VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

[Lee Gordon]

Only if you oil them.
_________________
Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice

[JBarrett]

Strange. I record on a mid-2009 MacBook Pro that sits about two feet from my mic, and I almost never get fan noise. The only time I've ever had fan noise in a session was while recording two tracks simultaneously (my VO on one track, my client's direction/comments on the other) while using JACK to patch Reaper through to Skype. After discovering that problem, I reverted back to only recording a single track.

In addition to George's heat sink cleaning tip, make sure that your DAW is the only thing running while you record, and make sure that all closed apps are *really* closed. Simply clicking the red "close" button on an app's window doesn't necessarily shut it down. With most Mac applications, that only closes the app window, but leaves the app running. You can see this on the dock by looking for any app with a "light" beneath its icon. I always close apps by using the Command-Q keyboard combo, which fully closes them.

Another thing to check is that you have sufficient RAM to use for your DAW. If available RAM is tight, that could also make the fan run as the system tries to use virtual memory (i.e. hard drive swapping). As nice as the Mac can be, it still has issues with RAM not always being released completely by a closed app. Even with 8 GB of RAM, I use the Activity Monitor app (part of OS X) to occasionally check for RAM usage, and reboot frequently to make sure that I have as much free RAM as possible.
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Justin S. Barrett
http://www.justinsbarrett.com/

[Foog]

[bransom]

Another possibility is to move it completely out of the room. I did that with mine (I record on an old 2007 Macbook Pro): wireless keyboard, wireless trackpad, a $100 Dell monitor and long-ish DVI and USB cables. Works great and I never, ever hear the fan.
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Bob Ransom
"I really need a pithy quote here."

[jsgilbert]

I would suggest the Kaotica Eyeball. It really works like a champ at several things

1. because of the way it directs sound into a side address microphone, it's like having 10% more gain (or being able to drop your gain by 10%)

2. It really eliminates transients and works quite well in acoustically treated or untreated rooms.

3. It does suppress some external noise from getting into your microphone.

4. It has the advantage of being fairly easy to pack and use when you're on the road.

http://kaoticaeyeball.com/

A number of folks have or can direct you to 25% off coupons.
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j.s. gilbert

js@jsgilbert.com
www.jsgilbert.com

"today is the first day of the rest of the week"

[heyguido]

I'm with JS on this one.

It's not without its own drawbacks.... It requires a few tweaks.

But it's great for isolating a mic in a less than perfect environment.
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Don Brookshire
"Wait.... They wanna PAY me for this?"

[Moosevoice]

I'm having the same problem. Macbook Pro (late 2008). I posted the problem [url]here http://hintsforums.macworld.com/showthread.php?t=170243[/url] but haven't gotten anything definitive yet.
Anyone have success with the heat sink cleaning method?

[sirmelja]

Just a quick update: I've taken George Whittam's advice and cleaned out the heat sink. I actually haven't noticed much of a difference

I also make sure nothing else is running while recording. I've even tried isolating the laptop in a sound buffered case, which only brought down the sound levels 3 or 4 db.

I'm beginning to think it's not a laptop issue at all. Maybe, as @vkuehn suggests, it's a mic problem instead? Also, (random thought) maybe the mic isn't getting enough phantom power from the battery powered laptop and that's why it's pickup volume is so low? But, I can't plug the laptop in because that causes a quite noticeable addition to the waveform.

If I had another VO artist nearby, I'd try substituting their mic instead of mine to see if it made any difference, but no such luck in Cork, Ireland.
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Arlene Cooke
Jamaican and international American/mid-Atlantic accents, but it's all just me!
www.ArleneCookeVO.com
www.JamaicanVoiceOver.com

[Moosevoice]

[bransom]

I'm curious, Moosevoice and Sirmelja, have either of your machines had the OS upgraded, like from Snow Leopard to Lion or Mountain Lion (or, God forbid, Mavericks)?
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Bob Ransom
"I really need a pithy quote here."

[sirmelja]

Mine has, but this is not a new problem. It's always been there. It used to be a huge problem, back when I was using the MicPort Pro, but dropped to a niggling irritance once I switched to the Apogee One.
_________________
Arlene Cooke
Jamaican and international American/mid-Atlantic accents, but it's all just me!
www.ArleneCookeVO.com
www.JamaicanVoiceOver.com

[Moosevoice]

[bransom]

Moose, I'd guess yours is just caused by newer, heavier OS requirements of Mavericks vs. whatever your machine originally had.

FWIW, my old Macbook Pro recording machine is still happily running Snow Leopard.
_________________
Bob Ransom
"I really need a pithy quote here."

[georgethetech]

Sorry the cleanout didn't make an obvious difference, Arlene. Not that it didn't need it, any older computer needs a cleanout. Maybe it's time to flip it on Ebay or Gazelle and get a later model. Macs hold theie value VERY well and you'd be surprised what it's still worth. You can buy a unit 2 years newer for a few hundred more than what you can sell it for. Just an idea...
Another idea if you don't like that one is to backup the machine, ERASE and RESTORE the OS to factory new. You'll be BLOWN AWAY how much quicker it will be (and probably quieter, too).
_________________
If it sounds good, it is good.
George Whittam
GeorgeThe.Tech
424-226-8528
VOBS.TV Co-host
TheProAudioSuite.com Co-host
TriBooth.com Co-founder

[sirmelja]