Glitch in Recording

[LRS]

Looking for some help identifying a glitch in a recording I made a couple of days ago.

A Soundcloud link is here https://soundcloud.com/lrsnz/mixdown/s-7Rsbp

The recording was three channels (2 mics on guitar and separate mic for vox). The glitch was on all three tracks and happened only once in about 45 minutes of recording. Just happened to be in the take I wanted to use. Go figure...

The setup is RME UFX via USB to late 2013 MacBook Pro. All channels were into separate pre's. The studio is all on the same power circuit and is not shared with anything else. There were video cameras being used in the session but they were all battery powered. The lighting power was taken by extension lead from a different circuit in the house. Oh and wifi was disabled and I have no anti virus on the computer but I am using a bluetooth mouse and keyboard.

I can't figure out what this was caused by, maybe power or maybe a USB problem but it is nothing I have encountered before.

Thanks for your help.

Cheers
Graham

[Exalted Wombat]

Was a mobile phone sitting on top of any of your gear?

Never happens on a bad take, does it?

[LRS]

Yep, there were a number of phones in the studio on silent but on nevertheless. But this is a common occurrence. The only thing I can think of is whether the phones and computer were trying to link with each other via Bluetooth or something? It's the first time I've used the Bluetooth keyboard and mouse while recording so maybe...???

It does sound like a cell phone though so I can understand your comment but I certainly had no incoming calls, not sure about anyone else.

Thanks.

[BJG145]

Where the lyric goes something like "let's sing sweet/sweet", is that repetition in the vocal, or just in the glitch...?

(Vaguely wondering about FX gone wrong.)

[LRS]

No it's a glitch but it's in the recorded tracks prior to FX.

Cheers

[Exalted Wombat]

In a studio, mobile phones need to be off, not just switched to silent. And they definitely don't need to be on top of any piece of audio equipment!

That does sound very much like a burst of mobile phone activity.

[chris...]

"Flight" mode is sufficient, which shuts down all the various radios on a phone. For the OP, not getting an incoming call is insufficient as the device periodically chats to the base station of its own accord.

For what it's worth, the noise on this clip sounds to me quite UNlike the classic "bip...bip..bip.bip" interference you typically hear from a mobile phone (the GSM/UMTS (2G/3G) cellular radio).

As for Bluetooth, I don't know what that would sound like, but use various bluetooth devices and don't recall ever encountering any audible interference.

[zenguitar]

It does sound like a cell phone though so I can understand your comment but I certainly had no incoming calls, not sure about anyone else.

Incoming calls/texts are completely irrelevant. Every mobile phone periodically polls the network to maintain it's connection (announcing itself out loud and acknowledging the response from the network so that the network knows where to deliver incoming calls/texts). It's the way mobile phones work, which makes it unavoidable. And when a phone polls the network, it does it at full power. It is the radio equivalent of shouting at the top of your voice "I'M HERE, CAN YOU HEAR ME?".

And that is why you have to ensure all phones are switched off, and not just put on silent. And it is also the reason why your battery doesn't last so long when you are in a poor signal, your phone spends more time shouting out at full power to establish connection.

Andy

[Dynamic Mike]

I agree with Chris, although it's similar, it's not the classic mobile phone pattern of interference. IME Bluetooth connection drop out & re-establishing tends to be silent, which is why it's popular for car audio/phone linkage. Any apps on your phone which require your location will also search at intervals whether you get a call or not. But so will some cameras that have geo-tagging enabled which might apply to your video cameras.

[James Perrett]

While it doesn't sound like the classic mobile phone interference, it does sound a bit like a mobile could be interfering with the clocking or the digital side of the convertor somehow. Possibly a dodgy cable somewhere with a badly connected ground?

[BJG145]

We've established that the glitch has introduced a repeated word, so it's clearly nothing to do with phones. More like a disk error or something.

[Exalted Wombat]

We've established that the glitch has introduced a repeated word, so it's clearly nothing to do with phones. More like a disk error or something.

I don't think that is established. I think your query was misunderstood. The syllables are not identical, and the rhythmic pulse isn't interrupted.

[BJG145]

I don't know what you mean. At six seconds it goes: "Let's sing swee-CLICK-sweet". Unless she's singing "sweet" twice (which she apparently isn't), that rules out phone interference. But maybe the OP can confirm what's supposed to happen there.

[Exalted Wombat]

I see what you mean. I was hearing the first "Sweet" as poor diction, and the click as a guitar note. It would be good to have a clean version to compare.

[LRS]

No it's definitely a glitch. The line goes "let's sing sweetly all day long".

Cheers
Graham

[BJG145]

Is there an event viewer / log on the Mac you could check...? If it was a glitch with the computer or the interface, it's going to be pretty difficult to pin down.