Are recordings on laptop battery power better than with the charger connected ?
It appears to me that the charger induces noise on the recordings.
Would the same occur if recordings are made on a Windows desktop?
Thank you
Manny
Are recordings on laptop battery power better than with the charger connected ?
There is no easy answer…
It appears to me that the charger induces noise on the recordings.
In that case you already know the answer (with your hardware).
Even on battery there are lot of signals “floating around” inside a computer with batteries there is still a voltage regulator/power supply that generates noise. The trick is to isolate/filter that noise from the analog electronics.
External audio interfaces and external USB mics are more isolated from the electronic noise but you can still get noise through the USB power. In that case it’s hard to know if you should blame the interface for being poorly filtered, or to blame the computer for being extra noisy. Computer power supplies (including the USB power) are mostly designed for digital circuits which are immune to “normal amounts” of electrical noise. Analog audio circuits (especially preamps) are very sensitive to electrical noise so if you’re designing a power supply for audio, you’re going to make it (electrically) super quiet.
If you have an external interface with it’s own power supply, it’s isolated from any noise generated by the computer’s electronics.
There’s entire courses devoted to these questions.
As DVDDoug above, it’s not the computer that has problems. It’s the analog at both ends.
Are recordings on laptop battery power better than with the charger connected ?
Yes.
In one swoop you’re missing any mistakes and noises the charger may make and you eliminate all the noises that may ride in from the house power and grounding system. I’ve lived in two houses that had wall power wiring errors. Running on batteries was really good for me.
One of the Desperation Methods if you’re having sound noise and you just can’t get rid of it, is see if it’s still noisy if you’re on batteries. One of three things will happen: It will start working perfectly, nothing will happen because the power system isn’t causing the problem, or the system will collapse because the battery is on death’s door. A is good, B gives us good information of where to look next, and C gives you a shopping trip to fix the battery. That’s not optional. Running with a soft or partially flat battery can cause some very serous problems.
The only down side is finding batteries that can last longer than your show.
Would the same occur if recordings are made on a Windows desktop?
Windows desktops don’t have battery option, so you have to fix the environment, house power, or room problems. No option.
What kind of noise do you have? Drag-select some of it up to ten seconds. File > Export > Export Selected Audio: WAV.
Scroll down from a forum text window > Attachments > Add Files.
Post some work with both performance and background silence. Don’t filter or effect anything. Raw sound.
Koz