Sweden) with no such issues. Does it happen on more than 1 unit? I find that the supplied XLR cables with the Sennheiser G2's became intermittent after just a few uses, but that created a very distinct pop and crackle sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Nault Posted April 8, 2012 Report Share Posted April 8, 2012 I've worked in the cold quite a bit (-10C isn't that bad... is it?!) and it rarely causes an issue like this... Are you moving in and out of the cold a lot, i.e. going from outdoors to indoors (even a car) to warm up? That could cause humidity issues and humidity, in turn, can cause some weird sounds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Tirrell Posted April 8, 2012 Report Share Posted April 8, 2012 I've worked in the cold quite a bit (-10C isn't that bad... is it?!) and it rarely causes an issue like this... Are you moving in and out of the cold a lot, i.e. going from outdoors to indoors (even a car) to warm up? That could cause humidity issues and humidity, in turn, can cause some weird sounds. I agree i would lean to humidity or condensation myself simply because if it is a static discharge causing it it should be a quick hit then gone like with a shock. It at worst in my mind might cause the whole unit to cut out for a second similar to what happens when a g3 transmitter pack gets dropped or takes a hard hit. But this is conjecture without some kind of data to back it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wandering Ear Posted April 8, 2012 Report Share Posted April 8, 2012 We also do alot of jumping in and out of cars and I often get a slight electrical shock when climbing out of a car with all these cloths. Thats why I thought it might be related to static electricity. I would also lean towards condensation being the culprit. If it's condensation due to the changing environments (inside/outside car) then it would likely happen soon after getting out of the car, then go away soon after. Is this the case? I keep a hair dryer in my kit for moisture issues, and because I shoot a lot in the rain. Not practical when you're on the run though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rasmus Wedin Posted April 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2012 Thanks for the replies guys, apreciate it alot! Today I worked the whole night without the inner most layer of clothing (don't know the name but it's like an inner layer that covers your whole body), wich I feel is the layer causing the static shocks I sometimes get. I got the noise tonight aswell, but only two very short times, wich is sigificantly less than erlier nights. On the other hand, we were jumping in and out of warm and cold alot less too, so the humidity theory might be very valid indeed. And I agree that a static shock should really be a short burst, not a 2-4 seconds frizzle-noise. We are constantly moving from warm cars to very cold outside temperature, into some warm building, then out again. I feel the noise has been quite random, but so has the temperature. And thinking back, the noise has often come after changeing temperature/environment. Macruth: I'm up working in the northern part of Sweden, though not as far north as Kiruna. We mostly shoot during the night and it often drops to around -10C even this time of the year. Spring is comming though, can't wait. Once again, many thanks guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spencer Moore Posted April 9, 2012 Report Share Posted April 9, 2012 Are you using the external power adaptors for your receiver? I usually use my G3 for reference hops, but I know that for me whenever I power the RX in my bag it usually sends out this electronic sputtering noise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rasmus Wedin Posted April 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2012 Are you using the external power adaptors for your receiver? I usually use my G3 for reference hops, but I know that for me whenever I power the RX in my bag it usually sends out this electronic sputtering noise. No external power. All G3s and mixer are powered by Nimh-AAs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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