Re: [ARSCLIST] Effect of vibrations on audio tape

[Tom Fine <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi David:

Fine Recording would get RF interference on the cutters sometime because midtown Manhattan is, well, 
midtown Manhattan. The Empire State Building was the source, most likely. One of the engineers told 
me that he would take a strip of foil, ground it to building ground and wrap it loosely around the 
lines to the cutter head. He would then "tune" it for most RF rejection by moving it up and down the 
wires.

For a cartridge, making sure the pair going down the tonearm is twisted and/or shielded can work 
wonders. I'm in a radio dead zone up here so it's never a problem. The only time I get reminded of 
RF is if I get my cellphone too close to a tape head or turntable.

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Seubert" <seubert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, October 27, 2006 5:45 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Effect of vibrations on audio tape


> Speaking of interference, our campus is about a mile from the Santa Barbara airport. We get 
> interference from the airport radar (we think). It's cyclical and we've ruled out just about 
> everything else (elevators, fluorescent lights). It's only picked up by things that are 
> microphonic like phono cartridges and doesn't affect the shielded balanced lines. If you listen 
> very, very carefully to our cylinders you might be able to hear it.
>
> Jim Wheeler once suggested that we line the studio with that copper sheeting with holes in it like 
> the door of a microwave oven. We never did this, but I'm open to suggestions.
>
> David Seubert
> UCSB
>
> We also get interference from
>
> Peter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> > One other issue that you might need to look into is the cables in your
> > studio.  I know of at least one facility that ended up with serious problems
> > because of the interference caused by rail switching equipment and
> > insufficient shielding on their cables.  Unfortunately, you won't know if
> > this is a problem until the rail line goes into operation.