Hissing/White Noise

That sounds much more like background noise than hiss or white noise. I heard all manner of sound, including what sounded like sheep in the distance.

It would still be valuable to hear what the background level of hiss is by recording the same setup, but inside a quiet studio, with no AC or heat running, nor computer fans or other normal "home" noises. Maybe about 10 seconds at the setting of 5, then you can turn it up to 8 (and maybe just say what the volume knob is on). That way we could better judge if the preamps are really that noisy.

BTW, its very easy to boost the gain after the recording is made. It wont lower the relative noise level, but if the preamps get disproportionately noisier, then it could be a better option.
 

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I am beginning to think that this Zoom and mic set up is a really bad combination. There is some noise from the Zoom but also the mic appears to pick everything up to infinity that is in front of it. So if outside recording you will always pick up this background noise.

The trees in the recording were about 10 - 30 yards away and sheep 100 yards away. But even on No 5 gain it is picking stuff up hundreds and hundreds of yards away. Maybe even further.

I will put it in studio which is absolutely silent and post results as you say TalismanRich.
 
If you were picking up sheep 100 yards away, then the mic is doing exactly what it is supposed to be doing, which is concentrating only on what it directly in front, and rejecting things that are off axis. You are familiar with polar patterns, aren't you? You may have the wrong tool for the job. A cardioid or even an omni might be a better choice if you aren't aiming the mic directly at your target sound.

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Remember too that a microphone is indiscriminate in what it records. It can't mentally filter out noises to concentrate on a single sound. It can't turn it's head to focus in a particular direction. Its a simple case of sound comes in and it gets recorded. That's the reason that a lot of times a home recording will hear a furnace fan, or a refrigerator compressor running. I once did a recording and when I listened back, you could hear an airplane fly by in the distance. Sitting in the room, I never heard it, but it showed up on playback. You mentally tune out those noises most times, but if you just set up a mic and record the sounds in a house, its amazing how much sound there is.

Again, I would recommend you also take the Neumann outside and see how that sounds, and if you can, try the Audient + 103 as a "best case" scenario.
 
Of course I understand how a shotgun mic works. But I think my problem is with this one it is so sensitive it is picked sound up far into the distance. In fact 'all' sound into the distance which it is coming over as a white noise in the background.

I think the sound in this case only starts registering on the Zooms display at gain level 4. That is why I have had it set at 5. I suppose I could go lower at level 4 or 3 and boost it in processing. But to tell you the truth at level 5 I have my monitors turned to maximum just making that clip, even though it came fairly loud after being rendered.
 
Lowering the record level and then boosting it later in the chain shouldn't change anything with regards to the relative volume of the various sounds. If the sheep are 25dB below the level of the birds, thats going to stay the same whether the birds are at -20 or -30 dB to start with.

The only way to get the sheep out of the soundfield would be to aim the mic in a different direction, such as at a 45 degree angle up into the trees, where the mic's reception node isn't going to see the sheep's sound. That should get rid of any running water, or land based critters.
 
That sample clip where we have close field loud sounds and then the animals in the distance sounds EXACTLY like I expect it to sound. I'm confused now - what am I supposed to hear that I shouldn't? I don't hear noise?
 
That background hiss/wind type sound Rob. At level 5 the recording registers low on the scale and can only be heard to edit with monitors on max. If I increase the gain level that background noise becomes insane. So I was thinking that it is electrical noise which there is some. I think it is thousands of noises in the distance all becoming one hissing sound. The distinguished animal/bird sounds are actually very close except for sheep.
 
I don't call that hiss - that sounds exactly like the noise of outside. It's been a long time but when I first started working I did a few jobs for a broadcaster quite famous back then for it's natural history programming. That clip sounds exactly like what you get with a shotgun in a blimp/hairy sausage wind cover. I really don't hear electrical noise at all, not even in the boosted version Rich posted. I think it really is thousands of individual noises. The problem with shotguns is the same as with camera lenses. People often buy a serious focal length lens and discover the strange alteration of perspective that they cause. Shotguns I have always considered do the very same thing. Video folk buy one and complain they sound really horrible indoors, and shotguns then get the reputation that they are rubbish indoors, when the problem is accurate aiming at the wanted source. Often it's the reflections from the wall, not the subject that they collect - users point them vaguely at the subject seen in the viewfinder, but forget that much of what can be seen is the wall behind - and that's what you hear.

I really think your Rode is doing a great job of capturing what it can hear - you were perhaps just expecting something different.
 
Ok fellas back to the drawing board. At least I know there is nothing wrong with my gear.

Thanks all.
 
FYI. Attached is a garden recording done 26 9 2018, untouched.

The rig is a pair of cheap, £25 Maplin dynamics (one of which seems to be borked!) feeding a Bherry X802 mixer*. That in turn feeds a passive converter to turn video and two audio channels to a balanced feed over CAT5e. In the living room is another CAT converter which feeds a security recorder and then a Freeview HDD/DVD recorder. I edit the results and burn to DVD.

The 2 min clip is transferred from DVD via Audacity to .wav then turned to 320k MP3 in Samplitude...Phew!

The clip is of a hedgehog snuffling about and although noisy you can hear it crunching the dry food? the mics are some 2mtrs away and you can see that the levels are about right because 'noises off' can be heard and hog's clattering pushes to 0dBfs.

*say what you like about Behringer but that mixer has been running, 24/7 for over six years!

Dave.
 

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As a follow up to this. The weather improved here today so went to try the xy mics and discovered nothing but crackle on recording. So I plugged in my lavier mic into the xy capsule and it was the same.

Does anybody know if these capsules go faulty? I dont know how it could because it hasnt been used for 12 months or more and in plastic case so?????
 
Other than moisture, its highly unlikely that both sets of mics would go bad. Its far more likely that there's something in the connector of the Zoom. I don't have the replaceable mics on my H4n, so I have never experience that type of problem.
 
^^^ That's what I'm thinking as well.

Rather than wait for an improvement in the weather, test it out at home. Unplug the XY unit and reseat it.
 
Couldn't see anything with a magnifying glass so I gave the contacts a clean with surgical spirit and left to dry. Works perfectly now so it could have been damp or dirt. Mystery.

All good so thanks again.
 
Hi
I see only now this discussion.
The first thing you have to do about the noise is discover where does it come from. Disconnecting the microphone is not a good test, because noise raises if you let input disconnected! The microphone at the input acts like a load for a voltage divider for the input noise, then you should test with inputs terminated on a low impedance. Also short circuit is not a good choice (also with Phantom off). because a very low impedance can increase input noise. Then, you have to test input noise terminating input with a 150~250 Ohm resistance. A good one is a simple dynamic mic, like a classic Shure SM58. Connect it to an input (also at the other input, if you have 2 dynamic mics), set volume at 5~6 and hear/measure noise.

Keep in mind that also a simple resistor produce thermal noise, that is about 18.2*SQR(R) [nV], but it is very low if compared to a condenser mic: it is about 0,2uV (microVolt). If a microphone ha a sensitivity of 20mV/Pa (94dB spl), it is 1/100000 (-100dB) of that, then it is like a -6dB spl noise.
 
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