A Lesson learned...turn off your wireless network

FWIW, I never shut my wireless network off and have never had any problems.
 

I have my DAW connected via wireless to my office computer and via Ethernet to another machine that contains my sound library and have never had any recording or playback problems that can be traced to either wireless or Ethernet.  Surfing the internet is a whole other matter entirely and should not be done for a variety of reasons when recording. 
 
JG
www.jerrygerber.com
 

Wi-Fi adapters can cause DPC Latency Spikes, and lots of folks temporarily disable them just prior to launching a Sonar session, then enable them again right after finishing with Sonar.
 
Bob Bone
 

whack
I too have Rode NT1A, is I leave the wirless on on my laptop I too will get clicks and pops along the audio part of the track.
 
If I turn it off, all good.
 
*verified :-)

Thanks!

ok,  clicks and pops because you have a wifi dongle enabled is not the same as "weird artifacts throughout the vocal take".
 
Unless said weird artefacts are simply clicks and pops, which wasn't the implication.

I don't have a RODE NT1A but if I leave the wireless switched on on my laptop it randomly freezes the built in firewire completely.
 
 
The issue here is wifi drivers,  not radio waves and microphones.

Anderton

Karyn
The issue here is wifi drivers,  not radio waves and microphones.

I interpreted his original post as talking about a wireless network,

 Yep, that's correct!  

Anderton

Karyn
The issue here is wifi drivers,  not radio waves and microphones.

I interpreted his original post as talking about a wireless network, e.g., not a wi-fi card inside a laptop or computer but something like a broadband modem from a telephone or cable company, with wireless capabilities. I've had several instances of interference caused by these types of networks, particularly with wireless mics (even digital wireless). I would just turn off the modem to make the problem go away, then turn it back on later when I wanted to watch movies on my iPad 

Yep,  My initial though was exactly the same, hence my first reply..
 

Karyn
What sort of mic?  I'm guessing a capacitor...   with a screen grounding problem....

RODE NT1A



 
By pure coincidence I've just finished building a new LDC from a microphone-parts.com kit, so I know all about RF shielding, self noise and interference removal.
 
Without holding the mic in my hand it's hard to diagnose where RF interference would be coming from. Possible options include, but are not limited to..  Bad screen in the mic cable, bad (loose or dirty) screen connection between interface - cable - mic.  Corrosion on the gauze cage around the capsule where it connects to the main body. Corrosion on the main body mounting points. Corrosion at the body split point.  Corrosion of the capsule connections to the fet pre-amp. Corrosion on ANY of the solder joints on the pre-amp board.  By corrosion, I don't mean anything you can actually see.... but oxidation of the metal surface, creating a partial semiconductor which acts as a diode.
 
If you can prove it is the mic you have three options.
Fix it
Use a different mic
Turn off your Wifi when you record. 

johnnyV
Yes, our Wi Fi Modem will make audible clicks in our wireless phones. It is a steady clicking like a clock. Just think what that will do to an audio system with pour shielding. 
 
If you still have WIndows 7 you can run the DPCLAT meter from here:         http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml

Thanks for the link johnny. I've been having countless dropouts on my laptop with X3 like never before. I was starting to think it was to blame until I read this thread. I ran the DLC and immediately it showed red and yellow spikes. When I turned off the laptop WiFi the chart went almost flat. Turned the WiFi back on and instantly got a red spike through the roof. Then I logged on connecting to the outside WWW and got a series of red and yellow spikes.
 
The WiFi may not be the only thing causing the dropouts but without this little utility I may never know. I am anxious to see how it goes now.

Laptops are also prone to throttling back on power consumption to save battery life. If you haven't already modified the power plan to have the CPU run at 100% and the USB ports to stay awake, that's good practice.

All set...great stuff.