Popping/ticking noise while streaming

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This topic contains 6 replies, has 4 voices, and was last updated by Profile photo of KeithJ A&H KeithJ A&H 2 years, 11 months ago.

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  • #100757
    Profile photo of rhysllwyd
    rhysllwyd
    Participant

    For a few weeks now, when we’ve been live streaming from the Church using the QU-24 we hear a popping/ticking noise throughout the stream.
    The audio engineer doesn’t hear anything on his headphones so the sound on the desk itself is fine – but something goes wrong down the USB line.
    Has anyone else had this issue?
    Our streaming computer is a Mac Mini M1, using Ecamm and Loopback as the software.
    Some have suggested it might be a master/slave issue between the Mac and QU-24’s clocks? Or could it be an issue that the QU is 48,000hz while the Mac is 44,000hz?
    It seems to be worse the more complex the audio coming in is, for example it’s not as bad in the sermon when you have just one person speaking, but then when it’s the band playing it gets worse. See this, especially bad around 21:49 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZ0QwDs8iDM

    Any help appreciated.

    #100765
    Profile photo of volounteer
    volounteer
    Participant

    Can you try to bypass the usb and use a mix to feed the streaming pc and see if that fixes the problem?
    Can you change the software in the mac to use 48 instead of 44.1?
    Are you using a usb2.0 input on the pc?

    Lots of people have many problems using usb with audio.

    I barely heard it around 21:49. Did you use some sort of click/pop filter?
    If not could you do that in the PC before streaming goes out to the viewer?

    #100769
    Profile photo of Mike C
    Mike C
    Participant

    I heard about were you said to listen.
    What version firmware are you running on the mixer?

    Are you sending/using a full multitrack feed the computer or just
    a stereo mix assigned to maybe tracks 1 and 2 on the USB output.

    #100827
    Profile photo of rhysllwyd
    rhysllwyd
    Participant

    Thanks for the tips everyone. I’ve checked the firmware and we were already running the latest one, also everything (all hardware and software) were set to 48,000Hz.

    I haven’t been able to replicate the problem this morning, but I suspect that is because I’m just here on my own talking into one microphone. I suspect when I have a band playing and multiple tracks streaming again the problem will come back.

    As a short term fix I think I’ll have to place another Audio Interface between the QU-24 and the Mac, I don’t actually need full multitrack coming in to the Mac anyway as I do all mixing and effects on the desk itself and only need the final mix (which is currently outputted via Mix 9-10 and routed into channels 17 and 18 with me) down the USB to the Mac.

    Is there a way to just send those two channels down the USB and not the full 32 channels? Also, I had the USB connect via a dock, I’ll try it connected directly to a port on the Mac itself to see if that makes a difference.

    #100830
    Profile photo of Mike C
    Mike C
    Participant

    You can unassign all unneeded input from the USB.
    On the mixer IO set up USB tab you select each track one at a time and
    using the encoder knob you scroll through the routing choices and at the
    start of the list there in an X to unassign any input from the selected
    track.

    #100833
    Profile photo of volounteer
    volounteer
    Participant

    @rhysllwyd

    We use an audio interface from a mix then to the PC.

    Many people seem to have problems when usb is involved.
    For the cost of the interface it is worth doing it instead of fighting the usb issues and hoping to finally find a fix.

    #100834
    Profile photo of KeithJ A&H
    KeithJ A&H
    Moderator

    @rhysllwyd
    The Qu-24 USB stream/connection will always be 32×30, but as Mike C says, you can choose what is being sent from the Qu.
    If selecting ‘X’, you will in effect be sending a lot of 0’s for that channel, which can be very useful for troubleshooting but does not change the bandwidth requirements for the connection.
    It’s built this way because otherwise any change at the Qu end would break the connection and the computer/driver/DAW would also need to keep track of what’s going on, which would almost certainly cause far more problems than it would solve.
    On the problem itself, we have tested the Qu with M1 hardware (and Big Sur) using official adaptors with a direct connection. It is not recommended to use hubs (internal/external) or docks, though we appreciate this is sometimes necessary.
    If you are using this setup and still having issues, please contact us using https://support.allen-heath.com and we’ll work through it with you.
    A note on testing – the clicking and popping I heard in the video sounded like dropped samples, so it will be more apparent with more consistent noise (rather that just more noise or more complex noise), the best way to check therefore would be by using the SigGen to generate a sine wave and sending this to the mix you are using for the stream. Any and all clicks/pops should then be very obvious.

    Thanks,
    Keith.

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