Audacity Forum

I have lots of background radio noise when I press record. I am using 1.2.5 on an iMac (leopard) with a usb turntable hookup/
Any suggestions?

pepe

Check that all connections are clean and tight.
Keep your setup away from other electrical devices such as radios, mobile or cordless phones, TV's etc.
Avoid having leads "coiled".
Try moving the whole setup into a different room.

Where in the world are you and can you drive or walk around your neighborhood and see tall broadcasting towers?

You have to be within a half-mile or so to get this effect unless you happen to live in Lodi, New Jersey. There, you have to be two or three miles away to avoid listening to WABC on your electric toothbrush. There are other neighborhoods like that. Palatine, Illinois WGN, etc.

Solutions change depending on where the interference is coming from.

Koz

Thanks to youse both. I'm in downtown New York. (lower east side) I'll follow the suggestions and hope for the best.
Also, it seem to be more trouble than it's worth, transferring LP's to CD's.

pepe

Something like half the postings on the forum are from people who can't get that to work.

Buy the CDs.

Koz

thanks koz

i had an inkling . . . you confirmed . . . hummm . . . lemmi see, 300+ albums CD replaceable @ 7 to $10 each = 2100+

damn . . . broke again . . .

anyone in the market for vintage LP's, 7 to $10 each?

We can actually try to cure this--or change it. Can you find a USB cable with a lump in it? Like it swallowed a small egg? That lump is a radio energy suppressor and that might help.

Try to float your system. Drop by the hardware store and pick up a couple of ground lifters. You plug your system into the three prong side and plug the two prong side into the wall.

Since you're on a Mac, you can always go the analog way.

http://audacityteam.org/forum/viewtopic ... 8840#p8840

Do you recognize actual radio shows, or do you hear taxi calls?

Koz

Ground lift is usually for preventing or reducing "mains hum" by eliminating "Earthing loops". I doubt that it'll have any effect on radio frequencies. The "lump" that koz mentions (correct me if I'm wrong) is a ferrite bead - there's various types of data cables that use these to suppress Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) - the trouble is, without knowing the source and hence the frequency of the interference, and what part of the setup is being affected by it, there's no way of knowing what type of bead to use, or where to use it. A bit of trial and error may give lucky results though

What we're after is doing something and have the interference change, not necessarily go away. If it's AM broadcast, lifting the grounds may indeed help. Wavelength at those frequencies is measured in meters (yards), not centimeters (Inches).

If you drive past the AM towers (Jersey Meadowlands), look at the little eggs every so often on the wires holding up the towers. Those are to electrically break up the wires so they don't become part of the signal.

Koz

Thanks to all for trying to help. I'll use the turntable to play my old LP's, and whenever I cab I'll replace my favorites with CD's. Transferring in real time takes much too long.
(Plus I still get the radio signals-mixed (more than one source). It's New York City radio, cell phone, tv, etc., traffic, I'm sure.)

But hey, I've learned a few things here. Thanks again.

pepe