A little "funny stuff" with the FocusRite
 

The other day I was going to record a tune I composed and I got setup in my computer room to record as my usual recording area was inconvenient to use. So I set up my mic baskets on my desktop mic stands and hooked up my AT2035 mics to my Focusrite. I started to record and upon playback I was treated to a very distorted recording. So I had my what the hey moment and instead of researching what was going on I simply used my Zoom H5 without mics.

Today I took the time to research and found that I'm not the only one to encounter this result when using AT2035 mics. The solution I found online was to simply unplug the usb from the Focusrite, wait a bit and then plug it back in.

Strange.

That is strange - I cant imagine its something specific to that mic which would cause that problem with the Focusrite box? I also have a Focusrite interface (8i6) and while I've never had that particular problem I have had other "gremlins" with it - ie not detecting any signal from an electric guitar. I usually just power off and on the Focusrite box, and close and re-open my Reaper session.

That's much more likely an issue with the Focusrite and your computer rather than the Focusrite and your mics.

Agree it's probably a 2i2/computer issue. I have the same interface, and earlier this week the playback suddenly became thin and buzzy with a weird echo. Unplugging and replugging the Focusrite fixed it. Maybe their drivers just don't initialize properly somehow every once in a while.

The Focusrite models that are powered off the USB have limitations in their phantom power (due to limitations in power they can draw from USB). My son has a 214 and some mics with higher than typical phantom current draw had issues with the 214. The mics were within phantom power specs, but the interface couldn't adequately power them.

But any given unit does adequately power them some of the time. As TBMan said, unplugging and reconnecting the USB cable fixed it. You'd think they'd be able to come up with a firmware patch to fix it. If they can't do that, there's a serious design flaw in that unit.

That is strange and I agree with the others it sounds like is an issue with the Focusrite ,

But first perhaps a bit more clarification on the specific sequence of events.

#1 Prior to moving to a different room you were using the same mics in your recording area with no distortion (yes ?)
#2 you used the same computer in both locations (yes?)
#3 You disconnected the USB cable to move (yes)
# 4 when you disconnected the USB cable both the computer and the Focusrite were shut down, power off ? (cold swap) or were one or both still powered on (hot swap)
# 5 you moved to new location reconnected the USB , powered up, recorded and then had distortion ?
#6 When you say on "playback" you heard the distortion, but when you were recording were you monitoring the the input and it was not distorted ?

Admittedly I have no experience with USB powered interfaces but it sounds to me like if you hot swapped (which you are supposed to be able to do with USB) with the computer still on , that may have triggered a glitch. Or as suggested it is a basic glitch in the Focusrite firmware, or both....
I looked online and the mics state Phantom power requirement of 11-52 volt
The Focusrite does not really list actual Phantom power output, but simply list the generic 48 v designation term which literally simply means it has phantom power, and does not really indicate a measured stable 48 volts hitting the mic

No, first time using these mics with focusrite and computer. I alwsys used these mics with a Zoom H5

Humm ok so were you monitoring while recording ?

Make sure your computer's 'go to sleep' feature is not on. This will shut down power to the USB jacks, causing glitches until the computer is shut down and powered back on ('waking up' the computer will not reset the USB jacks).

Not sure what your running but here is an article from Focusrite
https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en-...-on-Windows-10