Is there more noise now? (for those who might remember)

[ashcat_lt]

The premise of this question is that much of the noise we deal with in the reproduction of sound comes from EM radiation and/or contamination of the AC power grid.

Both of these factors should have increased exponentially, especially in the last 10-20 years. Today, everybody you meet has a radio transmitter in his pocket, there are many more houses with many more appliances attached to the power mains, etc.

So the question, in case anybody was around and paying attention in the "good old days", will a guitar/amp combo from the early 60's buzz today more than it did when it was new? Is the noise floor going into the recorder (we're not talking about tape hiss) noticeably higher?

[joel hamilton]

no.

cell phones only make noise within a very small radius from the phone, some are noisier than others, and if you had one in the live room, you would get busted at some point...

There have been plenty of things that produce noise for many years... radio stations, welders, mechanical ignition systems...

A lot of things have actually gotten BETTER, shielding wise...

[leftofthedial]

I dunno about the last repsonse, but I can tell you that guitar pickups do a great job of tuning into radio stations and nearby cell phones. A certain brand emits a sort of ping that has found it's way onto many a recording I've been involved with. Usually one in a bass players or guitarists pocket.

At my last shop, even with everybody in the studio's cell phone turned off, cars stopped at the traffic signal outside would cause a pinging noise to be picked up by single coil pickups. Cars would drive away, pinging would stop, until the next batch of cars got stuck there. I traced it down to at least one certain model LG cell phone that one of my clients happened to have in his pocket one day when it was going quite crazy.

Anyway, my $0.02.

[vvv]

I say death to cell phone users!

Wait, I gotta take this call...

[John Jeffers]

I hate how GSM phones interfere with speakers. Every time they talk to the network, you get this annoying blip-blip-blip in any speaker that they happen to be near. The only cool side-effect is that you can impress people who don't know any better by predicting that your phone is about to ring.

[joel hamilton]

I dunno about the last repsonse, but I can tell you that guitar pickups do a great job of tuning into radio stations and nearby cell phones. A certain brand emits a sort of ping that has found it's way onto many a recording I've been involved with. Usually one in a bass players or guitarists pocket.

At my last shop, even with everybody in the studio's cell phone turned off, cars stopped at the traffic signal outside would cause a pinging noise to be picked up by single coil pickups. Cars would drive away, pinging would stop, until the next batch of cars got stuck there. I traced it down to at least one certain model LG cell phone that one of my clients happened to have in his pocket one day when it was going quite crazy.

Anyway, my $0.02.

My response was to the actual question posted: is there MORE noise these days, and I still think the answer is no. There has been noise around for years...

[LVC_Jeff]

Yea, Cingluar/AT&T phones are the worst when it comes to interference. They make that rhythmic "errrp" noise.

My $0.02.

[leftofthedial]

Joel,

cell phones only make noise within a very small radius from the phone, some are noisier than others, and if you had one in the live room, you would get busted at some point...

This is the part of your comment I was refering to, as for the totality of the original post, I have no real opinion on that.

Sorry for any confusion.

[joel hamilton]

Joel,

cell phones only make noise within a very small radius from the phone, some are noisier than others, and if you had one in the live room, you would get busted at some point...

This is the part of your comment I was refering to, as for the totality of the original post, I have no real opinion on that.

Sorry for any confusion.

I hear ya.
My studio is on a street in Brooklyn that used to be pretty quiet... but williamsburg has been raging for many years now, and we find ourselves on a very busy street. a billion people walk by our control room a day, physically not more than 15 feet from the sidewalk where they are ALL on the phone... everyone is on their phone constantly in NYC...

I hav never had a problem with that. sometimes people have a certain phone that makes that blipping sound in the monitors, but it goes away when they walk into the live room...
It would be useless to have a studio in NYC if cell phones really caused that much interference...

[Roboburger]

my $0.02- I once heard a Blip during the final seconds of a laborious mix and when I played back the mix, the blip wasn't there. I deduced that in that instance- the blip was only in my active monitors, and not in the path before that- where the mix actually got recorded! for a minute there, I was reeeeal pissed.

[John Jeffers]

my $0.02- I once heard a Blip during the final seconds of a laborious mix and when I played back the mix, the blip wasn't there. I deduced that in that instance- the blip was only in my active monitors, and not in the path before that- where the mix actually got recorded! for a minute there, I was reeeeal pissed.

Yeah, the GSM phones interfere with any speakers they happen to be around, but it doesn't get recorded. Annoying, but no permanent damage. Sitting here at my desk, I have to keep my cell phone at least 3 or 4 feet away from my desk phone and computer speakers if I don't want to hear the blips.

[asylumdigital]

As far as the cell phones, nextels seem to be the most problematic over here... I try to keep them off.

[JGriffin]

Don't know what sort of phones are involved, but I'm doing some group recordings today and cel phone noise is definitely showing up on the tape...

[mrmiller]

I was doing a single take recording using microphone-speaker feedback for an electronic music class and caught a bit of cell phone interference, unfortunately... though once it goes through the echo unit it's a little more pleasant.

Start at 3:58 and listen for about 30 seconds... not going to subject people to my experimental music, just demonstrating the cell phone noise.
http://web.mit.edu/mrmiller/composition ... el-2.2.mp3

It's fun though: you're in a car listening to your iPod using an FM transmitter, and you hear the beeping. You tell your friends the phone is about to ring, and they freak out when it does. It's a party trick, really.

[RefD]

It's fun though: you're in a car listening to your iPod using an FM transmitter, and you hear the beeping. You tell your friends the phone is about to ring, and they freak out when it does. It's a party trick, really.

it also happens when you're in a null/weak signal area and the phone is struggling to stay on the network.

i used to tell ppl riding with me that the DHS had just turned on the bug in my car.