DI boxes and Hum in the studio

How do you guys reduce Hum within your studio?
I am looking into DI Box and wanted to know, what brands you use and where in the chain to you insert the BOX.

A DI is not the permanent solution to hum, only a workaround. A DI is mostly used in live shows to run unbalanced lines in excess of 25'. In a studio situation, a preamp with a direct input would typically be a better solution.

If you find the source of the hum and eliminate it, no DI required. Just make sure to keep ALL unbalanced cables under 25' and away from power supplies/cables. Oh and cop one of these:



It will tell you why you have a hum and how you need to go about solving the problem.

a DI is a good way to remove ground loop hums caused by equipment not properly grounded. they are not much use if the outlet or the building is not properly earthed.

just make sure you get one with a earth lift switch. i also find DIs useful around the studio for interfacing balanced and unbalanced equipment and for making sure i can't send phantom power into synths, mixers etc.

DIs are very easy and cheap to make.

I'm not sure about the not properly grounded/earthing problem stuff. I've got a Digitech Studio Quad FX that if its directly attached to my rack starts inducing hum into other stuff. All the gear is working properly & I've a good earth. What I had to do was use plastic/nylon rack mount bolts & it solved it totally.

I think its that with a lot of wall warts & ac to dc conversion, sometimes the 0 volts on one unit isn't quite the same as 0 volts on another & then hum is induced through ground loops.

I've got an ART Cleanbox 2 off of a friend but I haven't tried it out in anger yet. But it has had good reviews. If I was to buy one I might have went for the next one up which has a selection of connections and a ground lift switch.

Sound on Sound is good for these sort of problems:-

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/nov02/a ... on1102.asp

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jun02/a ... iboxes.asp

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1994_ar ... loops.html