MPC picking up the radio?

So, last weekend, my band played a festival in Toronto......and to make a long story short......when we set up our gear on stage, the MPC was picking up a radio station - Spinal Tap style.

We tried everything to fix it (swapping cables, swapping DI box, swapping power source, lifting grounds, we even tried to run it through and amp instead of direct) but nothing worked.

It wasn't actually coming out of the MPC's output, because when I turned the master volume down all the way, the radio was still coming through my channel on the PA.....as if the just combination of the MPC and the cables/etc became an antenna.

So, we just had to play our whole set with some radio voices talking in French in the background.
The band Blonde Redhead played after us, and they use an MPC also.
SAME PROBLEM! The radio was running in the background through their entire set also.

Have any of you experienced this problem before?
I've been gigging with these MPCs for 2 or 3 years now, and this is the first time it's happened to me.
But, let me tell you.....it SUUUCKED!

We'd like to get on the radio.....but that day, the radio got on us! Haha!

I would have a talk with the guys responsible for the sound...something wasn't right there.

It was probably the speakers. It's not totally uncommon for speakers to pick up radio frequencies.

I think its because the cables can sometimes act as an antenna

i bartend at a blues club and one night while we were setting up, we started picking up truckers on our huge jbl speakers as they were talking over a cb radio. all sorts of stuff can pick up radio frequencies. actually there was a guy at the bar when it happened telling me about his days in the service. said he used to pick up the radio signals through the fillings in his teeth. lol. now that shit it crazy, he said he could hear everything clearly from inside his mouth.

wtf ?
thats weird. very weird.

Damn, sucks you had to gig with that radio bullsh!t. I've never gotten any reception on my mpc, but I have gotten reception through my turntable. It was weird cuz the signal would slightly amplify whenever I touched the tonearm. Turned out to be some gospel channel with some preacher doing a sermon...perhaps it was my CALLING!!! hehe

what if you could sample the radio signals? that would be pretty cool.

in my old flat top floor i used to pick up Police n fire radio when they went passed, got really confusing when mixing

yo i wish i could pick up signals from my cavity fillings

probably because the unbalanced cables that you/they were using were the right length to pick up that frequency... if it happens again , try using really short cables to a d.i. , then run balanced signal to the sound guys.

I've also heard of internal wiring in keyboards do the same thing , the player simply turned his keyboard around 90 degrees and the radio station disappeared.

pad-ophiliac wrote:said he used to pick up the radio signals through the fillings in his teeth. lol. now that **** it crazy, he said he could hear everything clearly from inside his mouth.

that guy's a liar. it's not possible, they proved it on that mythbusters show.

Not sure if this helps but....

On my phone at home I get a radio signal very clearly on my upstairs phone, not the down stairs phones(main living quarters) and I had to purchase some type of filter from Radio Shack and it cleared it. Shack people stated that my electrical cords (somewhere in the house) was coming in contact with my phone cord (somewhere in the house) which both had to be exposed. That may have been the issue at that club. Sounds fishy but once I connected that filter to the phone cord all is set now. But do they make one for a stereo, not sure... I hope this helps.


PEACE


Gary

This just happened to me with my mpc live two and came on here to find a answer and someone mentioned radio shack and I realized it was from 07 and I just wanted to say I miss radio shack so much they where a great store…hell what I wouldn’t do to go back to 07…seems like it was yesterday but so much of a simpler time and we still had radio shack

It's up there... but stuff from 2003-2004 does crop back up from time to time.

Radioshack definitely had just enough to get you in the door for batteries, small electronic parts, or other various bits... but not quite enough to get you to grab something else. Was sad to see it go, did so many projects and kits from there with my dad.