Zoom H1 Buzzing with Line In

J

Jordan_S

Veteran
I hooked up a telephone line splitter with a line out to a Zoom H1 in order to interview my aunt, who is 96, about our family history.

I'm in Israel, she's in Philly. I use Vonage internet calling service to speak with her.

On a regular land line, the sound is fine. On the Vonage line, there is a constant buzz. The buzz is there before the handset is even picked up. It's fairly loud.

Is there a way to stop it? Or should I take a sample of it in order to remove it? Having never done the latter, is it difficult? Is there a better solution?
 
You could take a sample (just record the buzzing with nothing else), if your computer program will allow you to flip the phase on the signal. Then just line up the waveforms until the buzz disappears.

Better to get rid of it before you record though. When recording landline or other telephone signals through a line-in, you should use some kind of telephone interface, rather than a simple splitter. But you may be able to use a hum eliminator in-line before the H1 to remove most of the buzz. Any of these options will range somewhere between $50 and $300 or so (depending on which you choose).

Maybe your best bet, if the landline is giving you no problem, is to bite the bullet and pay a little more for the long-distance call (ditch the Vonage on this one)? It depends on how long you want to interview her for...

GJ
 
I would use something like a JK-Audio phone interface that will allow you to take a stereo mini or XLR our of the interface box into your recorder. They make all kinds of interface devices, so it depends on what your needs are as to which of their boxes to get.
 
>>>>JK Audio...<<<<

The very company I was thinking of, Dave! We have a little box (I think it might retail for about two bills?) that does a great job. I've done several interviews with it and a small digital recorder, works fine.

GJ
 
Gp: There is no buzz in the handset, just the recording.

Gregg: Hum is a better word than buzz to describe it.

Might this help? Is that something that would also eliminate the hum in my car speakers when I play my ipod through my stereo while it is charging? (There's no hum if it's not charging.)

I don't have a lot of money to do this. I also use Skype recorder on my laptop and that works great. But since I switched my number to Vonage, I can no longer get incoming calls. I switched to Vonage because Skype was not performing well. Of course, two months after I did that, 10 Mb became available here and probably would have snuffed out the connection problems. But there is no way I can get a line out from my Linksys Skype phone, anyway...

I also like to record my father talking to my kids. He sings to them and tells them stories. It will be incredible to hear this in 20 or 30 years.
 
Hey Jordan,

Shouldn't be a big deal with a little router, but you don't want to get into the habit of removing ground! I guess you could try that, but a better solution would be to use a device like the one you linked to. Looks like just the ticket, but if it doesn't work, you're only out six dollars.

The next step would be some kind of DI box, a phone interface, or a more expensive hum eliminator; as mentioned, that would be a lot more expensive, so try the cheap way first.

GJ
 
Oh, another simple fix attempt-- if the phone is powered (needs to be plugged into a socket), try plugging the router and the phone into the same outlet.

GJ
 
Removing the ground did not help. Ordered the hum eliminator. The phone is not powered. Tried other phones to no avail. Other outlets too.

bzzzzz
 
Jordan-- Try the five dollar hum eliminator. If that doesn't work, either the "Hum Eliminator" or the "Line-Level Shifter" will do the trick from EB Tech. You will also need two 1/4" (Male) to mini / 1/8" plug (Female) adaptors, and two mini / 1/8" audio cables (Male on both ends).

www.ebtechaudio.com/products.html

GJ
 
The cheap hum eliminator did not work. However, it does succeed in stopping the hum generated in the car when my ipod is being charged. So, perhaps a more expensive one wouldn't make a difference on the h1 hooked into the telephone line. Would it be helpful to upload the sound?
 
Nice clip. Like a beautiful 60's art film...

OK Jordan, some options for you... All more expensive and/or more time consuming than the $5 device (but I'm glad you'll be able to use that somewhere else):

1) If you know that the landline works, drop Vonage like it's hot. At least for this particular call. If it's that important, maybe the rest of the family can pitch-in to make the long-distance landline charges affordable for this very special one-time event, that you may realistically be running out of time to capture?

2) Try another recorder. Don't buy one-- the Zoom H1 is fine, but you might get better results from a balanced line input as opposed to 1/8" mini, so if you could rent or borrow a recorder with an XLR input, that might help.

3) Speaking of balanced lines, try the interface posted earlier from JK Audio. As I mentioned, I've been happy with the one we use. You're never going to record a perfect, crystal clear conversation over the phone as if the person was in the room with you, but an interface will go a long way to making things sound better and more intelligible.

4) You could also isolate any AC current ground loop issues that might be occuring, by plugging any wall-outlet electric devices in the chain into one of these-- http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/365781-REG/Ebtech_HUM_X_Hum_X_Ground_Loop.html

5) You could also run any adaptors/cable combos through one of these-- http://www.musiciansfriend.com/navi...XGG&ZYXSEM=0&gclid=COHI3sv4oqkCFULsKgodUCiiww
(try the fourth one down by EBTech; I like their stuff)

6) This one will be very inexpensive if you already own a DAW (digital audio workstation) program for your computer, or know someone who does that can help you out. If not, well, you'd need one, and some time on your hands to figure it out. But if you record just the hum sound, and then cut & paste a whole bunch of those segments together (long-enough to cover whatever length of time your audio interview and the hum associated with it is), you can try flipping the polarity on the "hum track" so that it is 180 from the original hum on gramma's phone track. Line them up until most of the hum disappears (you probably won't get rid of all of it, but you might get most), and things will sound a lot better. But you'll need a DAW and an experienced DAW editor/tech to help you out (unless you're already familiar with what I'm talking about).

Hope it all works out.

GJ
 
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