Slashdot Mirror
Quieting Your G5?
metajunkie wants to take a bite out of this issue: "I recently set up an at-home recording studio with a DP G5 and a ProTools mBox. Problem is, I can't record (like, say, a voice over) anywhere near the computer because when the cooling fans kick in, it comes in way too loud over the mic. I can't move the computer into another room, and while I'm tempted to throw a blanket over the thing, I don't think that'll help. Does anyone know a place that sells a silencer box for the G5 or some good DIY way to cut out the noise?"
Good luck. This is a really crappy way to do it, but...
You could set it up in an independantly vented sound-dampened box. Run two pieces of dryer hose out of the room and put some 50+ cfm fans on the ends. Build a case cover to seal the hoses onto - cardboard & blankets to go cheap, brown bread or something intended for the purpose is more expensive. You could try polyester batting, possibly.
Anyway, it's a crappy plan, reminiscent of even cheaper mods.
You need some kind of partition, box, etc. How much you are willing to spend is the big issue.
That what was all this school was for... to teach us how to solve our own problems. -- janeowit
That should help...
Stick it under the desk or in a cabinet.
Use a directional microphone.
I've had this sig for three days.
I've never cracked open a G5, but most of the standard tricks should apply. Replace all of the fans with the hydrobearing Panaflo L1A s, adding more if necessary. If possible, run them low at 7v or so... Pay special attention to fans under 80mm, as those tend to be the loudest. Line the case with the heavy, stinky lining used by car stereo installers. This will increase your case temps but will reduce the audio significantly more than a standard computer case liner. You may need to make an audio absorbative box (with it's own fan) around your HDD, or try replacing them with hydro-bearing drives from Maxtor or Seagate mounted with rubber.
For general purpose quieting tips, check out Silent PC Review. You'll see me on the boards there sometimes.
This Sig is a mnemonic device designed to allow you to recognize this author in the future.
Liquid Cooling
You don't need all that G5 power for recording. On my G4 laptop I can go into energy saver in system preferences and set the processor performance to 'Reduced'. That burns less power, creates less heat and the fans don't turn on. You may be able to do the same on your desktop.
Also, if you have a lot of junk software on the machine burning CPU cycles it's going to create more heat and more noise. Shut down power-hungry apps.
I just bought a G5 about a month ago, and I have to say it's one of the quietest boxes I've ever owned. The only time the fans were really loud was when I removed the case; they seem to be able to sense air flow, and adjust their speed accordingly. But when the case is closed and the inner plastic shielding is propertly in place, everything is hunky dory, i.e.: QUIET.
This is an odd question. I've never used ProTools, but I have had no problem at all with fan noise while recording voice overs in Final Cut Pro.
That being said, here are a few notes that should help you.
The G5's fans are very nicely fine-tuned to CPU usage and temperature. The more heavily you use your G5, the louder they are.
So you might be able to solve this problem by minimizing usage. Quit your email program, your web browser, and any other programs you have open. Many of them burn CPU cycles even when they appear to be doing nothing. Quit every program other than Protools.
I don't know much about ProTools itself - I use Final Cut Pro and After Effects - so this is just general advice. If you're playing tracks through your headphones that you don't need for the voiceover, turn them off. If ProTools has a draft playback mode to minimize CPU usage, turn it on.
If you don't already have it there, put your PowerMac G5 under your desk. It sure looks pretty on top of it, but it will make a lot less noise if it's even a little further from your microphone. In an extreme case, you might want to run long cables to it and store it in a more distant part of the room.
If you are running a lot of programs on your system, quit everything but ProTools while doing the voice over, and tell it to play a bare minimum of tracks through the headset.
Put your microphone on a stand and make sure it's close to your face. Get one of those absurd looking anti-poppers (someone at Guitar Center or similar stores can find one for you). Then make sure you're using the bare minimum recorrding volume needed to get a strong signal from your voice.
Put your PowerMac G5 in back of your microphone. Most microphones are pretty directional. If yours is not, get a shotgun mic designed to pick up mainly what's in front of it.
I've never had any trouble recording from Final Cut Pro's voice over tool, but it's possible that is less CPU intensive than Protools. If ProTools is the CPU hog, you might want to use your copy of Final Cut (Final Cut Express is just $299) to record the song and then transfer the audio track to Protools. Final Cut is not the be all and end all of audio, but you can certainly lay out other audio tracks and play them into your headphones.
Hope this helps.
D
"I can't move the computer into another room"
Is the reason for this simply that cables are too short? It may seem a little unprofessional but why not buy an extension cable for your monitor and keyboard so that you can move away from the computer?
The only real solution is to record in a separate room. Run the mic into the shower, you'll get some nice reverb effects. ;)
...
I know a musician who keeps his tower in the closet next to his desk, and all peripherals are connected via long cables. I also remember reading an article about some band in Sound on Sound magazine that has this kind of set up as well.
Powerbook G4/1.5GHz 12", Toshiba Satellite 1135-S1554
You should attempt to move the computer as far away from your recording area as possible to reduce noise. My room in South Carolina would serve nicely.
--riney
These babies run silent.
tcd004
They make sound deadening material (for audiophiles for stereos). You could put this around your G5 to quite it down quite a bit. You know, line the inside "walls" of your desk where the G5 is..
Mic cables are pretty cheap, so it shouldn't be too hard to record on the other side of the room or in an adjacent room
you might try lowering the power usage/performance setting in the control panels as well as quiting any applications that you are not using
failing that, if protools sucks up so much power, perhaps you should record with audacity and mix in protools?
I'm actually suprised that this is a problem for you
I routinely record 3 channels with my delta 1010lt while surfing the web and having a half dozen programs in the background and I've yet to have fan noice trouble
Rather than trying to quieten each individual component, this guy made a surrounding box which has a sound baffle so that everything is silenced.
He does seem to consider the importance of airflow as well, since what point is there in putting your shiny new G5 in a soundproof box if it cooks itself?
1: ideal siuation
If in any way possible AT ALL... i would either place your computing station , or your vocal area in a seperate room (a closet will do just fine), this is by far the best solution for a multitude of reasons... in all honesty you want a recording booth (large closet) with padding (bubble wrap works well, foam, etc...). If that isnt possible, you can do the inverse (a very small computing room with the main room being the recording environment.
2: A strong possibility ... or an extension to your monitor cable from behind the closet/divider to a monitor on the other side (in the main room)... wireless keyboards and mice are very helpfull for this.
Place the machine in a closet or place a large and strong divider in your main room... extend a KVM
3: Remote access ... or you can use open source VNC to remotly connect).
extend only the audio cables needed from the box behind a closet/divider... and use a seperete computer (a laptop is best) to remotly access your G5... since wireless will work with this connection... your laptop can roam wherever you want, and you can control your session as if connected localy. (apples RDP
4: if there is no other way
If you cannot in any way place the box into a closet or a seperete room, then you can build a computer box. I dont recomend this because it can be dangerous to your computer. Basicly create or buy a large box big enough to fit your G5 inside. Create TWO large holes in it (2 inch diameter). Before placing the computer inside, youll want to pad the walls of your new case with carpetting, foam, bubble wrap, cloth or some other sound absorbant material... once complete use one hole to route all your cables through minding the power cable not to be to close to any aound cables (with the mbox, the mbox should be OUTSIDE of the box, connected by the USB cable), once your cables are routed... seal the hole as best as you can with more cloth if possible. For the second hole you can leave it as is... however it's purpose as a ventilation is not well suited to the G5 and should truly be accompanied by a Fan (on the inside of the case) blowing out air through a tube.... which most people fit to go out of their window.
Many tweaks on this setup have been done depending on the needs of the environment... some people put a real AC inside their computer-box, others simply run their machines in the box, but when not recording, open the front of it. I personaly recomend getting the computer into a seperete room somehow. even if its just a small closet.
YMMV
--Idiots, Every single one of YOU, A flaming mass of conglomerated morons, hey wait a second, isnt that how RAID works?
Have you opened up your G5? It is (fairly) common for people to put their G5's together incorrectly. A slight mis-alignment of all the sound-related parts can cause the fans to run amok.
A lot of the other posters have provided simple and practical solutions to the problem, such as directional microphones and putting the pc in another room.
I just wanted to offer the rich eccentric solution. Buy noise cancellers. They exist. Pretty much what they do is listen to the ambient noise in a room, and then begin emitting a sound wave that almost perfectly cancels out the others in the room. Problem is if you start humming a single not for a duration it will cancel it out.
If all else fails.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
Check out the gCab . It's huge and expensive, but man, does it cut down the sound. I'm using one with an older Shuttle cube, and the noise level has gone from maddening to a mere whisper. The iMac next to it is a lot louder.
Nah - go all the way and turn it off!
This was sorta covered back in A Practical Approach to Shushing your PC, especially in the many replies.
These guys make sound deadening boxes for AV people.
Take an old towel, cut it into squares, and stick the squares to the inside of your mac's box with tape. Helps quite a bit!
Mine manifested itself to be much worse. Seems in shipping, the cooling tubes became loose. My system would go into full fan afte a few minutes and eventually the system wouldn't even boot. A simple trip to the local Apple store fixed the problem. Since then, the system is just as it should be, very quiet. I have heard the fans kick up only once since then.
In studios, the Macs are usually on the other side of a glass partition, i.e. in the mixing room with the engineers and producers. But you don't necessarily have this luxury, unless you have someone else to hit 'record' for you.
I have a similar setup, only I'm using a PowerBook; however, my roommate's PC is the loudest thing in the world, and we had to figure this problem out, since we both record in the living room.
So here's a few tips:
1) Don't even bother trying to use room mikes in the same room with the G5. You might as well just mike the G5 itself. If you need to do room miking, you're gonna need to haul the G5 out of the room and get somebody else to engineer. Period.
2) If you're doing vocal takes, try not to use bi-directional mikes -- stick with your basic Shure-style unidirectional. Keep the G5 out of the line of audio -- you want it > 180 degrees from where the mike is pointing, i.e. you.
3) Put it under the desk. Even better, go down to Wal-Mart and pick up some of that mattress padding foam cheap. Put the G5 under the desk and Velcro the padding foam around it like a curtain (not too close, obviously, as you need air flow). You'll find that the noise won't entirely disappear...but it'll be close enough for government work.
As long as you're flying solo, you're never going to get a silent room to work in. But that's okay -- I do pretty well with my setup, and line noise isn't really a problem.
Hope that helps.
Josh Ellis
Creative Lead
Mperia.com
Apple has had a policy at least since November to address the issue by replacing the supply upon request. When I got my G4 fan replaced it was a simple drop-in replacement. I donated the old power supply to the local computer recycler Free Geek.
-- thinkyhead software and media
If you're recording, why not really try to separate the vocals from anything else you're doing. I think someone on here mentioned using the shower for your vocals, but build a small partition out of plexi, like one of those sound shields in Musicians' Friend. Get a mike cord long enough to reach your mixer and you should be set.
m.kelley
life is like a freeway, if you don't look you could miss it.
1. Active Noise Cancelling
Stick a microphone close to the source of the noise. Substract [*] this from you voice mic.
[*] Non-trivial substraction, as it needs scaling, possibly frequency-dependent. However the goal is not elimination, but rather reduction, so You can just use some sound editor's correlation coefficient, and ignor the frequency dependeny.
2. 5V (7V) etc your fans. This likely to A) void warranty B) reduce the life of you system (but it will be obsolete before that anyway). See Zalman fanmate for an off-the shelp component to solve this.
3. Move your computer to a separate room. A cabinet would not do, since the cooling relies on the availablity of fresh air. A closed space will heat up, regardless of size. The size only controls the speed of warming up...
4. Get a PC. I know you hate me know, but there are some really well designed PC cases that can muffle a 3.6 GHz P4. (See Zalman for a completely fanless P4 case. $4K !)
5. Get a Cube for terminal and use athe G5 as server off-room.
6. Use mufflers. Ie. boxes that allow air through, but have a maze-like interior with sound-dampening coating. Place G5 inside one of these, and air goes in, but noise doesn't come out (as much).
Code poet, espresso fiend, starter upper.
I've heard some whining that the ATi cooler on one of the models that apple ships as standard causes it to vibrate and radically increase sound levels. Maybe you could test your card without its fan for a few moments to see if that helps.
I'm pretty ignorant on this subject, but could you just cool the entire room? (Less heat, use A/C, whatever.) Lowering the ambient temp will certainly allow the system to shed heat more efficiently, which should mean less fan use.
Hey, during winter this solution might even save you money!
"Science is a tribute to what we can know although we are fallible" -Jacob Bronowski
I have a friend with ProTools - and the damn program runs 100% cpu all the time - whether you're doing something or not. It does that so that it's always "ready to go" when you need to do something intensive. I find this unneeded, but what do I know, I'm not a sound tech.
There was a guy I knew, he did not use macs so I do not know how much this applies, but he had a studio that he set-up when he was in California. From what I saw and what he explained to me, it was set-up where all the analog instruments, mixers, mics, etc fed into boxes that sent digitized signals to a computer that was on the other side of a wall. The boxes sent the digitized audio over usb and optical connections. The reason for this set-up was because the computer was loud, and with it being in another room, the mics would not pick it up in the studio. With essentially a hole in the wall, he fed his mouse, keyboard, and monitor cable to the other room on the other side of the wall. He also used the special boxes (I do not remember what company made them) to digitize and send the audio that way to the computer, because he learned that using a board in the computer itself was a bad idea because of all the electrical (hissing and pops) noise that crept in. He noted that the optical connection was the best because there was no possible way for electrical noise to interfere.
I wish I could remember more details, I am not a musician. I thought that this might help though. I am a computer professional and it is probably a bad idea to put things like speaker dampening material in/around your case like others seem to have suggested. You really do not want to interfere with the cooling system for of computer unless you do not want it last long.
I know people have already made a similar suggestion, but there's a vendor or two that make venitlated isolation racks for pro audio gear, some of which may provide enough space for your box. Raxxess makes the isoraxx line. I'd measure your G5 and see if it'll fit. That investment might benefit other hardware that you want to isolate as well.
I know somebody used to make rackmount ears for the G4 towers, but I've not seen such things for G5 cases.
-Foo
Get a real microphone! Not a "computer" mic that'll pick up sounds across the room, but a real microphone that you have to get close to.
You say you have an at-home "recording studio" but it doesn't sound like you know what that's supposed to mean.
Unless your background apps are actually doing something (man top(1) ) then they're not using CPU cycles and are thus not contributing to the heat situation. There are a number of reasons (process scheduling, memory usage) to consider closing background apps, however, on a modern operating system they are all moot.
I guess I'm lucky, because I can't even hear my G5. It's as quiet as a mouse.
... if I needed to get rid of fan noise, what I've planned on trying is piping in air from a relatively far removed vibrational air pump -- an aquarium pump -- and shut off the internal fan. It could be in its own enclosure if need be. Some of them have a pretty fair output. Using rubber hose instead of plastic would help damp any vibration coming up the hose. Another hack that might not be suitable for everyday use, but could be used for those sessions where silence is necessary, if the pump helps but isn't enough, run some of the hose through a bowl of ice water to cool the air on its way to the machine.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
Mic cables (professional ones) are available in REEEEALLY LONG LENGTHS.
I've recorded a lot. In pro, semi pro settings and in converted barns. Especially when doing voices, you want a SILENT room. A little acoustic padding on the walls, but perhaps not. I've taken dead rooms (too dead) and hung maple plaques up to liven it a little bit.
But machines with fans go OUTSIDE, even if temporarily. I've tossed a laptop out of a room because the DISK was non-silent.
That might mean you rig up a closet as a voice room (you can even leave the clothes in it). It might mean you run the mac in the hall for 5 minutes while you record.
But no fans near mics. And no deep mods to your case. A dual processor 1GHz machine in a tight space needs lots of airflow.
It's the mBox.
Yeah, you heard me. The mBox. The inputs on those pieces of crap are so noisy you have to use a separate pre-amp if you want any kind of range. Seriously, I own one, THEY SUCK.
Now, enough trolling about the mBox, that horrible horrible toy. Tinkering around inside the G5 is a phenomenally bad idea. But there are many products that let you quiet a machine w/o oh, melting it. I can't find a link, but there're a number of thin (4mm) foam materials you can put on the inside of your case walls that have great sound dampening ability. Now, the fans are the tougher problem. I'd recommend the venting idea proposed in another post. All external, all cheap.
One last note: To save the recordings you have made, try out Sony/Sonic Foundry's Noise Reduction plug in. I've used it to remove the machine noise from my DAW and it's really, really good, especially for voice. Now, yes, it's on a PC, but it'll run FAST on any relatively new (P3 or better, Athlon) desktop.
But dump the mBox if you want to be taken seriously. I can't stand the damn thing, but it wasn't my purchasing decision...
"Life's funny sometimes." "And sometimes it isn't." --Cat's Cradle
First: I recognise that its a real pain to be away from the computer while trying to do any sort of tracks. You end up going back and forth. Truth be told, this is the best solution though. Try setting small section "punch ins" so that you can keep at a section until your happy and move the mic to a different room. Use of omni directional mics will also help.
Second. Baffles are cheap and they work great. Any good studio will have lots of free standing cubicle walls hanging around. You can pick these up for a song at any used office store. Then, either box in your CPU or your mic. The more baffles, the quieter the sound.
Yes, that's right, children... any LF or HF hum can be squeezed out with a bandpass filter. ProTools has em, so does Final Cut Pro. So use it.
So, we've got four viable steps, none of which include screwing with the heat management of the G5:
1. Bandpass filter - the ultimate weapon. A combination of low-pass and high-pass filters with the right tweaking will narrow the frequency range right down to the envelope you need. Combined with limiters, compressors and other standard ProTools post-production weaponry, you can make even Britney Spears' asinine voice sound bearable (if it weren't already so obviously post-processed to hell).
2. Mic placement - If you need to be near your monitor but not near your box, get an extension cable for the monitor and keep the box as far away from the mic as possible.
3. Dead room - an acoustically-padded portable chamber for recording vocals... you can get these but they are quite expensive. If cost is a factor, try the cheaper solutions first.
4. Unidirectional mic - In other words, don't use a Shure SM58 or some such omnidirectional piece of crap. Get a good unidirectional mic and place its head diametrically opposed to the direction from which the fan noise is coming.
Anything from Avid or digidesign is going to suck your CPU dry, even if it's a 14THz quad with the cosmic quantum option. [cynic] Means they can leverage their proprietary hardware better. [/cynic] It also means they can guarantee throughput and latency.
Another option for voiceovers is to use a simple recording tool, there are some free and or cheap programs on freshmeat or versiontracker, and they won't use the entire energy output of Hydro Quebec to do it.
Damn those pesky terrorists
- don't mess around the internals. ... like putting your computer in another room.
- you can remove the hard disks and actually put them over a network (gigabit recommended) line using a Apple Server and a NetBoot
- you can remove the hard disks by using a 15ft firewire cable or a very long and very expensive fiber channel cable
- you don't need much speed unless you are using active plugins. If you only do recording, consider doing the record and then applying the plugins
- you can cancel-out some noise using Spark XL 2.8 sound recording software (by TC Works). There is a VST plug-in called DeNoise where you give it a sample up to 3 seconds of your noise (and ONLY your noise, as recorded... for example, just before or after your official recording session) and it will remove it. It's of very decent quality.
- I suggest you do not put your G5 under your desk, as it will simply make the air hot all around... and the fans will kick-off more often. Instead, put it some place where it will get a lot of air. You can put noise cancelling panels between it and your mic though.
- Use some third party sound input hardware (like firewire devices) They are better isolated than your computer's sound input (even if it is really excellent).
- If you have to change your equipment (microphones) for your recording gear, consider alternatives
Mike
I am currently recording some vocal overdubs in a small room with a dual G4 in it. Here is my advice if you can't move the machine to a second room:
1) Position the mic so that the maximum angle of rejection faces the computer (180 degrees for cardioid patterns, 90 degrees for figure 8, etc).
2) Dampen the walls of the room with auralex, blankets, mattress foam, whatnot.
3) Gate the vocals when mixing down.
If you're close mic'ing the vocals, fan noise shouldn't be a big issue. It's really when you want to start using distant mics that it becomes a pain. Obviously omnidirectional mics will also tend to be more problematic.
Another thing I do sometimes if I want to record an extremely quiet audio source is fire up VNC on my laptop and run mic cables into the next room. My laptop is dead silent under normal operating conditions so it makes a great remote control for my desktop.
I opted for all quiet components when I rebuilt my system. It is now much quiter than before and during the day while other people are running around the house or talking to me it is very quiet. When house AC turns on it is louder to me. Still, in the still of night however I percieve it to be very loud.
Photos.
Liquid cooling?!? What are you crazy?!?!
Put the freakin' mic in another room and set up auto punch-in points in PT. Give yourself an 30 second lead in, and go walk into another room to do the take. Its free.
Unless your sequencer pegs the cpu at 100% just iding away, and if you're a one man show laying down one track at a time, try this:
Bounce your tracks down to a single two channel mix for overdubbing, then mute all the others. Record the output of any software samplers to these tracks and mix in effects and eq so you won't have to tax the cpu with them during playback.
I use Digital Performer. It has pretty low cpu requirements, except, oddly, for the time counter. I move the fractional beats part of the counter winodw off screen, since it just counts to 480 every second.
Use the Activity Monitor cpu history icon in the dock to see how you're doing.
I have some solid advice.
First, consider replacing your fans with larger fans if possible, or adding fans in those 'optional case fan' locations so many cases have. I'm not sure if G5 cases have these, but you should check. Get your local computer guy to check if you don't know what to look for.
If your fans don't have to work as hard, they won't make as much noise. Remember, two 40dB fans will be MUCH quieter than one 50 or 60dB fan, since decibels are an exponential measurement: those two 40dB fans should add up to ~41dB.
You could make a DIY extra fan port with a drill, but be careful not to interfere with the direction of airflow in your case too much. That'll definitely void your warranty.
Second, go to your local Staples and see if they carry the Antec noise reduction kit. It should be in the middle of short aisle 1 near the modems and memory, right above or near the Antec power supplies. That's if your Staples is anything like the one I work at. It has rubber mounts for the fans, drives, and power supply. A rubber-mounted case fan is much quieter than one that's just screwed tightly into the metal, since the rubber absorbs the vibrations that the sides of your case would amplify. The product might have been a promotional item for Christmastime but we seem to keep getting them.
Finally: Check out Frozen CPU or read up on cooling at Anandtech, TweakTown, or any of the overclocking forums.
Remember, don't attempt any replacements without matching the voltages and sizes. If you don't know your fan's size, bring it with you when you go shopping. Anyone care to post on how to measure a fan? I seem to remember their size being the length of one side, and they are square.
Why not just record the voice over on some other device like a tape recorder, minidisc recorder, or solid-state digital recorder in a quiet location, then import the audio electronically and avoid the problem altogether? There are digital voice recorders available. My MP3 player even has a voice record function. It isn't great quality, but it works. I'm sure that someone has some experience in this area. I'm definitely not an expert, but seems simple enough to me.
Why doesn't anything interesting happen when I have mod points?
What type of mic are you using? I'm presently using a PC while I'm waiting for G5 updates and it's pretty loud, however I can get away with vocal work using the method below; The G5 is very loud when all the fans kick in, but I'm surprised that recording a VO is causing your CPU utilisation to go high enough to set them off.
If you were using a phantom powered condenser mic with the low cut off switched on, and speaking directly with your mouth touching the pop shield at the end of a 20' cable with the correct gain I think you'd get away with it to be honest, especially if you used some compression (either in software or hardware).
what's +5 informative about 'distance your mic and computer?' this is an odd question? quit other programs? PLEASE. if you have (in your words) a small studio and you need advice like this, you're a LONG way from quality amateur recording. i was going to tear apart such gems as 'make sure it's close to your face,' but will instead offer advice that might actually help. other posters suggesting naively to run longer computer cables are no help either.
... ready for it? ... go to the bookstore. a quick trip to a bookstore will do you a WORLD better than the +5, informative you'll find here. chances are, you'll answer the next 10 questions you'll have before you leave the store $20 lighter.
Run a mic cable under the door into another room. not only is that practiced by nearly every studio in the history of recording, it happens to be your cheapest fix. for more tips like this and a gazillion more, google on home recording studio help. you might find something that way.
there are dozens and dozens of books that address basic stuff like this. the best advice you'll get today is
sorry for troll-ish behaviour, but i can't take the statement 'use final cut express' and find advice anywhere in it.
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/G5/G5_noise_tips.html
Go into System Prefs/Energy Saver and set the processor(s) for low performance.
We can also broach making "affect" and "effect" the same; we've already wrecked the differences between unsecure (as in a computer) vs. insecure (people are insecure; computers don't like to be anthopomorphized :).
Oh, "coke" is an abbreviation because its made with extracts of the coca plant. As in cocaine, as in coke. See also common terms of the pre-60s for types of coal called "coke" which put the word in people's mouths at the time.
Ketchup/Catsup? without working much, I find: this which suggests, among other things, that "Ketchup" might be a brand name. But 30 seconds of google isn't enough research for me to stand too strongly by that. Oh for my OED (the book or the subscription service).
Now, this is too off topic to be continued (yet oddly informative!).
Apple Computer sells the XtremeMac Xrack Pro 12U Enclosed Rack to solve the sound problem, be functional and look nice in the process.
, , , , ,
It offers many nice features,
Acoustically engineered to reduce server noise by 75%,
Heavy Duty Casters for complete portability
Engineered for positive airflow
Ideal for Audio/Video creative environments
Integrated cable management system
Built-in 6-outlet power distribution
Platinum finish, etc....
While designed for a 21" tall stack of loud Xservers, The PowerMac G5 is only 20.1" tall. It seems to have everything one could want, except possibly a low price.
Apple Computer has an exclusive on this. It is listed under Server Accessories at the Apple Store for only $1799.00
This might shock you but every post that says something negative about Apple HW and/or SW is not a troll.
Some of the posters/mods in this section appear to worship Apple as a god...
Are you sure this article wasn't submitted by Daredevil?
1. Make sure the case is properly closed, with the clear plastic air deflector in place.
2. Turn down the thermostat in the studio a bit.
The G5 tower is normally extremely quiet as fan-cooled computers go, and if you hear the fans spinning up it means that the processor(s) is(are) running abnormally hot. The machine is designed to draw air in through the entire front, push it though a restriction near the processor(s), and exhaust it through the entire back. The restriction causes the air to speed up momentarily, and the net result is that you get a lot of air moving over the processor(s) quickly, but entering and leaving the machine fairly slowly, which keeps the noise down.
If the clear air deflector inside the case is removed, then there's less of a restriction to direct and accelerate the air, and that would be a problem. And when the case door is opened while the machine is on, the fans speed up immediately for similar reasons. So check that you've got that deflector installed, and that the door is closed properly.
If the air in your studio is a little on the warm side (perhaps the studio is in your attic?), then it obviously won't cool the machine very effectively. Run an air conditioner, open the window, or turn down the thermostat for a few hours before recording to cool down the air in there.
Are they good enough? Too expensive?
I've heard (but not confirmed) that Jim Morrison did his best work sitting on the toilet in his bathroom. Equipment was hauled in to record it.
None of the people who have told me this story have been able to tell me if his pants were on at the time.
Simple, borrow a portable DAT recorder (since it's just voiceovers), and then pick the room of your choice
With wireless keyboard and mouse, we're talking only 3 long cables (power, monitor, net) under the door and the damn thing is out of sight and mostly out of hearing range. While it might pain Mac owners known for their aesthetic sensibilities, consider the closet for your G5. You can, er, out it if and when quieter cooling is available.
I've got a G4 tower with ProTools 001 card, so I've thought about this too. With the rooms laid out the way they are in our apartment, I can use a 25 foot microphone cable to leave my room, go into my roommate's room and close both doors. If you have a similar room configuration you could do something similar. If you have a nice pair of wireless headphones you could listen to your mix. If you have a TV in that room you could use a DVI to S-Video adapter to run a feed of the video into that room so you can do voice overs correctly.
Archive of the PDF file where Wladi details how he changed his G5's power supply's support for one made of rubber.
And here is a photo of the thing before he put it back in the computer. No wonder it's a lot quieter now.
Maybe we deserve this world ?
Too noisy? Just open up the case and snip the wires going to the fans -- no more noise. The hard drive might still make some noise, so cover the whole case with several layers of quilts -- this will also aid in thermal conservation.
This will work for maybe a minute or two before the computer overheats and permamently dies. But hey -- for that couple of minutes -- man is it quiet.
"But actually trying to use m4 as a general-purpose langage would be deeply perverse" --ESR
Try installing the Power Mac G5 Firmware Update version 5.1.4.
g 5f irmwareupdate.html
That should solve the issue.
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/powermac
A Zabuton is a thickly padded square cushion for your knees, used during Zen meditation. I don't meditate as often as I should, but I've found my Zabuton to be pretty effective at deadening the sound of my dual 1.25 GHz G4.
2 .h tml
I just drape it over the top of the G4. It doesn't obstruct much airflow on the G4, and doesn't cause the temperature to rise much (from 115F to the 120's.)
I believe this is the one I have:
http://www.samadhicushions.com/samadhi.cgi/C-53
Chill dude
The solution here is very simple. You need to isolate the noise coming from the computer. As many people have suggested, keeping everything in different rooms is ideal. That's why "real" recording studios have a control room, a record booth, and a machine room. Since this is not possible in this situation, make it possible with a little sideways thinking.
We know the computer needs to be in a different room since that will isolate the noise to that room. What's to keep us from bringing the other room into the recording booth (or control room)? Size mostly...
So bring a smaller "room" into the room. Mid Atlantic has some nice solutions for you. They aren't that expensive. Using an iso-rack in the control room is quite common in most Pro Tools installations.
I've used Pro Tools in professional situations for about 6 years now. Basically, since the point it became "ready for prime-time" (literally). I work on a prime-time television show. We used to use the AMS-Neve Logic3 and Audiofile system. Then, Pro Tools finally became good enough to use. The problem was the noise. We "stole" one of the Mid Atlantic iso-racks from one of the unused Avid suites, and have been very pleased at the result.
True, you can still hear an old 9600 in there, but a dual G4 or a new G5 would be under the noise floor for the room.
Plant a tree in a developing country.
Get a Cube. It runs OSX. It has more than enough power for recording. It is inexpensive ($1K). And it has no fan. Be aware of one downside: the cube has no pci slots and no audio-in (I think), so a usb microphone will be necessary.
Dude, just ask for the cone of silence!
Our G5s whirred like guinea pigs fornicating while under the influence of copious amounts of amphetamines.
Then we installed the firmware update.
Now they make about as much noise as a slug on ketamine.
Simple solution, really.
unless you have a soundproof booth!
Slashdot Eds Link Anonymous Posts With Logged Posts
They Are Vermin Feeding On Each Other's Feces.
I Hate \.
You can replace the fan screws of your G5 fans by anti-vib fan fasteners.
. php?date= 2004-02-18#7900
G 5_PSU_Denoi ser.pdf.sit
The article is in French:
http://www.macbidouille.com/niouzcontenu
However the PDF is in English + pictures:
http://www.macbidouille.com/downloads/
Enjoy.
Doctor: Then don't do that!
Shop as usual. And avoid panic buying.
Buy a cheap kitchen cabinet, line it with insulation. Add one tube lined with insulation and mount a super silent fan at the end of it and mount the tube in the upper regions of the cabinet.
Don't build the cabinet to tight, you want some airflow around the door but do not overdo it because with air, sounds travel.
Although a small vocal booth is probably the best long term solution since you'll be able to shut all sound out.
Surely that should be "quietening". "Quiet" is not a verb, "quieten" is. As in, "to quieten" not "to quiet".
Sound Construction and Supply make a little box that is supposed to muffle all sound produced by a powermac, called the "isomac". I own one of their IsoBoxes, and I can tell you that it definitely works. Their website is: http://www.custom-consoles.com/ If, by chance anyone out there wants to buy a 16-space ISOBOX, mine's for sale and in great condition, I just don't need it anymore. e-mail me if you're interested.
Buy a used g4 cube without a fan for recording.
Turn the g5 off when recording.
- Zav - Imagine a Beowulf cluster of insensitive clods...
You have a lot of choices for cooling, some elaborate, some not.
Anyone who really isn't interested in making a sound-damper box shouldn't bother reading the whole post; it's not that long but it's going to go over a bit too much to display in Slashdot's window.
This has worked for me. It's reasonably inexpensive and reasonably effective.
It all starts with a box; you may as well make is some kind of road case; it's not particularly more expensive to do so. Whatever, it's up to you.
Make the box reasonably large inside; air volume is one means to improve cooling. However, we really can't make the box large enough to be totally effective with air volume by itself; even a closet-sized box will show heat rise. Still, keep volume in mind; you don't want a lot of close tolerances here. I would suggest at least 3 inches all around the CPU, up to 4~6 if you can stand to do it that way. If you can, have air circulation underneath the case as well; it will help a lot with the cooling load the computer deals with (fan comes on much less).
Dampen the box with a sound deadening material. A "box inside a box" strategy works well here, although expanded foam-type insulation works OK for heat, it's less effective for sound dampening. Fibreglass batts are good for both, but are messy. Thus, isolate the FG from the inside.
You have an opportunity to reduce vibration-borne noise here as well; try having the inside box rest on something; foam or springs/rubber works. Not too bouncy.
You should securely mount the computer to the box; I'll leave the details up to you but essentially you don't want it to move. Strategically placed foam might be OK, bracing, zip ties if your Mac has handles, whatever you decide. Think about access to the computer when you want to take it out for maintenance, ugprades, or sitting on your desk when there's no music stuff going on. So, personally that rules out actually bolting the CPU to the case, at least for me.
You can acoustically vent the box to the immediate outside air to reduce sound transmission. This is hardly impossible, but a little tricky. It probably won't result in a totally silent CPU, but it may well be below whatever threshold you need to record. Lots of experimentation required, some acoustic theory would help.
I like short term use of a sealed box, mechanically dampened, with a door at front and back. The front door is essentially a full door, to allow optical drive access and moving the computer itself in and out. Seriously consider making the front of the box far enough away from the CPU so that an accidental hit of the eject key (on Macs) doesn't ram the disk tray against anything.
The back door is a smaller one; it's for access to ports. A plywood or whatever door; hinged vertically. Along the open side (ie opposite the hinge) have a means to let cables in and out. You can construct something simple out of discarded bicycle tubes; a 1" or so wide horizontal rubber "flap" that is open to the door means you can actually get in there to plug/unplug stuff, while the rubber allows cables runs to pass through while still sealing the box from the outside. A double flap or whatever might work better; foam can work, you figure it out.
Now for my short term location recording: I place a couple of those blue-green gell-type freezer thingys inside the case. Campers use 'em to keep stuff cool.. They reduce ambient temps in the case enough to allow the computer's fans to move cool air around and do the job. Last for a few hours, easy. The box is sealed to outside air and therefore is pretty damn quiet.
You can also take outside air (vented from somewhere outside your studio) to maintain a more permanent solution.
When you're done, you should have a case with a latching door at the front for access, closed the rest of the time for silence, and adequate cooling in short-term recording to keep your wallet cool. In a very general way its like a little 'fridge. Cable in-out shouldn't be a problem and ther
http://emusician.com/ar/emusic_sound_silence/
Did you splurge and get the Radeon 9800 Pro video card? If so, that's the problem ... the thing comes with a rather noisy fan.
If you need a quiet G5, buy one with a Radeon 9600 Pro.
The case fans and CPU fans are pretty quiet unless the machine heats up too much (or you remove the plastic panel).
-- Tim Buchheim
If you keep your G5 cool then the fans won't come on. If you re-direct AC cooling to the front of the G5 and give enough space in back of the G5 to vent the heat away. This will prevent your G5 fans from coming on and prevent fan noise.
Insulated air conditioning tubing is going to transmit less vibration. You need to make a plenum for the front and back.
This is so big and messy. Why don't you just use a KVM switch and locate in another room? In fact, why introduce your human noise into the enviornment? Move out with the box.
I had to set up in a room with a powered return and a drop. My buddy told me to run a duct between them. It took care of the noise nicely. Hot tho.
Any preoccupation with ideas of what is right or wrong in conduct shows an arrested intellectual development. (Wilde)
a person has to be thick as a brick to put the plastic thingie in backwards. My high school students have opened ours repeatedly to show off the cool plastic thingie and NEVER put it in wrong. We're talking constantly for the first month we had the damn thing.
Did anybody tell him to just use a DAT and turn off the computer? Simple minds, simple solutions.
Any preoccupation with ideas of what is right or wrong in conduct shows an arrested intellectual development. (Wilde)
These guys were at MacWorld addressing just this problem. http://www.norenproducts.com
Here's what you do: 1. Open side door so all fans run at top speed. 2. Record sound of fans running. 3. Set up 3 speakers in a triangle around the G5, each positioned 120 degrees away from the other (with the G5 at the center of the triangle. 4. Play back sound so it is 180 degrees out of phase with the sound emanating from the G5. If everything works properly, the sound from the speakers should cancel out the G5's fan noise. Course if you don't get it just right, if you create a harmonic vibration it could rattle your G5 to pieces ;)
"I improvise. It's my greatest talent. I prefer situations to plans..." --Wintermute, William Gibson's "Neuromancer"
I purchased a dual 2 GHz G5 back in October. In October it was very quiet, however after three months of hardware problems and five weeks at the Apple repair center it sadly is not very quiet. I would say when idle it as about half as loud as the dual G4 that it replaced. Whenever it is not idle, and by no means at full load, it is more than twice as loud as the old G4. I have been informed by Apple that this change in fan control is due to poorly calibrated temperature sensors. It has been back to the shop for recalibration which improved it marginally. I have been also told by Apple that they will make no further effort to improve the noise level of my machine.