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Scarlet fan motor interferes with analogue audio (font) inputs

Martin Beek

Martin Beek

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I hear the fan motor interfering on the audio channels. Kind of piping noise, it's frequency altering with the fan speed.
It is loudest on channel one (internal electronics closer to front ventilator?) and renders that channel useless. Also audible on channel two, but a lot less.

To be clear: not the ventilator sound recorded through the mic, but picked up electronically, internally.

I read a similar complaint some time ago on this forum, but can't find it back again.

Anyone else having / or solved / this problem?


Thanks,


Martin
 
Take the microphone off the camera and move it closer to the actors, and this will greatly reduce the problem.
 
AC, DC or both? What else are you powering, and is it possible that you have exceeded the max load? Could it be a low voltage problem?

Martin Beek said:
I hear the fan motor interfering on the audio channels. Kind of piping noise, it's frequency altering with the fan speed.
It is loudest on channel one (internal electronics closer to front ventilator?) and renders that channel useless. Also audible on channel two, but a lot less.

To be clear: not the ventilator sound recorded through the mic, but picked up electronically, internally.

I read a similar complaint some time ago on this forum, but can't find it back again.

Anyone else having / or solved / this problem?


Thanks,


Martin
Click to expand...
 
We had the same issue today. Octava on a boom pole, to y cable into ch1 and ch2. Phantom enabled. My first shoot with phantom power.

EDIT - fan interference louder ch1 than ch2. But audible on both.
 
Search "Scarlet Audio Ticking" on the forums. There are many threads on this topic. It has to do with the electronic lens mount, AC power interference, and bad cables, and the combination of the three.
 
Alexander Thomson said:
Search "Scarlet Audio Ticking" on the forums. There are many threads on this topic. It has to do with the electronic lens mount, AC power interference, and bad cables, and the combination of the three.
Click to expand...

No, it has nothing to do with the ticking phenomenon and/or lens.

On either battery or mains, with AKG, Sennheiser and Oktava mics. Any distance from the camera. Direct or via A-Box. Phantom ON or OFF.
All the same...


Martin
 
david_winters said:
We had the same issue today. Octava on a boom pole, to y cable into ch1 and ch2. Phantom enabled. My first shoot with phantom power.

EDIT - fan interference louder ch1 than ch2. But audible on both.
Click to expand...

EXACTLY our setup and problem here, though i've tried other mics and setups too...

Martin.
 
Did you try it without the Y cable? Why use the Y? You could be creating a ground loop?
 
Scott Crawley said:
Did you try it without the Y cable? Why use the Y? You could be creating a ground loop?
Click to expand...

Scott, sorry i don't understand, what is the Y cable?

Edit: Ah i see... We did not use such a cable, just one mic on input one is enough to have a ball....
 
Scott Crawley said:
Did you try it without the Y cable? Why use the Y? You could be creating a ground loop?
Click to expand...

I'm experiencing the same issue as Martin, yesterday tested without and without Y cable, swapped all XLRs out, same result. We ended up using camera as scratch track since we were not able to get a clean feed and needed to roll.
 
david_winters said:
I'm experiencing the same issue as Martin, yesterday tested without and without Y cable, swapped all XLRs out, same result. We ended up using camera as scratch track since we were not able to get a clean feed and needed to roll.
Click to expand...

My problem is, that we're in the middle of production. I am almost sure that the problem arrived with the phantom enabled firmware. We can't roll back for several reasons. Switching phantom on/off does not help. We have no alternative audio solution yet. Will try to think of one SOON.

M.
 
We had this problem when we first got our scarlet but the firmware seemed to fix it. Are you running the mics directly into the inputs or routing them through a mixer first? For some reason when the signal is coming in post mixer, there is no interference. Also, taking our camera off a surge protected outlet seemed to fix it as well.

Try booting the camera up without a lens attached, attach audio, then lens, and see if that works. Try removing and reinstalling the mount to remove any electrostatic buildup. Contact the 24/7 Support line, they'll probably have better advice than me.
 
Alexander Thomson said:
We had this problem when we first got our scarlet but the firmware seemed to fix it. Are you running the mics directly into the inputs or routing them through a mixer first? For some reason when the signal is coming in post mixer, there is no interference. Also, taking our camera off a surge protected outlet seemed to fix it as well.

Try booting the camera up without a lens attached, attach audio, then lens, and see if that works. Try removing and reinstalling the mount to remove any electrostatic buildup. Contact the 24/7 Support line, they'll probably have better advice than me.
Click to expand...

Thanks Alexander, that sounds like an easy enough experiment. Sounds crazy, but you never know....


Martin.
 
and if you are one AC power...

and if you are one AC power...

try using a ground lift (2-3 prong adapter).. this will only help if your problem is a ground loop.
Otherwise if nothing else is helping you... cheapest solution will be a tascam DR -05 and a Rode condenser shotgun with a battery to record your primary audio.. use the headphone out to feed reference audio to your camera... this should cost about $400-$500.. and you will be able to sell the combo for $300 or a little more when you are done.
 
People having problems - are you sure your audio cables are wired correctly? Mini-jacks being used as balanced audio inputs are not an industry standard.
 
ericyoung said:
People having problems - are you sure your audio cables are wired correctly? Mini-jacks being used as balanced audio inputs are not an industry standard.
Click to expand...

Yes, using properly wired cables over here, for balanced audio, TRS over mini plugs.

I need to run a new test feeding from a mixer vs mic patched directly to camera and phantom powered by camera. I haven't run mixer audio to camera since most recent firmware update, only mic direct to camera.
 
Christopher Mills said:
try using a ground lift (2-3 prong adapter).. this will only help if your problem is a ground loop.
Click to expand...

On a previous shoot, lifting mackie mixer corrected a 60 cycle hum. However, in this case we are running battery power (dionics) and mic patched direct to camera, phantom power.
 
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