Quiet buzzing/noise

[isuckatproducing]

Hi,

I’m using M4 Pro Mac Mini.

When connecting headphones straight to Mac using mini jack there is some buzzing/crackling noise but not very loud.

I just got a Focusrite Scarlet interface, connected to Mac using USB (tried different ports), and when I connect headphones to Scarlett, I can hear some quiet noise.

Shouldn’t audio interface fully eliminate it?

I have some synths on backorder and I’m afraid that I will get some noise while recording them.

I have tried connecting Mac to different wall socket but didn’t help.

Is there anything I can try?

Thanks

[Benedict]

Dude! What makes you believe that devices (other than Noise Gates) remove noise? Every electronic device adds noise, especially if it has any kind of Amplification or Gain process. Blood makes noise too (Suzanne Vega wrote a song about that).

Buzz and crackle normally come from damaged cabling. So my first place would be to look at those cans, if you waggle the jack or point where wires meet the shells and it changes, Bingo! The next step would be the same with microphone plugs and cables.

[isuckatproducing]

Dude! What makes you believe that devices (other than Noise Gates) remove noise? Every electronic device adds noise, especially if it has any kind of Amplification or Gain process. Blood makes noise too (Suzanne Vega wrote a song about that).

Buzz and crackle normally come from damaged cabling. So my first place would be to look at those cans, if you waggle the jack or point where wires meet the shells and it changes, Bingo! The next step would be the same with microphone plugs and cables.

I'm not sure what do you mean? I'm not supposed to have noise on input/output right?

And I have tried other cans, cables, ports, with interface and without, different wall socket.

Not sure what else I can do?

[Benedict]

Noise is a thing that all electronics creates so when you try to tell the world that you should never have noise, you are the one in a fail state as that is impossible (read up on the physics of electrons - or not).

As for your noise, right there, I gave you two possible points of entry. Buzzing is commonly a slightly broken cable letting in RF (Radio Freq) interference. Crackling is commonly as a slightly broken cable moves about, changing resistance (or whatever) and sometimes shorting.

If you have noise beyond a normal noise floor, it is getting in somewhere; it is on you to chase that down.
Apply logic, not feelings.
https://benedictroffmarsh.com/2014/07/2 ... ple-logic/

[isuckatproducing]

Noise is a thing that all electronics creates so when you try to tell the world that you should never have noise, you are the one in a fail state as that is impossible (read up on the physics of electrons - or not).

As for your noise, right there, I gave you two possible points of entry. Buzzing is commonly a slightly broken cable letting in RF (Radio Freq) interference. Crackling is commonly as a slightly broken cable moves about, changing resistance (or whatever) and sometimes shorting.

If you have noise beyond a normal noise floor, it is getting in somewhere; it is on you to chase that down.
Apply logic, not feelings.
https://benedictroffmarsh.com/2014/07/2 ... ple-logic/

I had a Mabook Pro many years ago with cheaper interface and had 0 audible noise while connecting to either mini jack output or audio interface.

If I connect now directly to interface there is slight audible noise, the crackling only happens when plugged directly into mini jack in the Mac Mini.

You mention something about broken cable, but as I've said I have tried multiple cables.

And I'm not applying feelings, not sure where you got that from?

Applying logic here, tells me that if I didn't have this issue in the past, and now I do, then something is wrong right?

[zerocrossing]

Hi,

I’m using M4 Pro Mac Mini.

When connecting headphones straight to Mac using mini jack there is some buzzing/crackling noise but not very loud.

I just got a Focusrite Scarlet interface, connected to Mac using USB (tried different ports), and when I connect headphones to Scarlett, I can hear some quiet noise.

Shouldn’t audio interface fully eliminate it?

I have some synths on backorder and I’m afraid that I will get some noise while recording them.

I have tried connecting Mac to different wall socket but didn’t help.

Is there anything I can try?

Thanks

It could be a problem with the shielding in the headphone wire. Is it showing up on the meters in the DAW?

[isuckatproducing]

Hi,

I’m using M4 Pro Mac Mini.

When connecting headphones straight to Mac using mini jack there is some buzzing/crackling noise but not very loud.

I just got a Focusrite Scarlet interface, connected to Mac using USB (tried different ports), and when I connect headphones to Scarlett, I can hear some quiet noise.

Shouldn’t audio interface fully eliminate it?

I have some synths on backorder and I’m afraid that I will get some noise while recording them.

I have tried connecting Mac to different wall socket but didn’t help.

Is there anything I can try?

Thanks

It could be a problem with the shielding in the headphone wire. Is it showing up on the meters in the DAW?

Nothing is showing, and I've tried other headphones.

I'm still waiting for my synths, I'm terrified that there is going to be a lot of noise, I HOPE NOT.

[Benedict]

And I'm not applying feelings, not sure where you got that from?

Applying logic here, tells me that if I didn't have this issue in the past, and now I do, then something is wrong right?

I got that from what you said and even more so from your replies. What you say reads that you seem to want to tell physics and your tools how they should work - false logic. This is an emotive approach that prevents you from finding the root cause. This is why I sent you an article on this very situation/condition. Not fair to blame me if you don't follow advice given (this is my life's limited time I am giving you here).

No suggestion that you don't have an issue. My point is what I have been saying all along: stop assuming, stop telling things what they should and should not be doing. This blinds you to what is really happening because you are in the land of feelings when you need to be in the land of logic & process.

Something is letting noise into your system and it will not go away until you use a very logical and mechanical process to work through every single element and step in your process to find it. Or you will simply keep not sorting it and blaming everything but yourself, who is the only person who can track this down reliably (seeing it probably wouldn't happen elsewhere, which is a clue in itself).

[lfm]

It could be a problem with the shielding in the headphone wire. Is it showing up on the meters in the DAW?

That signal to phones is not amplified so not prone to add noise.
- whatever is so low level compared to audio

I have a extension cord to phones, and that is not even shielded, and no noise issues.
- 5m cable, just two wires

[zerocrossing]

Hi,

I’m using M4 Pro Mac Mini.

When connecting headphones straight to Mac using mini jack there is some buzzing/crackling noise but not very loud.

I just got a Focusrite Scarlet interface, connected to Mac using USB (tried different ports), and when I connect headphones to Scarlett, I can hear some quiet noise.

Shouldn’t audio interface fully eliminate it?

I have some synths on backorder and I’m afraid that I will get some noise while recording them.

I have tried connecting Mac to different wall socket but didn’t help.

Is there anything I can try?

Thanks

It could be a problem with the shielding in the headphone wire. Is it showing up on the meters in the DAW?

Nothing is showing, and I've tried other headphones.

I'm still waiting for my synths, I'm terrified that there is going to be a lot of noise, I HOPE NOT.

Noise is a hellish problem. I lived in a place that must have been next to a secret radio tower. Basically nothing I did would stop it. All the same gear in a different house, no noise. But then I got some noise one day... what was it? I had put in some novelty "fire" LED lights for halloween, and my daughter turned them on. Also, USB devices can be a problem. Sometimes, in the past, I've used USB ground lifts, or a hum isolator device. Good luck.