How do I remove power supply buzz/static?

Question

Im doing some recording on my laptop but anytime I have the power/ac adapter plugged into the unit, the recording gets what I consider to be a high pitched, not so faint, static/buzz.

I went through Jason Levines video about removing noises, and tried all the different techniques, but the results either kill the sound completely and makes my voice sound muffled/covered, or the sound is still there.

When I unplug the power cable from laptop and record, there's no buzz while recording. The buzz is not from external/ambient/environment, but from within the computer. like static feedback or something.

How can I fix this??

SteveG_AudioMasters_ · Answer

We haven't heard so much about this recently, but it's a well-known side effect of using a switch-mode power supply which isn't earthed, and usually manifests itself when another device is plugged into the laptop as well as the power supply. What happens is that a load of static 'hash' from the (essentially floating) power supply gets capacitively coupled into the laptop supply and ends up as what we know as 'common mode' noise. You can read a bit more about it, and also look at a few potential solutions here: Humming and buzzing noise from laptop when used with AC adapter - ERG Blog

(Apparently the link is dead now)

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