UKEON TERRITORY
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With several elements affecting the uke scene , such as steel strings , humbucker style pickups and the likes . Then couple that with more and more people getting into home recording and A/V production ,I thought I'd offer up some tried and true " SOUND " advice .
These thoughts were brought to the surface by another UUer on another thread inquiring about buzz problems . Hope it helps .
First and foremost , this thread is not intended to provoke debate , conflict and or arguement . Just good sound GROUND RULES and advice .
For instance , " ARE YOU GROUNDED " ?
Broadcast engineers will tell you faster than anyone that the quality of your ground system directly affects the quality of your sound system .
To wit :
Many complex buzzes , hums , whistles , etc. etc. etc in your amps , speakers , mics , recording and all other equipment can be prevented and even cured with a few basic rules of thumb .
Starting first with the single biggest DON'T in the whole matter .
DON'T have any great expectations out of your sound quality if you are not properly grounded .
Some may ask , " how do I know if I improperly grounded or not " ? The answer to that is quite simple . . . If you took any electronic equipment for you home jamming and or A/V recording system home and simply plugged into a standard wall socket , you can rest assured you are NOT properly grounded by any stretch of the imagination.
You equipment desperately needs to be on it's own independent ground system . This is especially true if you are living in an older home with aluminum wiring and double especailly true if you are living in a motorhome or mobile home .
Radio operators such as HAMM radio guys have a saying that you " hear on your ground " . In other words ,the quality of the ground is everything for what the ear hears in electronic audio efforts .
There are a couple of basic rules of thumb here . One , you've already read .The fact that independent grounding is a MUST .The second rule of thumb is the shorter the ground wire , the better .
I could spend forever exaplaining why shorter is better but will not waste your time there . Just know and believe it is correct info . But the basics are that the shorter the ground wire , the less opportunity there is for ingress . Meaning extraneous signal hoping on the wave length that electricity is on and riding into your system and into your audio output . I could go into pretty deep detail about wave lengths and frequency ranges and the who's what's where's and why's but will spare you .
Never the less , allow me to move on to the basic and easy steps to prevent and or cure all the unwanted racket . Even if you seemingly have zero problems just plugged direct into household current , I am all to positive that if you follow a few basic rules and efforts here , you can't help but notice and increase in your audio quality and or recording quailiy for audio and or video .
On the cure/preventitive .............
Truth be told , if you don't already have this in place , you should by all means .
You need to start by driving a solid copper ground rod no less than 4 feet long ( 6 feet is best ) into the ground just outside the room where all your equipment lives . Leave about 12 inches sticking out of the grounf for attachment purposes .This wire needs to be unjacketed .
Next ...
On each and every piece of equipment you have , you need to find a rock solid chassis screw ( some equipment manufacturers provide one and you've just wonder why until now ) . Now you know why . You need to attach a ' ground tail ' ( a piece of 10 (or 12) gauge wire ) to the equipment .
The ground rod you just drove into the ground , just outside the room where your equipment is, needs an 8 gauge solid copper wire solidly attached with a ground wire clamp and brought into your music room . Through the wall is best .
Now you need a quality multi-ground block .This is a block that would remind you almot of a fuse block but without fuses .
The wire from outside needs to be securely attached to the ground block . Each pieceofequipemtn needs it'swon 'ground tail . I suggest that you run a short ' ground tail ' out of or off of your equipment only long enough to be able to butt plug an extension to it .
Your multi-ground block needs to have a ' ground tail 'on it for EACH piece of equipment you intend on grounding .I reccommend getting a mulit-block that will take a minimum of 8 ' ground tails ' . You'd be surpised how quick you use them up .
The ends of the ' ground tails ' on each piece of equipment and each ' ground tail ' on the block needs to have some kind of strong butt plug so you can plug and unplug your equipment as needed .
This system MUST be independent from all other household appliances and the likes . Don't be using the ground rod outside for ANYTHING else such as home security systems , invisble dog fences ,etc. etc. etc.
INDEPENDENT 100% is key for quality audio/video/amps/etc .
I know this sounds like alot of efforts and will you'll actually spend more than you might think getting this set up . But the benifits are immensely amazing and wonderful in the end .
I would almost bet that noone you know has done this . The real truth is that it is a must for true quality output of A/V . And for all that dough you dished out expecting quality from your equipment , you deserve this result .
Even if you are not having a problem with line noise , if this doen't help , I'll come to your place no matter where you live and eat it . No salt and pepper please .I'm watching my blood pressure . lol
But please know this .This is NOT a fix for faulty equipment ..........
On a side note................
Always unplug your equipment when not in use .You do not have to unplug the grounding system . Only what's plugged into the wall outlets needs to be unplugged . With the equipement unplugged from the wall , the loop is open and there is little to no fear of electrical mishap while your back is turned while at work .
I can't count the times I've seen equipment fried from step voltage from a storm . You do not need a direct hit from lightning to fry you . Step voltage is the number one cause of electronics damage . I't likely been a problem for you at one time or another and you didn't even realize it . All you knew was that something quit working .
p.s Microwave ovens KILL . Microwave ovens are the worst thing within the household that farts back into an electrical system unwanted poor qulaity electricity . The RF frequency alone from microwave ovens makes electronics freak out .That's why the warnings for those with pacemakers . lol
Anyway . I think I covered my thoughts on this and hope it helps someone out a bit . But I cannot personally be serious enough how conviced I am that anyone that does not have this independent ground system in play already has missed a huge and key MUST have .
RAGZDADDY
These thoughts were brought to the surface by another UUer on another thread inquiring about buzz problems . Hope it helps .
First and foremost , this thread is not intended to provoke debate , conflict and or arguement . Just good sound GROUND RULES and advice .
For instance , " ARE YOU GROUNDED " ?
Broadcast engineers will tell you faster than anyone that the quality of your ground system directly affects the quality of your sound system .
To wit :
Many complex buzzes , hums , whistles , etc. etc. etc in your amps , speakers , mics , recording and all other equipment can be prevented and even cured with a few basic rules of thumb .
Starting first with the single biggest DON'T in the whole matter .
DON'T have any great expectations out of your sound quality if you are not properly grounded .
Some may ask , " how do I know if I improperly grounded or not " ? The answer to that is quite simple . . . If you took any electronic equipment for you home jamming and or A/V recording system home and simply plugged into a standard wall socket , you can rest assured you are NOT properly grounded by any stretch of the imagination.
You equipment desperately needs to be on it's own independent ground system . This is especially true if you are living in an older home with aluminum wiring and double especailly true if you are living in a motorhome or mobile home .
Radio operators such as HAMM radio guys have a saying that you " hear on your ground " . In other words ,the quality of the ground is everything for what the ear hears in electronic audio efforts .
There are a couple of basic rules of thumb here . One , you've already read .The fact that independent grounding is a MUST .The second rule of thumb is the shorter the ground wire , the better .
I could spend forever exaplaining why shorter is better but will not waste your time there . Just know and believe it is correct info . But the basics are that the shorter the ground wire , the less opportunity there is for ingress . Meaning extraneous signal hoping on the wave length that electricity is on and riding into your system and into your audio output . I could go into pretty deep detail about wave lengths and frequency ranges and the who's what's where's and why's but will spare you .
Never the less , allow me to move on to the basic and easy steps to prevent and or cure all the unwanted racket . Even if you seemingly have zero problems just plugged direct into household current , I am all to positive that if you follow a few basic rules and efforts here , you can't help but notice and increase in your audio quality and or recording quailiy for audio and or video .
On the cure/preventitive .............
Truth be told , if you don't already have this in place , you should by all means .
You need to start by driving a solid copper ground rod no less than 4 feet long ( 6 feet is best ) into the ground just outside the room where all your equipment lives . Leave about 12 inches sticking out of the grounf for attachment purposes .This wire needs to be unjacketed .
Next ...
On each and every piece of equipment you have , you need to find a rock solid chassis screw ( some equipment manufacturers provide one and you've just wonder why until now ) . Now you know why . You need to attach a ' ground tail ' ( a piece of 10 (or 12) gauge wire ) to the equipment .
The ground rod you just drove into the ground , just outside the room where your equipment is, needs an 8 gauge solid copper wire solidly attached with a ground wire clamp and brought into your music room . Through the wall is best .
Now you need a quality multi-ground block .This is a block that would remind you almot of a fuse block but without fuses .
The wire from outside needs to be securely attached to the ground block . Each pieceofequipemtn needs it'swon 'ground tail . I suggest that you run a short ' ground tail ' out of or off of your equipment only long enough to be able to butt plug an extension to it .
Your multi-ground block needs to have a ' ground tail 'on it for EACH piece of equipment you intend on grounding .I reccommend getting a mulit-block that will take a minimum of 8 ' ground tails ' . You'd be surpised how quick you use them up .
The ends of the ' ground tails ' on each piece of equipment and each ' ground tail ' on the block needs to have some kind of strong butt plug so you can plug and unplug your equipment as needed .
This system MUST be independent from all other household appliances and the likes . Don't be using the ground rod outside for ANYTHING else such as home security systems , invisble dog fences ,etc. etc. etc.
INDEPENDENT 100% is key for quality audio/video/amps/etc .
I know this sounds like alot of efforts and will you'll actually spend more than you might think getting this set up . But the benifits are immensely amazing and wonderful in the end .
I would almost bet that noone you know has done this . The real truth is that it is a must for true quality output of A/V . And for all that dough you dished out expecting quality from your equipment , you deserve this result .
Even if you are not having a problem with line noise , if this doen't help , I'll come to your place no matter where you live and eat it . No salt and pepper please .I'm watching my blood pressure . lol
But please know this .This is NOT a fix for faulty equipment ..........
On a side note................
Always unplug your equipment when not in use .You do not have to unplug the grounding system . Only what's plugged into the wall outlets needs to be unplugged . With the equipement unplugged from the wall , the loop is open and there is little to no fear of electrical mishap while your back is turned while at work .
I can't count the times I've seen equipment fried from step voltage from a storm . You do not need a direct hit from lightning to fry you . Step voltage is the number one cause of electronics damage . I't likely been a problem for you at one time or another and you didn't even realize it . All you knew was that something quit working .
p.s Microwave ovens KILL . Microwave ovens are the worst thing within the household that farts back into an electrical system unwanted poor qulaity electricity . The RF frequency alone from microwave ovens makes electronics freak out .That's why the warnings for those with pacemakers . lol
Anyway . I think I covered my thoughts on this and hope it helps someone out a bit . But I cannot personally be serious enough how conviced I am that anyone that does not have this independent ground system in play already has missed a huge and key MUST have .
RAGZDADDY
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