Low hum from audio out

Hey guys, I've got my old iMac hooked up in the living room to be a network iTunes jukebox, and it works fine, but there's this ever present hum whenever the thing is plugged in. It sounds as if it's not grounded or something.
Is that possible?

I don't have a solution for the hum itself. However, if it is "noise" on your iMac's output headphone connector, you might be able to bypass it by using USB for output. Griffin Technology makes a device called the iMic. It has audio input and output, and goes through the USB port.
http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imic/
I don't have that product, but I have a discontinued Griffin audio product called the PowerWave (also uses USB), and it works quite well.

Similar Messages

Pop Noise from Audio Out While Using iTunes 9.0.1

I have a black MacBook with Leopard 10.5.8 and iTunes 9.0.1. I have a a pair of computer speakers plugged to the MacBook's audio out minijack. Every time I run iTunes to play my music everything goes fine until I stop the music (you know with the space bar or the stop button). 30 seconds after I stop the music a loud pop noise comes up and stops, as if some electrical device was receiving a charge of electricity. When I play music back again on iTunes, the same noise comes up again with the music and goes away immediately while the music continues all right.
This is what I have done so far:
Change my energy saving parameter to several different configurations (perhaps the hard drive stopping when unused was the cause) but none fix it.
Turned off Airport...did not fix it
I timed the pop noise and it happens exactly 30 seconds after I stop my music on iTunes and then again 30 seconds after music has been stopped unless I start playing the music back again and the pop noise sounds again.
Any help would be appreciated as I use my MacBook to play music sequences for my band (I am the drummer) so the darn noises come through our PA system (and I also tried my small computer speakers and it does the same thing).
Thanks,

I spent a good amount of time reading several discussions. Apple is aware of this issue but no solution as of yet. The popping noise is "normal" behavior and happens because of how the sound system is programmed in the computer.
The solution (sorry for the bad news) is to not use the audio out minijack at all. Instead, get an audio interface that connects to your USB port and then route the output signal from your audio interface to your speakers, headphones or PA system. The popping noise will not sound. I tested it several times.
If the only cable you have is a minijack male type then go to Radio Shack and get adapters. I had to get me an adapter that takes two RCA males and converts them to a female minijack type.
Good luck.

Low hum from my imac

Hello, my new Imac does a humming sound - it's kind of like the humming sound of a refrigerator, only much lower in volume. Still, it makes the desk vibrate a little.
Is this normal in an Imac? A low humming, vibration?

Since you have a 'new' iMac, you may have to contact AppleCare or Apple
Sales support, etc. to see what your options are. If there is no disc in the
optical drive, there is no reason for anything to hum other than maybe fans
and or the internal hard disk drive. There aren't many moving parts...
{For hardware inquiries, see Apple Discussions> Intel-Based iMac:
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=189 }
You probably should call Applecare support or if the machine is really new
within say, under 10 days, contact the reseller you bought it from directly
to see what they can do about getting you an exchange unit instead.
Also, consider the purchase and enrollment of the extended optional
AppleCare plan, which adds to the initial coverage your Mac has now.
Good luck & happy computing!

Interference/background noise from audio-out port

I've connected my audio-out using a Monster cable from the headphone jack into the audio ports of a flat-screen TV. There's some kind of interference or background static noise. It almost seems to correspond to activity on the computer: if I'm loading a web page or the hard drive spins, the frequency of the static increases. It's rather annoying since I've connected it to watch Netflix and DVDs on the TV.
Any thoughts on what causes it or if there's anything I can do to stop it?
Thanks!

This sounds very much like the problem people have when using separate displays and audio amplifiers. I would try the Radio Shack audio isolator transformer. If that works, this setup also has the ground loop problem discussed in other threads.
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062214

Removing Florescent Light Noise "Hum" from Audio Tracks using FCEHD

I have some clips taken under florescent lighting where the hum was discernable even during the sound check. (I was using external Electro Voice hypercardiod XLR mikes plugged into my Sony DCRVX2100, powered through a surge protector, monitoring the audio with Bose QC2 headphones). Using the same camera, cables, and mikes under incandescent lighting that day was fine - no hum.
Attempting to filter out the hum using the FCE Hum filter wasn't dramatically effective, even with repeated tests establishing that using a frequency of 60 hz, a Q of 40, a gain of -48, and the 1st and 3rd harmonics provided the most benefit.
Additionally I tried again with the FCE 31 band EQ filter, anticipating that the 50 hz and 60 hz filters would provide very specific improvements. Also tried were the LowPass Filter and the 3 band EQ.
I'd like to clean up the otherwise fine audio - any suggestions? I am considering buying a filtered power conditioner as I know that some of the problem can be "dirty" electricity resulting from the ballast of the florescent lighting.
Also, I noted that the numeric values shown for the gain using the FCE 31 band EQ filter oftentimes lagged behind the setting of the slider: returning the slider to the middle "0" position frequently didn't change the previous value of the gain shown. Is this another indication that I should just upgrade from my PowerBook G4 with 2 Gig of RAM?
Thanks!
James Mackay

Hello Jim,
And welcome to the Final Cut Express forum.
You are correct that the ballast generates the hum. Power conditioning is probably not going to reduce or eliminate it, because the old ballasts are magnetic. The only way I found to eliminate fluorescent noise at the source is to replace the ballast with an electronic one or replace the entire fixture with a T8 unit (they use electronic ballasts).
Removing that hum probably can't be done in FCE. Sound Soap can probably do it however, with it's ability to +learn noise+ and then remove that specific audio. The regular Sound Soap works as a plugin for Final Cut, which enables you to apply it within FCE.
At present there is also an 'SE' version available at 50% off however it only works in standalone mode, which means you would have to export the audio track from FCE, clean it and then re-import back into FCE.

How to remove hum from audio?

I know about these options:
Audio Enhancements - Equalization - Hum Reduction.
Audio Enhancements - Audio Analysis - Hum Reduction.
I may not be using these options right, but they can't help me.
I know also that I can use the Graphic Equalizer, but I do not know which graph to adjust to remove the hum. Is there a role of thumb? Any YouTube tutorials anyone know? Plugins?

The hum is my freezer in the background But it is not loud. I just don't like that I can tell that one voice clip ends and one starts because of the background. I have key frames fading start and end of each voice clip, which helps, but isn't there anything else I can do?
To avoid that, you always record a few minutes of your room's ambient noise (or outside if you are outside). Get a lot of that sound with nobody talking or making noise. You then use that in-between your cut dialogue clips so they flow smoothly.
You probably have a second or two in one of the clips where nobody is talking and you can grab that bit and copy/paste it in-between your clips.
Also, FCP X has some room tones built in, in the music media folders. Just search "room tone" and you'll find several. You can pick one of those that sounds the most like the one you've recorded and fade in/out the beginning/end of those clips.
If all else fails, you can put some royalty free music underneath and put a room sound FX on it to make it sound like it's a radio or TV in the room, in the background. This can hide audio issues well.

Removing hum from audio

Lost the audio tracks from the mixer, so
all I have is the audio from the RED camera. There is a constant hum.
I tried the DeHummer tool at different settings, no luck.
All I have is Premiere CS5, no other tools like Audition. Is there a way to remove the hum
since it is constant? The audio files are *.mov for some reason, so Audacity didn't help either. Of all the scenes that could get screwed up, its the one with my five year old in it! UGH!!!!!
Thanks for your time,
Stuart

Stuart,
Much will depend on the frequency range of the hum and on the frequency range of the Audio that you wish to preserve. This ARTICLE will give you some tips.
While I use Audition, SoundBooth (do you have that program, as it's included in most Adobe suites?) should be able to help, as can the great, little free Audacity.
Good luck,
Hunt

Ultrabase for x201 / x200 audio out noise - lenovo dont want to fix - please check yours

Hi,
I own x201 with ultrabase for a year. From the beginning I tried get Lenovo to fix audio output on ultrabase. When connected on AC the sound from audio out is full of noise (even when music is muted), what makes it unusable. When the AC is unplugged, the noise is smaller, but still there. So I need to use audio out from the x201 even when docked.
As I had many other problems with x201 I have been in service 3times already. Anyway, regarding this issue they final verdict is that ultrabase is not a HI-FI and it works as planned. Maybe is not a issue if you plug just small PC speakers, but anything else (including headphones) its useless.
Whats the point of audio out in docking station which is useless?
Can somebody from Lenovo confirm that its normal that ultrabase audio output is noisy ?
Can other owners check if they ultrabase output is noisy with some headphones/hi-fi ?
Thanks in advance
Tomas

do you use a grounded power plug? audio noise usually means that the ultrabase has a bad connection to the laptop's dock connector. Or that the ultrabase audio connector/lines are receiving electrical noises from other surrounding devices.
With my Ultrabase X200 the noise will go away when all the usb ports on the ultrabase is unplugged.
Regards,
Jin Li
May this year, be the year of 'DO'!
I am a volunteer, and not a paid staff of Lenovo or Microsoft

MBP audio out from headphone jack is extremely low in volume

i just sent my macbook pro 13in (mid 2009 model) to the apple store (out of warranty). my problem was that the audio out from the headphone jack was very very low and staticky. the problem arose about 2-3wks ago. i've owned the laptop since june 2009. i've never dropped or damaged it (no water damage, etc)
my local apple store told me they had to replace logic board which seems extreme for what my problem is. i've read numerous forum posts saying that their computers came back with flickering "kernel panic"
has anyone else had a similar audio problem with their computer, and if so was it resolved in this manner?
thanks!

I think you may be mistaken. the static coming from macbooks audio output port is as old a story as the macbook itself. IMO, epic fail on apple's part. I am debating complaining in a few months when I decide I deserve a better sound quality from a ridiculously overpriced laptop.

Audio out from HDMI port?

I have connected my TV and Booklet via a standard HDMI cable. This same HDMI cable works fine with my DVD player. When I use it with my booklet, only video seems to be sent to the TV via the HDMI cable. Is the HDMI out port supporting only video, or audio as well? I understand the booklet supports HDMI 1.2, which should support an audio profile, as far as I know.
Let me know if you have been able to get audio to work over HDMI.
thanks,
John

I found your discussion attempting to find the answer to the same question.
I won 5 of these things at auction and wanted HDMI to be a selling point
I researched far and wide and now I think I have the answer now.
I had to reload the OS and all the drivers for all 5 units
I read some of the replies to this topic and with some people saying that they had audio and I didn't, I felt that either I was crazy or someone is not truthful. so i had a thought ,
after about the 3rd unit I tried to just try to hook it up to a TV bare without Nokia updated software
What do you know, it worked.
So I have come to the conclusion based upon using both units after testing them with and without the update, is with the stock driver provided, you will get the audio from the HDMI port; if you update the software from the updater(which I noticed it says the driver is MANDATORY)
You will not.
There is a plus and minus on both occassions
With the graphics driver update you can scale your video once hook to an HDTV to full 1080p HD; but you wont get any audio (at least for now)
Without the update you will get the audio out , however you will only get the same native resolution as the netbook 720p
So contemplate which feature is more important you and make your choice.
Higher picture quality(full HD) with the driver yet I need 2 cable (HDMI AND 2.5 to RCA)
OR lower resolution720p but audio as well
I hope this helps but i see my next challenge for both you and is to see if we can roll back the driver if we want audio over HDMI.

Audio out - without a hum.

When I connect a audio cable to a stereo receiver, I get a pretty loud humming noise. I had the ame problem with my G4. Now, with this new MacPro, I see that I have options for audio out. Digital/optical and audio line out. Does anyone have a suggestion for the best way to go - to connect to my home stereo system - and not get the humming noise?
Thanks.
nÔÔdle--hëad

This is a common complaint, I think. My MP I don't know about (just shipped today), but with my G4 MDD the line-out is a bit noisy, particularly with Nap mode enabled (as it usually is, keeps those fans down a bit and really helps the temperatures)- that always causes distortion on my setup. I've found my Griffin iMic to give somewhat better results, nice clean sound all the time. Digital-out I imagine would be even better, but I don't know how well isolated it is from other system noise (like the iMic is on USB).

MSI Z97 Gaming 7.. No Audio out of SPDIF / USB Audio low / SB Cinema Crashes

I use a TOS for my speakers and I'm not getting any audio out. I have S/PDIF selected as default under Audio in control panel. Not sure if the "SB Cinema" works on the digital side, but it crashes all the time when I open it. My USB Logitech 930 is up all the way. The audio is very low. Running Win8.1 and BIOS 1.10.. I'm about to update to 1.50

Sorry can't help you much with the audio issue, although something doesn't sound right (no pun intended). SB should be working. I have the same board as you with a 4790k and my SB works great, but I don't have it running at startup.
Just be careful with the BIOS update to v1.5. You'll be rolling the dice to try it. I'm still reeling from frustration with my Gaming 7 board and BIOS updates. I borked BIOS A with a bad flash from "M Flash" and now am running on the backup BIOS B. I did manage though to get BIOS B updated to v1.5 though just tonight. But A is still down for the count.
At least my system is running great on BIOS B. Thank God for these dual BIOS'es.

Why doesn't the Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock relay sound from it's audio out port?

Posted to Belkin Support community to no avail
=====================
Why can't my Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock operate my desktop speakers?
Options
07-14-2014 01:48 PM
Bought a Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock at the Apple Store to use with my new MacBook Pro.
When I connected it to my
-20" Mac Cinema display,
-Various USB connected hubs and devices,
-Various Firewire hubs and devices
-My ethernet network from my Cable Modem
Then made the last connection from the Dock to the Thunderbolt port on the MacBook Pro...
All was fine.
But when I made that one last connection - to my desktop speakers via the audio-out port on the dock (earphones icon) nothing happened. The dock did not pick up the audio from the laptop playng an iTunes song or send it to the desktop speakers. When I unplugged the audio cable from the Dock and plugged it in to the MacBook Pro directly, the desktop speakers kicked right in again.
Does Thunderbolt pick up audio-out from a MacBook Pro and carry it to the Dock for connection to my desktop speakers?
Of for some reason, can that signal not be carried by Thunderbolt?
Will I have to get used to the onerous task of unplugging 2 cables from my MacBook Pro when I want to more it to another location in stead of just 1 cable?
But stay with me. Here's the thing.
When this happened I called Belkin Customer Support to ask if they could help me. After taking me through their steps, they agreed that the unit must be defective and agreed to ship me a replacement Thunderbolt Express Dock.
The replacement arrived over the weekend and when I shut down my system and then plugged everything from Dock I purchased into the replacement Thunderbird Express Dock - - - - - the same thing happened!
No signal to the speakers from the dock. Perfect signal when the plug moved from the Dock to the computer itself.
Hence my question:
Does Thunderbolt pick up audio-out from a MacBook Pro and carry it to the Dock for connection to my desktop speakers?
Can it accomplish that function?
Am I really that unlucky to have received 2 defective new Belkin Thunderbolt Express Docks in a row?
Or is it simply a matter of the Dock not handling audio throughput in the manner I am expecting.
Then again, if this is the case, why did the Belkin techies not know this when I called them in the first place.
Yes, I'm going on and on here. But I really don't have time for this.
What's going on here?

OK. No reason to be playing games here. Just surprised that this issue hasn't been brought up here on the community boards as well. Here's the simple solution
Steve
========================================
Re: Why can't my Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock operate my desktop speakers?
Options
07-17-2014 07:09 PM
After reaching a Level III technician in Belkin customer support today and having spent approximately 4-5 person hours on this issue, we figured out that the Sound/Output preferences in the Apple System Preferences should not be set to "Internal Speakers" but rather set to "USB PnP Sound Device".
Worked like a charm. Simple, elegant solution to a real problem, one likely to be encountered by 90% of the people who buy a Belkin Thunderbid Express Dock off the shelves of any Apple Store to use with a current generation Apple laptop or desktop computer.
But the Level III Belkin technician admmtted that this critical little piece of simple, straightforward information should have been readily available to their Level 1 techies who began helping me 5 person hours ago. Would even have saved Balkin loads of customer service support time.
And so the saga ends
Belkin owes me for helping them learn this precious lesson.
Steve

What kind of audio interface do I need for audio out from MainStage 3?

I have a Yamaha MO8 that I use for playing in the worship band at my church. In the past, I've just directly routed audio from the MO8 through a direct box and into the sound system.
I'm looking to switch my setup and use the Yamaha MO8 as a midi controller in MainStage 3. I have this part working — the problem is getting the audio from my MacBook Pro.
The audio output sounds fine through the MacBook Pro speakers or through headphones plugged into the audio out / headphone jack; however, if I plug the direct box into the MacBook Pro's audio out / headphone jack, the signal the sound system gets is very pretty weak and very distorted.
I'm assuming I need an audio interface between my MacBook Pro and the direct box / sound system. Since it's a 2010 MacBook Pro, I'm assuming my only output option is USB (unless the digital audio out can be used). If that's correct, would something like the Scarlet 2i2 work for me?
Thanks…

Yes, you'll need some sort of audio interface to get a good signal back to your mixer.
The Scarlet 2i2 would work for you but you may find a few limitations. I use a MOTU Audio Express and it has the advantage of being a mixer as well, so I can mix in a backup signal from the onboard audio outs of my controller (Kurzweil PC3x) in case MainStage goes down (it happens on rare occasion). Firewire is my preference so the MOTU checks that box. I also like that I can connect my MIDI cables to the MOTU and have one cable going into the computer.
If you need this sort of compact redundancy, I would shoot a little higher than the Scarlet. If you don't feel the need for a backup line and USB works for you, then the Scarlet unit would be an excellent value.

I need to have audio out from HDMI and headphone jack simultaneously

I need to have audio out from HDMI and headphone jack simultaneously.
I seem to be able to select one or the other, but not both ? !
Thanks

No. You can only use one sound output:
Why can't I select HDMI audio on my Mac mini?
If you connect an HDMI display or television to a Mac mini (Mid 2010 or later), you might not be able to select the HDMI audio device (in System Preferences > Sound > Output). This can happen if you also have headphones plugged in to the computer. Unplug the headphones to be able to select HDMI audio.
Mac computers: Frequently asked questions about using HDMI

Low hum from audio out

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