Damn a lot of hiss...

[Stabdogg]

I am a singer/songwriter and use a Boss BR 864 for a long time. I think I mastered the machine and got the best out of it after a few years of recording. It's not the best soundquality, but hey it's fine.

But I bought a new microphone the other day, a Studio Projects B1 condensator mic. It didn't work on my Boss because the lack of Phantom power so I had to buy a pre-amp according to the salesman. I bought the cheapest one, a Behringer mini-mic800.

I recorded a song today and my accoustic guitar sounds really good through the mic. But, there is a constant BIG hiss going on. I've tried several functions on the pre-amp but I can't get it away.

Is it the pre-amp or the mic? Or something else maybe? (power circuit?)
And how do I get rid of it...

Thanks

[warble2]

Originally Posted by Stabdogg

I am a singer/songwriter and use a Boss BR 864 for a long time. I think I mastered the machine and got the best out of it after a few years of recording. It's not the best soundquality, but hey it's fine.

But I bought a new microphone the other day, a Studio Projects B1 condensator mic. It didn't work on my Boss because the lack of Phantom power so I had to buy a pre-amp according to the salesman. I bought the cheapest one, a Behringer mini-mic800.

I recorded a song today and my accoustic guitar sounds really good through the mic. But, there is a constant BIG hiss going on. I've tried several functions on the pre-amp but I can't get it away.

Is it the pre-amp or the mic? Or something else maybe? (power circuit?)
And how do I get rid of it...

Thanks

Welcome to the board...

The SP B1 is a decent mic (used to own one), and has reasonable low noise. The culprit is the Behringer - my guess anyway. Haven't used one, but the dirt cheap stuff (pre's in that price range) will be noisy - even the cheap ART stuff will be noisy. I used to own a ART TubePre and that little bugger was noisy.

What kind of budget do you have? If you can do about $100, I'd ditch the Behringer and go for a SP VTB-1 or or $150, a M-Audio DMP3 (which would give you 2 channels for stereo recording).

[Stabdogg]

so you think there is no other way to reduce the hiss other than buy another pre-amp? (which means I bought this one for nothing)

[warble2]

Well, how hot are you recording? Are you cranking the gain on the pre and recording so the signal is 0dB? If you are, back down a bit. The higher the gain, the more of the hiss you'll prob. hear. Seems the hiss is what you'll find in those dirt cheap pre's - as I said from my experience. When I didn't crank on the gain, the ART I had did OK, but it wasn't dead quiet.

[Stabdogg]

Isn't there another way to power the SP B1 mic without a pre-amp cause my boss digital studio's is enough...
I want to get rid of the noise.

[warble2]

There are phantom power supply boxes like this:
http://www.zzounds.com/item--ARTPHANIII

But you're still faced with the XLR in/out situtation (the Boss doesn't have XLR's), and the fact that you really should use a pre-amp to get the proper signal from the B1. We could go back and forth for awhile, but you haven't really answered the question I asked....what are you setting the gain at? How hot are you recording? You're NOT going to get pristine sound out of the Behringer pre-amp you've purchased. If you want to step up a bit, they one of the other options I presented you with.

I used to use my B1 with the VTB-1 pre-amp, and was very happy with the combo.

Peace.

EDIT: Just checked the Boss you have online - it appears to have a XLR mic in and a "Sens" knob. You should be OK to get the phantom power supply and use the B1 this way. I say this not knowing exactly how the Boss mic input works, but the phantom supply I linked to will provide the phantom power you need.

[jeffree]

Welcome, Stab. I use an SP B1 with a cheap pre (internal in my Yamaha aw16g) for recording acoustic guits, and the sound is completely free of hiss at normal volumes. I agree that the problem isn't with that mic unless it's broken. I'd simply try another pre to find out. M-Audio's DMP3, mentioned above, is on my list of things to buy someday.

Good luck,
J.

[cusebassman]

Originally Posted by jeffree

Welcome, Stab. I use an SP B1 with a cheap pre (internal in my Yamaha aw16g) for recording acoustic guits, and the sound is completely free of hiss at normal volumes. I agree that the problem isn't with that mic unless it's broken. I'd simply try another pre to find out. M-Audio's DMP3, mentioned above, is on my list of things to buy someday.

Good luck,
J.

That phantom unit should do the trick, as long as you have line-inputs on some channel of the recording device you have.

As for the DMP-3, I'll give that a big thumbs-up, as I've been able to crank it up to +66dB of gain and it has given me no added noise... the only noise I was getting at that point was the sound of cars driving outside and the refridgerator rumbling 4 walls away

However, I realise people are on budgets, so you might want to return whatever pre it was you bought, and go for that phantom supply unit.

[SonicAlbert]

That Behringer already has phantom power, so I don't think you want to chain another phantom power unit to it. Also, you are adding yet more cheap electronics to try to solve a problem caused by cheap electronics. Not the solution.

The solution as I see it is to bring that Behringer unit back to the store and get a store credit for it. Then buy the DMP-3 or VTB-1 for use with your microphone.

As you said in your post "I bought the cheapest one". This is what happens when you buy the cheapest one of anything-you get subpar performance out of it.

Take it back and buy something better.

[cusebassman]

I think he meant to then use the preamp on the standalone recorder he has, as it has an XLR input for microphones, but doesn't supply phantom power.

The best pre to go with would definitely be one of the standard homerec go-to preamps, but I don't know if he'll have the cash to drop.

[SonicAlbert]

Originally Posted by cusebassman

I think he meant to then use the preamp on the standalone recorder he has, as it has an XLR input for microphones, but doesn't supply phantom power.

You're right, I just re-read that.

I do like the idea of getting a lifetime type preamp, as he will be able to use that with this recorder and any recorder he ever buys after it.

[Stabdogg]

Isn´t the best (and cheapest) thing to do just to get rid of the cheap-assed preamp and buy only phantom power for my SP B1 mic?

My boss br864 already has built in pre-amps which i always used with my old mic... At least then I got rid of the hiss right?
And what good is a cheap preamp anyway... It's just for the phantom power.

Or do you guys suggest different?

[cusebassman]

Originally Posted by SonicAlbert

You're right, I just re-read that.

I do like the idea of getting a lifetime type preamp, as he will be able to use that with this recorder and any recorder he ever buys after it.

This is definitely the case. However, most seem to only learn the "buy better and buy once" mantra after they have purchased half the Behringer catalogue. I know I've made that mistake plenty myself.