So I've taken major note of something recently:
My (ahem) monitors' make different noise based on what's on-screen. They're not the greatest- a pair of speakers plugged into a stereo player thru line-out. 
Just weird. Has anyone else have this happen?

Are the speakers shielded?  If they're in wooden cabinets there's a chance that they are not.  Some wooden monitors have a metal or foil lining inside that would stop the radio frequencies generated by the PC.  

Damaged or low quality monitor cables or the sound card could also give you the same symptom.  

Good luck.  

  Its the other way around. Monitor speakers are shielded because they have very large magnets in them that can interfere with CRTs. The name near field is one reason for this.  With LCDs its not a problem. Speakers as a rule don't pick up RF but preamps do and so can wiring that would be amplified by the an amp. The wiring may act as an antenna.  Speakers are just linear motors connected to a diaphragm. That is if they are dynamic speakers. 

If they are powered monitors its most likely they have some internal shielding.
However, an inexpensive pair may not have good shielding. They may pick up RF because of this.

What the cabinet is made of is not an indication of being shielded.

Normal loud speakers are not shielded.  

Noise is usually somewhere in low lever amps such as preamps. Though some speakers are noisy in that we may not like what is coming from them they are not by nature inherently noisy. They don't generate RF either. 

   

davdud101


So I've taken major note of something recently:
My (ahem) monitors' make different noise based on what's on-screen. They're not the greatest- a pair of speakers plugged into a stereo player thru line-out. 
Just weird. Has anyone else have this happen?

Yes. Well actually, it is with my PA speakers that I have plugged into my audio interface. Whenever I move the mouse, I can hear it in the speakers.


For me, the fix was to buy an inexpensive hum destroyer. It is a passive device that goes between the audio interface and speakers. For me it worked wonders.


However, I am not sure what it does to the sound quality. For reference monitors, it may be an issue. 

I think I've heard about noises by mouse moves also in systems that only use PCs internal loudspeakers.
Could it be video card related? Do you hear the noise through headphones connected into the PC?

yeah.... I have heard that on occasion. Mostly, I have seen others complain about it as well. Some instances are worse than others. 

If everything is real quiet, I can hear it from time to time. It doesn't always happen. Mostly I hear it in the laptop. I assume it is caused by the lappy working on several things at once. 

For some reason, yesterday, I had a song playing back and everything I did on the (lappy) computer... click the mouse, open a new window, whatever, seemed to create a noise of some sort in the playback. Today, on a new boot, totally quiet. 

Generally speaking though..... the system is dead quiet. Especially the desktop DAW, which is the main computer I use. If I get noise..... I shut it down and cold reboot it and the interface. 



quick check: shut off the monitors and see if the noise is in the headphones direct from the sound card/interface.  If it's only in the monitors, check the cables. If it's in the headphones, it's probably getting in on the mic cables or internally from the circuitry. That could be a harder thing to find and fix. BUT.... grab a different mouse, because some mice make a  lot of noise, especially the wireless ones. If you have a wireless mouse, connect a wired one. You may have to forego the convenience of a wireless mouse when recording and mixing. 

If your monitors are too noisey...  you're too old    turn them down    it's all crash in the loudspeekah!!


It's most often your monitor (LCD) that generates the noise.  I had a badly shielded cheepie piece of c*&p for a long while for basic office duties and every screen redraw would produce assorted beeps and whistles from the desk speakers.  You could make music with it by opening/closing different windows and each change would make a different, but repeatable, noise.
It's not just RF escaping from the front/back of the unit, it's noise fed back through the video cable and getting into the power bus on the motherboard and thus to the audio output of your sound card.