microphone hiss

[feyshay]

Any recommendations for getting rid of microphone hiss. I'm microphoning an amp with a dynamic and condenser microphone. Condenser seems to create a little more hiss.
Improvements, of course, have been turning up the amp, using a low pass filter, using a pad on my preamp, and keeping the gain on the preamp (Presonus Blue Tube DP) at low values, and keeping the treble down on my electric guitar. Also, having input sensitivity on mY USB Audio Capture at around 50%.
Note:
I have the dynamic around 3 inches from the amp and the condenser around 18 inches.
Am I doing anything counterproductive (or useless) for hiss and any other recommendations. Thanks!

[markroom]

k im a bit hungover but here goes

try recording nothing -like with no mic even to see if the noise is coming from ur soundcard-u probly already did dat-

u have to play around with the record levels in windows - sometimes windows boost the mic input by a good bit aswell- ders a little check box in the recording properties for this. anyway its better to turn this off and boost level on ur preamp-

any way my point is dat it might be the computer so like try recording a guitar di and see how noisey dat is


if ur close micing an amp and you have a good gain structure set up with ur preamp -u really shouldnt be noticing mic hiss -if its agood mic der is no hiss and its picking sumthin up -but then if the gain is turned up enough to hear a lot of room noise the amp should be way to loud-

hmmm i dont know

close mic +plus loud amp +preamp should equal a good signal
it must be somthin on the puter

[dburgan]

Isolate the amp and the mic from all surrounding sounds. You'll be shocked how much ambient room noise interferes with recording. Put the amp and mic into a closet, then cover them up with several thick blankets to create an isolated space. (Watch for heat though! You don't want a fire!) See if that helps with your hiss problem.

[Notron User]

How about a noisegate?

Voxengo's voxformer works well for me.

There's gotta be a free one out there somewhere.

[McLilith]

try recording nothing -like with no mic even to see if the noise is coming from ur soundcard-u probly already did dat-

That's very misleading. The amount of hiss your soundcard has, is greatly affected by the amount of "loading" placed on the input. I have seen systems that were noticeably quieter with a signal source attached, than with no signal source at all! The better method would be to use high-quality low-noise resistors to create a "dummy source" with the same impedance as the real source, and make your comparisons with that.

One other point I would like to make, is that dynamic mics generally have noticeably less hiss than condensors. It's just the nature of things. You might want to try a Rode NT-1A, if hiss really bothers you. They have a very low level of self noise.

Also, it's sometimes easy to confuse ambient "room noise" with mic noise. It's quite possible that the condensor is more accurate and more sensitive, and is revealing more room noise than the dynamic mic. Omni microphones will also capture more room noise than a directional mic, under such conditions.

To get rid of the hiss, you can try using a downward expander, a noise gate, record the signal noisy and extract it later with software, move the mic closer to the sound source, increase the volume of the source, boost the treble on the source and cut the treble when you play back the recording (preemphasis and deemphasis in action), buy a less noisy mic, or just learn to live with it. (I can't really get used to that last option myself.)


take care,
McLilith

[feyshay]

Thanks for the recommendations. I incorporated some recommendations. We'll see how limiting my condenser is. I have a good dynamic, but not so good condenser. Room is OK, but not ideal. What do you mean by downward expander? Any examples? I'll let you know how things go.

[McLilith]

What do you mean by downward expander? Any examples?

It's the opposite of a compressor. Instead of trying to make everything more of a uniform level, it works to increase the dynamic range of your signal. While it increases the perceived dynamic range of a recording, it tends to reduce the levels of background hiss in between the notes of a track. It's called an expander because it expands dynamic range. It's referred to as downward because it primarily affects soft sounds and brings their level down.

They serve a similar purpose as a noise gate, but instead of switching your audio on or off, they continuously and smoothly adjust the volume of your signal. What the limiter is to the compressor, the gate is to the expander. They both take the process of dynamic range manipulation to the extreme.

Does that all make sense?


take care,
McLilith

[feyshay]

I think it does. In fact, I was messing around with Elemental Audio's Neodynium in order to try to reduce hiss. I had to get to some other things, but I could do a little more work with this VST, since I think it has the ability to do what you are saying.
I'll check and see if I find any free VST's with similar capability, and then to find a decent noise gate. I'll check out my recordings after the basketball game. Thanks again.

[hoffy]

Bias SoundSoup works well. Voxengo Redunoise will do it damn well too.