What, Exactly IS hiss?

[ashcat_lt]

Oh horse hockey! Professional recordings most certainly do have have noise! They're just better at hiding it. Masking, muting, gating, filtering, or whatever it takes. Every damn thing makes noise and there's absolutely no way around it in the really real world. Even with completely ITB, totally synthetic, computer generated music you'll still have dither/denormal noise to deal with.

Yes, pro gear - installed properly and correctly in a generally low noise environment - might be even a lot better for S/N than a budget setup in a basement with flourescent lights, a furnace, and a chest freezer, but there is no place in the known universe completely free of noise.

[coreytx]

Hiss is probably the last thing you should worry about. I think hiss is pretty actually.

[DarrenVocal]

Hissing isn't really the killer if your music isn't all that great! Most people don't give a damn about hissing noises.

[DrumRookie]

Hissing isn't really the killer if your music isn't all that great! Most people don't give a damn about hissing noises.

True, and in some cases the more hiss the better!
For example, I'd much rather listen to hiss instead of _________

[Chili]

I think Doc Varney is doing voice over and hiss is his number enemy. No music to blotch over the noise, it's either speech or nothing.

I don't listen to spoken material much, but the little I had did not have any hiss. So, that makes me think if you have any kind of unwanted noise in your recordings, you need to find the source and eliminate it.

Spoken word and musical recordings are not the same thing.

I'll go out on a limb and say your hiss is one of two things: 1) environment - You need a GREAT place to record spoken word; 2) Poor gain staging - you don't have your knobs dialed in properly.

[Chili]

b) If yes, then presumably your environment is good - but what would you say is your optimum combination of mic and pre-amping structure used for recording quieter material?

Oh now, see?? You already knew what is important.

a) If no, do you use software to remove it? Is noise removal an accepted part of your workflow?

This is only to fix a problem after the fact. You should be addressing it before the fact. You shouldn't be using software to remove noise. Find the source. If you use software, you'll have other artifacts that won't sound good compared to pro level stuff.

[PRHunt]

I'll go out on a limb and say your hiss is one of two things: 1) environment - You need a GREAT place to record spoken word; 2) Poor gain staging - you don't have your knobs dialed in properly.

Maybe Dr V could describe the specific set-up, and post a sample of a problematic recording.

An inherently noisy and/or insensitive mic would not help.

[Doctor Varney]

I think Doc Varney is doing voice over and hiss is his number enemy. No music to blotch over the noise, it's either speech or nothing.

I don't listen to spoken material much, but the little I had did not have any hiss. So, that makes me think if you have any kind of unwanted noise in your recordings, you need to find the source and eliminate it.

Spoken word and musical recordings are not the same thing.

I'll go out on a limb and say your hiss is one of two things: 1) environment - You need a GREAT place to record spoken word; 2) Poor gain staging - you don't have your knobs dialed in properly.

Bang on, chap! You've dialed directly into my situation - which shows you actually read my post.

Regards

Dr. V

[Bobbsy]

Anyone claiming to have a piece of electronic equipment without any noise is telling you a lie. Even the universe itself has a background hiss that you can hear with the right detectors.

Any chain of electronic gear (in this case microphone, pre amp, A to D converter) is going to leave you with the sum of the noise in each item.

What this means is that you're not trying to eliminate noise, just keep the ratio of your voice to the background noise at a point where the noise isn't audible in any normal listening condition. There's noise in every recording I've ever done--but, with care, it's at a level where you have to zoom in on the waveform in you DAW to find it. In my home studio it typically sits at around -85dB.

How do you achieve an acceptable signal to noise? There are a bunch of things.

First, almost any condenser mic will have a superior noise figure to any dynamic mic.

Second, be careful in your choice of pre amp. The process of adding gain (the function of a pre amp) also adds noise. A good pre amp adds less than a poor one. Use your decent pre amp with a condenser mic (which'll have a higher output) and it's quieter again.

Third (really following on from the second item) if you have any other bits of gear in the chain (mixers, outboard effects) be careful of your gain staging. You want a nice even flow of gain through the system rather than turning it up too loud in one place, then reducing it at the next stage, then up again. Keep it even.

Fourth, watch your monitoring. Monitoring involves an amp again. It doesn't affect your actual recording but, turned up to high, can fool you into thinking you have more hiss than you really do.

Now, be aware that for all this I'm talking about ELECTRONIC noise (hiss). Room noise is something else again and the causes and cures are very different. For music, you want a nice sounding room. For spoken word you want a dead sounding room. A folding frame (PCC pipe works well) with a layer or two of duvets or moving blankets placed behind you helps hugely. Another layer of soft stuff on the wall opposite you (the one you're facing) pretty much finishes the job. Keep both softies a few feet away from you--you don't want to be in a closed box because it sounds, well, boxy.

Frankly, the quality of modern gear is such that, in terms of electronic noise, any microphone/interface combination above the absolute bottom feeders should give you an S/N ratio somewhere between 80 and 90 dB. As for room noise, that's up to your skill with duvets.

[mtbcast]

Anyone claiming to have a piece of electronic equipment without any noise is telling you a lie. Even the universe itself has a background hiss that you can hear with the right detectors.

Any chain of electronic gear (in this case microphone, pre amp, A to D converter) is going to leave you with the sum of the noise in each item.

What this means is that you're not trying to eliminate noise, just keep the ratio of your voice to the background noise at a point where the noise isn't audible in any normal listening condition. There's noise in every recording I've ever done--but, with care, it's at a level where you have to zoom in on the waveform in you DAW to find it. In my home studio it typically sits at around -85dB.

How do you achieve an acceptable signal to noise? There are a bunch of things.

First, almost any condenser mic will have a superior noise figure to any dynamic mic.

Second, be careful in your choice of pre amp. The process of adding gain (the function of a pre amp) also adds noise. A good pre amp adds less than a poor one. Use your decent pre amp with a condenser mic (which'll have a higher output) and it's quieter again.

Third (really following on from the second item) if you have any other bits of gear in the chain (mixers, outboard effects) be careful of your gain staging. You want a nice even flow of gain through the system rather than turning it up too loud in one place, then reducing it at the next stage, then up again. Keep it even.

Fourth, watch your monitoring. Monitoring involves an amp again. It doesn't affect your actual recording but, turned up to high, can fool you into thinking you have more hiss than you really do.

Now, be aware that for all this I'm talking about ELECTRONIC noise (hiss). Room noise is something else again and the causes and cures are very different. For music, you want a nice sounding room. For spoken word you want a dead sounding room. A folding frame (PCC pipe works well) with a layer or two of duvets or moving blankets placed behind you helps hugely. Another layer of soft stuff on the wall opposite you (the one you're facing) pretty much finishes the job. Keep both softies a few feet away from you--you don't want to be in a closed box because it sounds, well, boxy.

Frankly, the quality of modern gear is such that, in terms of electronic noise, any microphone/interface combination above the absolute bottom feeders should give you an S/N ratio somewhere between 80 and 90 dB. As for room noise, that's up to your skill with duvets.

All good points, B. I'm dealing with a small mixer now and I get a good bit of hiss from my pre's. With nothing on the board by my phones, I can hear hiss with a low gain and moderate levels from a preamp'd channel. I think I'll be swapping the unit. For me having no inputs on the board and generating hiss just from the preamps is indicating and issue. At the least that better pre's are in order.