EMERGENCY! Need help by 11 am Sat!

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K

Kevin Kelly

New DJ
Aug 31, 2006
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I apologize that this is getting posted in numerous dj boards but I am desperate for help!

I am sitting in a motel room right now after my wedding tonight because I'm out of town (a bit...not a lot) and I have a wedding tomorrow even further south of where I am now (tacoma for all you seattle djs) and it was cheaper for me to get a room then drive all night and turn around and drive all morning. My reception tomorrow is at 2 pm!!!!

What happened tonight with my system actually sort of happened a few days ago at home although I didn't know it. Don't worry, it wasn't the Mackie speakers. At least I don't THINK it was the speakers.

A few days ago while at home I had part of my system set up with one speaker because I was playing around with the latest Cortex update. When I was done I threw one of my favorite cds in my cd player and cranked it and went about what I was doing. At one point a very loud sound that I can only describe as fm static came forth from the speaker. I about crapped my pants but it only lasted a milisecond and was gone before I could really understand what it was. I thought that maybe a cd froze up for a second like when you have it in pause at a cue point and it makes a funny sound...or I thought I was walking across my sensitive floor too hard and made it skip. At any rate, I didn't really think much about it. The only thing I had on was my mixer, cd player, and powered speaker. No cordless mic or corded mic was hooked up. I've heard a similar sound when using a cheaper cordless mic and interference sounds like fm static but this sound was much more intense.

Well...guess what happened tonight. During background and while I was getting everyone ready for the toast, this sound came back. My god, it was horrible! I mean absolutely deafening. It was the loudest, white noise I have ever heard in my life and when I heard it, I instantly remembered it was the same noise I heard in my house a few days ago but this time it went on. I can't believe it didn't blow out my speakers. (it came through both speakers btw) I had my cordless mic hooked up along with a corded mic but they were both turned down and neither were on at the time. The noise did not go away until I turned the master volume down. It remained when I turned the channel down that was being used. When this happened, I had my Cortex running so I thought it might have been that for some reason. (or a bad rca cord, etc) I started a cd - turned cortex off - and sometime later it happened again. Not as long but it happened. I was just turning off a cordless mic that time but I don't think there is any connection because of when it happened earlier and when it happened at home and there was no mic hooked up.

Of course after the gig, I tried to trouble shoot and moved every wire and played with every connection I had but to no avail, I could not make it happen again. Now I'm faced with another reception tomorrow at 2pm and if I don't figure out what it is, I'm going to be stressed out...again! Cripes, I cannot take this!

Does anyone have any ideas what this might be? It's interesting that it will only go away when I turn down the master volume. It is also interesting that it has never happened with my speakers before but since I got Mackies it happened. I really don't think it's the speakers because I 'm guessing it would've happened before and not 2 weeks after I've had them.

BTW...the Mackies worked great (besides whatever problem this is) as opposed to my problem 2 weeks ago. Anyway, I'm besides myself on what to do....
 
Greets, Kevin.

Oh sure. Now you feel the love, LOL. :D

I just had to bust your balls, you know? ;)

I will be the first to admit that I do not know what Cortex is nor what it does. Nor do I honestly care. So I cannot offer advice on that aspect of your system.

That said, from reading your comments I get the impression that you may have a mixer or processing issue. Try bypassing the mixer and processing and see if the noise is still there. If worst comes to worse, pick up a cheap mixer at the local Radio Shaft and work the show with it.

I continue to be wary of those 450s. I still think you'd be better served with a passive FOH system. Buy it once and work with it until you retire. :)

By the way, FM radio produces no static. This was discovered in the early '30s. The white noise you hear on older FM receivers is generated by the AGC circuitry when no RF signal is present.

Hope it helps. Good luck.
 
Simplify

You have to simplify. You have too many variables heaped upon one another. Trying to diagnose it if it will be difficult because of its intermittant nature. Try to localize the problem by cutting the signal chain in half. If the problem comes back and you aren't using the Mackies, you're a little bit closer.

At this late stage the only thing I can suggest is obvious. Don't leave any mixer controls open if they aren't being used at the moment. That should minimize the potential for the noise but it is obviously not a solution. It might have saved you in the instance you mention, getting ready for the toast.

When you get home divide and conquer. Play the snot out of them until you can replicate the problem. You'll never have an easy gig until you do.

I wish you luck.
 
Thanks guys...after speaking with another fellow dj, I really think it is a mixer issue. I don't think it is the speakers. (sorry mackie haters...lol) It is a signal issue so I'll be picking up a mixer at Guitar Center along the way. Anything to get me through and then if it happens again, at least that eliminates one more issue. I'll keep you posted.
 
i've been hearing bad things about the current run about the mackies. However I still am a die hard mackie user. I rather recommend them than other brands of powered speakers. (Including Eons)

As JTV would say, do proper research and you'll discover the pro's and con's of any product!
 
Dawg I agree with fred mixing or processing. I would lean toward the mixer though since you say the master is the only thing that will turn it down
 
Kinda late for me to be chiming in here, but if it comes out of BOTH speakers, I really doubt that it is a speaker problem. The chance of BOTH going bad at the same time are slim at best.

I also don't know what a Cortex is, but buy a mixer today, well I bet you have already since I'm on Maui time,,, it's 7:58 am here so on the West Coast it would be 11am...

Just simplfie your sound chain, if you can, cd player, mixer, speaker....

Let us know what happens....
 
I also think it is the mixer sounds like you blew a channel. I would replace all the cords as well although my advice for you is a bit late. I hope the reception went well for you.
 
oh well there ys go!!

the noise is from the DJ Gods telling you not to use iPods of any kind! ;)
 
Chuck The DJ said:
oh well there ys go!!

the noise is from the DJ Gods telling you not to use iPods of any kind! ;)
Click to expand...
Aw thanks a lot, Chuck. I'm laughing so hard that I can barely type. There's beer splattered on my monitor... and it's all your fault. ;)
 
Vinyl Spinner handles the Gonja supplies in these parts Chuck. None of that Maui Wowie or Pacalolo in these parts.
I say Punt!!!!!I Say!!!!
Just to set a few of the old and new Dogz inline ( not necessarily balanced) sorry Dawg not including you!
The Cortex wont stop the bleeding in this issue. Its a Hard drive/controller unit for the computer DJ. Sponsored by Gemini and Chicago's own DICK Clark is a backer of this item.
 
Wow...

Seeing Gemini DJ and Dick Clark mentioned in the same sentence. That's heavy stuff.
 
Hey guys! Thanks for helping me out...Here's an update and sorry I'm not explaining it very well, I'm tired! LOL

I picked up a new mixer at GC and drove to my gig and got there over 2 hrs early. It was an afternoon gig so I had no lights to setup and plenty of time to play. This is what I discovered.

When I turned on the Cortex and had the cordless mic up just a bit and then brought up my master plus the channel that cd that was playing, that was when I had the god awful noise. My process of elimination I figured this out. I swapped cords, I tried them seperately, I did everything and what I noticed was when I had the pot on my cordless mic all the way down, and then turned on the Cortex, I could see from the lights of the cordless mic receiver that there major problems. The RF light would go on (yet the mic itself was turned off) and the peak light would go red too. After a second it would go away but as soon as I brought up master level, the sound would come up and the cordless mic receivers lights would go crazy. This is an audio technica mic that I've been renting (not dual diversity) btw. I had the mic and the cortex plugged into the same power strip. I then tried plugging the mic into the same outlet but by itself without a power strip or multi plug. Problem continued. I then walked across the room for craps and giggles and plugged it into an outlet far away and from what I could tell from the lights, it was ok. (too far to run a 1/4" audio cord to hear it but if the lights were any indication it wasn't an issue)

I turned off the Cortex completely and unplugged everything and I didn't have one problem during the gig. Needless to say, it wasn't my mixer!!!!! LOL!

I don't know what's happening but there is obviously some interference between the power the Cortex draws and the mic. At last nights gig, when it happened the first time, I swore I turned off the Cortex but maybe I didn't. I remember having the cordless mic turned down but the receiver was still on. It's hard to remember everything you did when you're panicking and just trying to get rid of something bad that's happening.

So maybe this is a bad Cortex? If the cordless mic was better quality do you think this would still happen? I've never had a problem with having my Numark cd player plugged into the same power strip that my previous cordless mic (with diversity) was also plugged into.

This still doesn't explain the sound I heard when I was at home last week. I had no cordless mic hooked up and if my memory serves me correctly, the sound was similar. Perhaps it WAS just me walking across the floor like an elephant and causing my cd player to misbehave.

At one point in the night I was playing "Hot, Hot, Hot" and I looked across the room to my far speaker because I thought I heard something strange. It was actually the bongo drums in the song that I never had heard before I had the Mackies! Ha!
 
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