a spec we've been lacking

[clamp]

I'm sitting here listening to my noisey computer wondering how many products are subjected to an anechoic chamber measurement of their overall environmental self-noise.
Forgive me if some one brighter has already posted this topic.
My PC is my main recorder and pollutes with noise far above my ametuer level equipment's self-noise floor. If I pack the fucking thing in a box full of foam and cinder blocks it'll overheat. 'Quiet PC homes' are expensive.
Other essential equipment is outwardly noisey. I mean they are humming or fanning to the human ear in the room and will surely end up on the disk or tape.
So I present to manufacturers and reviewers: What kind of noise does this device introduce before a mic is even plugged in? Are the new Mackie and Tascam 24-track machines silent or fucking noisey? Do I have to invest in remotes and sound proof bunkers? WTF?

[thenumber]

I got this "noiseless" power supply for my recording computer (Eco something? from newegg.com). Its not actually noiseless, but its pretty fucking quiet. Its enough that i dont notice it on a few tracks, but once 24 tracks build up its there. But only when the music is close to silent. Oh well

[blue]

you're not gettin specific enough reply. And I cant add much. This subject is large with me . I abstrusely brought it up with my van gogh thread earlier. I dont know why it's not a MAIN SUBJECT here. The alesis hd24 is noisy, by fan, too, though supposedly greatly quieted by a silencer fan (purchaseable from pc power and cooling).

How people deal with recording quietly into their computer has been talked here, I've read some of the threads, though cant point exactly where they are.
Such talks should be collected together.

Soon , I speculate, macintosh will deal directly with this problem. the G7?

alrigh, those of you who can quiet this guy's vacuum cleaner, speak.

[blue]

also you may get more attention if you titled the post using words more direct to the subject. fan. noisey. computer.
And posting in the computer section.

[Wally Heider]

i have a switch on the power supply fan. when i'm recording something i trun off the fan. when we're done recording i turn the fan back on.

solved all my noise problems but it took a while to remember to turn the fan on and off as part of every reocrding proceedure

[wayne kerr]

Well... ummm... computers were never meant for recording to begin with!

I haven't used the HD24, but I can tell you the Radar and the MX2424 are both very quiet. Some audiophile company makes silent cooling fans for $10,000 mono amps, so my guess is that's similar to what's in dedicated hard disk recorders. Don't worry, soon enough you'll be recording directly to the chip the government is implanting in your neck. Have you heard how GWB has just proposed wiring every American home for the internet? They didn't mention whether this prgroam was voluntary or not.

CC
PP

[kcrusher]

There are plenty of manufacturers of enclosures for computers to reduce the noise. I don't have my list of links available for them, but I could post some if you like.

I have mine in a seperate room with gefen extenders for the monitor, etc.

[Flight Feathers]

i just got a new Dell and the thing is really really quiet. i can't believe how quiet it is, and it's got 2 7200rpm discs spinning in there. very cool.

ayan

[eh91311]

On my HD24, the PC Power and Cooling replacement fan truly cuts down on the noise. The stock Alesis fan is super-loud in comparison. The silent fan isn't as efficient in moving air as the stock, noisy one.

[JGriffin]

Getting the CPU into another room seems to be the best option if you can do it. That's what has worked for me at the day job studio...of course, I use an eMac at home, so I can't exactly do that...I'm still trying to figure out how to solve that one.

np:Garmarna, "Viridissima Virga"

[Cellotron]

I just bought a bunch of cheapie extender cables for the mouse, keyboard and monitors, got a 25' TDIF cable to lead from my digital board to the DAW's soundcard, made a little hole for cables, and put the DAW in a closet. Seal around the door edges, close the door, and it does wonders. If the closet space is large enough (or even better - ventilates to another room besides the one you work in) and you aren't doing anything like overclocking there really isn't an overheating problem, especially if you open the door ocassionally while not doing critical work. Works a lot better than any of the "silent PC" solutions I've heard - and combined with these solutions really keeps the noise down.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[Tungstengruvsten]

Get smart with your computer and it's insides. I track all the time with my computer in the same room unless it's solo vocals or acoustic guitar-that's just asking for it. But anyways, my computer sits at my feet and makes no noise - I did a bunch of research before choosing components, and chose smartly.

PC:
silenx 300w power supply(14dBa)
Asus p4pe (no fan on the north/southbridge)
Zalman flower cooler for CPU
Seagate Barracuda HD's(quietest there is)
Panaflo L1A fans with inline resistors to slow them down more

Small tower, lined with dense materials to stop case vibrations. Hard drives have additional heatsinks on them as case has less overall air flow-do lots of measurements and tests on your system to ensure airflow/case temps are ok. If you can wield a pair of tinsnips you can mod any case-I put a 120mm exhaust fan in mine even though it was designed to have 2 80mm...

Get it all here:
www.silentpcreview.com

[Cellotron]

np:Garmarna, "Viridissima Virga"

Hey dwlb -
Garmarna rocks! Who knew that Swedes could be that funky?

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[JGriffin]

Glrp! internet was screwed up this morning, so this was a double post.
No longer.

[JGriffin]

np:Garmarna, "Viridissima Virga"

Hey dwlb -
Garmarna rocks! Who knew that Swedes could be that funky?

Best regards,
Steve Berson

Steve--

I really like this record, mainly because I am a big fan of Hildegard Von Bingen, the Christian mystic who wrote all the songs on the record several hundred years ago. I also have a record of her stuff produced by David Lynch (called "Lux Vivens" and featuring vocalist Jocelyn Montgomery) that's astounding.