Mic hiss

[DVD Guy]

I have a Shure mic, Behringer mixer and an iMic that I use on my PC and my Mac. When I try to get the volume up, I get some noticable background hiss. It is not from the enviroment, but from the volume on the mic.

How do I get rid of it?

[DVD Guy]

No suggestions from anyone?

[audiocollective]

try a new mic cable... thats the first thing i would do. then try a new cable that connects it from the mixer to the imic. hopefully it will just be a bad cable!
good luck.
-dave

[Noebie]

You might try using Audacity (which is free, open-source sound recording and processing software) to remove the noise. It would probably be better to track down the source of the hiss from the beginning and eliminate it though.

Possible sources could be lighting fixtures, improper grounding on the board, etc.

I've had good luck using a noise-cancelling USB mic (from Logitech).

You might also want to post at the Mac Cast forum.

http://www.maccast.com/phpbb/

Good Luck!

[speechless]

Which Shure mic are you using? Is it powered? Internal? Check the battery.

External? Does your mixer supply phantom power? Is it turned on?

Is your mic gain up too high and your channel fader really low? Reverse them.

[Craig]

Whatever you do, don't rely on software to get rid of the hiss...I have yet to find a software solution to hiss removal that doesn't degrade overall sound quality.

Craig

[bigee]

I had the same problem, and ended up buying a compressor/gate. Cost me $100, but no more hiss. Also, don't have to go back through and compress all the talk as well. Already done on the input.

[WyethDigital]

You're much better off finding the source before it hits the computer. When you monitor your sound, how do you do it? Through your computer or through your board? I would try it through both. If you hear it on your board and your computer, chances are the problem's with the mic, or the mixer (probably settings). Shure is a pretty decent mic, but I was told unless you have a very expensive one pro series, Shure sometimes uses their "reconditioned" parts to make their economy line of mics.

If it is the computer ony, I would look at your sound control panel and make sure that the gain is not turned up all the way. The most you should have it is 60% to 70%. If that makes your input too low, then you need to make adjustments at the mixer.

Whatever you do, don't rely on software to get rid of the hiss...I have yet to find a software solution to hiss removal that doesn't degrade overall sound quality.


Soundsoap (http://www.bias-inc.com/products/soundsoap/) is an excellent noise reduction application. The trick is knowing how to use it. The interface is almost too simple. Of course, you should use it before you compress your files into mp3 (if you have that option), because the more compressed a sound file is, the more distortion you're going to notice. And unless you have a very fast computer, a 30 minute Podcast is going to take a while to filter.


Eric

[DVD Guy]

Great feedback...thanks. I notice the level will increase and decrease when I play with the line input, channel and main levels. My mic is not a high end Shure so that could be it. All of my power cables and signal cables are seperated so I do not think it is that. I will try to plug my mixer into a different wall outlet to see if that works.

I do use Audacity but have not used SoundSoap. Thanks!

[WyethDigital]

:idea: One other thought! What kind of lighting is in the room? Florescent or incandescent? Florescent lights are one of the biggest hum and buzz makers out there. Whenever I shoot somewhere with them, I make sure as many as possible are off. They don't even have to be near you to mess with you.

And of course, they're miserable to white-balance (but that's a camera thing)!

Eric

[DVD Guy]

bigee...

what gate did you buy? do you have a link?