Potential Room Noise while Recording Records

[dweinberg]

I'm looking for some best practices while recording records. My setup (turntable, ADC, MacBook Pro, etc.) is in my basement. A few months ago, I noticed some faint saxophone sounds on the recording and realized (with some help from Apple support) that the saxophone was me practicing the saxophone while ripping a record. The saxophone is loud and the stylus is sensitive so that the stylus picks up the loud ambient room noise. I have since stopped recording records while practicing the saxophone.

So that got me thinking- what about other household noises and are they captured on my recordings. While not as loud as the saxophone- I have a washer, dryer, and heater all in the same room (although isolated behind drywall). Are those sounds captured on my recordings? If so, is there a way to isolate those unwanted sounds, or should I move my gear to another room?

Thanks.

[Steve Crook]

Yes, I was surprised when I could hear the radio playing on the inter-track gaps. Now, I make sure there's nothing else going on in the room when I'm recording.

Basically, anything that causes vibrations that can be received by your turntable is going to affect the sound, even if you can't hear it directly. Airborne is easy to deal with, just cut down noise you can hear when you're stood next to the TT to an absolute bare minimum. If the TT has a lid, then almost close it leaving a gap of ~5cm, it'll  help block sound and the gap will help prevent the lid from resonating. This includes playing the record itself of course, keep the volume as low as possible if you're monitoring over speakers.

For straight mechanical vibration, the best thing is to mount your TT support on a wall, it removes the bulk of floor vibrations, particularly for those of us with suspended floors that can introduce low frequency vibrations as people move around elsewhere on the same floor. If wall mount isn't possible, put your TT close to a wall where the floor is rigid (helps if you know which way the floorboards run). Use isolating feet for the TT, and keep movement in the room to a minimum. If you're using a suspended chassis TT make sure the suspension is properly aligned and that it is not contacting the TT case.

Can't think of anything else.

[Jerrysnb]

You can also buy isolating feet, and even isolating tables, for precisely this purpose. They will only affect low-frequency vibrations, but I'll bet your washer and dryer make everything vibrate.