I see alot of posts on here about getting noise in recordings and things dropping out while trying to record and such. One of the best conditioners that you could possibly purchase would be a UPS. Uninterupted Power Supplies or Battery Backups are a very good thing to have in your studio. Not so much to keep recording when the power goes out as you would need a backup for everything but, if you have ever seen a brownout it is when the power drops and keeps trying to power something that is supposed to have 115VAC and it drops below 80VAC for 2 ms or longer. This will not only shut a computer down but could cause damage to computers and other electronics. We were using one in a studio about 7 years ago. The band was recording a song and the power just when out for a split second. The computers in the other room all shut down and the recording went on without a hitch! I don't sell battery backups (unless one comes into the shop I work at). I truely believe in them! It was nice to have the Mixer and the computer plugged into that backup that day as the drum part we were trying to record would have had to be recorded all over again. This might not be a totally bad thing but as I had mentioned 3 computers in the other room shut down completely. One of those computers never started up again! EVER!! It is good to have a good power supply in the PC you are using as this computer didn't it allowed the PC to keep trying to run on less than 80VAC which will fry a PC and it did.
I remember when we bought it we were saying things like "We have pretty good reliable power here, do we really need this"? Now I won't run a studio without 3 of them! Blackouts are something these things are not going to avoid but if it is a short blackout for say 1 second or so you can actually go on recording without a hitch. As long as the band can play in the dark for a second.
Now as far as noise... These little babies can isolate alot of electric problems also. All of the ones I own have conditioners and surge protecters built in. These are a valuable piece of gear in my studio. I am looking into buying a couple more. I am still looking into a backup generator so the lights can stay on and the band can play through a 12 hour blackout or more if needed. The UPS's would still be used because the generator would probably cause noise in the system without them. These UPS units will keep things on for up to 30 minutes depending what we are running with them. The one on the computer is controlled by the computer to shut down the computer after 27 minutes. the others work until the batteries go dead. You will see me tell alot of people who are having noise problems due to bad current or the infamous 60 cycle hum to try a UPS. They work! If you are serious about protecting your gear get at least one...
08-13-2008, 01:23 PM
Battery Backup UPS do you need one? 
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