Help please: what is this annoying sound?

[CGremlin]

Sounds to me like a digital clock or other repetitive data from something, possibly the USB connection to the Scarlett. Sounded like you had an unshielded/poorly shielded USB cable, since it seems to be better now.

 

[Alex J]

Sounds to me like a digital clock or other repetitive data from something, possibly the USB connection to the Scarlett. Sounded like you had an unshielded/poorly shielded USB cable, since it seems to be better now.

Does it on a headphone amp though nowhere near the Scarlett or any other electronic equipment.

It's better everywhere but in the studio.

 

[Rib 13]

Back in the ancient days of digital home recording, that (similar) sound was was caused by a hard drive spinning.................

 

[bobdabilder]

In all seriousness, we just tracked down a bad 1/4 to 1/4 connector that went bad and made all kinds of noise.

Does the noise happen at night?


Have you tried different cords?

- John

 

[GodPlayedBass]

So I sat down to record some tracks and immediately was hit with this super irritating sound that I've never noticed before and I can't for the life of me work out what it is.

- It's constant, like a helicopter or an idling engine (mp3 attached), and is the same whether I am touching metal components or not. It never varies in pitch or intensity.
- It is directional in that some angles lessen or increase it, but it occurs whether I plug into my Focusrite Scarlett into my laptop or into a Zoom H4N on batteries elsewhere in the house.
- I tried through my amp and it was very audible out the speakers.
- I have tried several different cables and turned various devices in my studio on or off.
- Holding the cable in certain positions can make it worse.

At first I thought it was a problem with the preamp in my active jazz bass, but I can detect the exact same sound at the same frequency when I use my Stingray so unless they have both gone wrong in the same way at the same time it must be something external, right? I can't hear it when I switch my jazz to passive mode.

I posted a fix video for this im pretty sure, on my youtube channel. Atleast 100 people said it worked

 

[Alex J]

Should anyone come across this thread in the future at some point:

- the cause was the solar panels on the roof next door and all the associated power lines/converters.

- the solution was getting a better lead, and fully shielding the control cavity and pickup cavities with copper tape, and ensuring all the shielding was properly grounded.

This eliminated 95% of the noise.

 

[ObsessiveArcher]

Should anyone come across this thread in the future at some point:

- the cause was the solar panels on the roof next door and all the associated power lines/converters.

- the solution was getting a better lead, and fully shielding the control cavity and pickup cavities with copper tape, and ensuring all the shielding was properly grounded.

This eliminated 95% of the noise.

Good find . When troubleshooting my issue, I already had these steps performed.
Glad you got it fixed!

 

[Engle]

View attachment 3935608'Cause the man from Mars stopped eatin' cars and eatin' bars
And now he only eats guitars...

Love that song! Sometimes we play at the end of Heart of Glass.

 

[Thunder Lizard]

Here's one that stymied me for a LONG time..... how about a wireless mouse? I had a whine/throb noise somewhat like yours that turned out to be my very expensive programmable gaming mouse. Once I threw it against the wall hard enough, the noise stopped.