phantom rf on adobe audition 1.5

[nightfly61]

I've installed Adobe Audition 1.5 on my home computer (Dell Dimension E310) and even when there are no lines going into the sound card, If I hit "record" I'm seeing the meters bobbing around -54 or -53. The same thing happened at a studio in a station I used to work at but the engineers never bothered to check it out. When I go to listen there is nothing there. It's harmless I guess but just annoying not getting an acurate reading Got any suggestions? Thanks.

 

[nightfly61]

A correction-It's not really rf, it's just a very quiet hiss. Thanks.

 

[Emmett1057]

That's soundcard noise. Install a professional or semi-pro recording soundcard and it should go away.

Emmett

 

[nd2023]

RF could interfere if it's near a high power transmitter site.

 

[nightfly61]

Would my new soundcard need to be external like I saw in another problem on here similar to mine, or just grounded well? Do they make soundcards with female RCA jacks? Or do all of them have the little 1/8" mini female jack?
Also should I put a line amp on there?

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Right click on the meter, and choose a -48 DB range. -50ish DB is what I get with an M-Audio Delta card in CEP. Of course, the room is noisier than that, so it doesn't really matter.

 

[nightfly61]

Right click on the meter, and choose a -48 DB range. -50ish DB is what I get with an M-Audio Delta card in CEP. Of course, the room is noisier than that, so it doesn't really matter.

PTBOARDOP...YOU DA' MAN!!! THANKS A MILLION!!! That did the trick! Now to find a decent digital mic & audio card to start recording voice tracks from home... I found an Emu 1212M PCI 24 Bit/192KHZ balanced interface card on zzsounds.com for about $150 .....between that, Adobe Audition & a decent mic do you think that'd be enough to do voice overs from home? If not what else should I get started with? Thanks tons again!!! ~~nightfly

 

[menotti1]

check on ebay for good sound card deals.you might check out the delta 44 series,too.i use digigram vx222,seen those on ebay CHEAP...emu 1212 is a good one ,too...

 

[Emmett1057]

-50dB?!?!?! With nothing open?!?!?!?! That's not right. With the Delta, you should be able to get about -108dB. With an open mic, I get -88dB.

Changing the meter doesn't lower the noise floor...It just makes it so you can't see what's happening.

The converters in the 1212m are about as good as it gets. The exact same converters used in the high-end Digidesign A/D converters for Pro Tools TDM systems.

Emmett

 

[nightfly61]

Very tempted to get the 1212m, but this looks even more enticing-http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220200826104&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ebay.com%3A80%2Fws%2Fsearch%2FSaleSearch%3Fsofocus%3Dbs%26satitle%3D220200826104%26sacat%3D58058%2526catref%253DC5%26dfsp%3D1%26from%3DR7%26nojspr%3Dy%26pfid%3D0%26fsop%3D1%2526fsoo%253D1%26fcl%3D3%26frpp%3D50%26fvi%3D1

would this be better or worse to get?

Also, should I get a ground loop isolator? Thanks again everyone so much for the help & suggestions.

 

[nightfly61]

Well, I got the 2 Emu 1212m cards & the software installed in my home Dell. I also had to uninstall our old AudioBlaster software & now our small speakers don't work & you can't use the volume dogwheel or remote mute button on the keyboard anymore . I figured they might not work, but the fiance is ticked off. Plus I've still got that annoying noise (now the hiss is 60db with the meters set at 72db).
I ran my home stereo out of the sound card "out" so now I at least have a monitor, but now I can't listen to Adobe Audition(muchless record into it). All other audio works though. The PatchMix software didn't come with a manual, so I'm kinda lost! Thanks!