blue woodpecker - hissing?

  • Thread starter Thread starter deibid
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deibid

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i finally got hold of a blue woodpecker active ribbon microphone - woohoo.
unfortunately it arrived a bit dented :( weird cos the case wasn't damaged.
anyways, i had a little sing & acoustic guitar through it just to try it & while i loved the results during playback, i wasn't very keen on the hissing that gets recorded at the same time, louder the volume, louder the hiss.
maybe not such a bad thing on a single track but compression brought the hiss up a few notches & multitacking would surely result in overpowering hiss.

is this a common thing for active ribbon mics? or maybe cos this mic is bashed?
 
where is it bashed at?

was it new from a retailer?

what pre amp?
 
- is bashed on top of the grill, dented.
- bought from a retailer who has arranged a return.
- going through a focusrite ISA one (no problems with previous mics)
 
by all means send it back...I was looking at one as a possible ribbon cannidate.
 
it is going back, no problem.
it's my first ribbon so i was just wondering if other active ribbons do a lot of hissing or just the woodpecker?
i really liked the results but if it's going to hiss, i can't really have it as my only mic
 
deibid said:
it is going back, no problem.
it's my first ribbon so i was just wondering if other active ribbons do a lot of hissing or just the woodpecker?
i really liked the results but if it's going to hiss, i can't really have it as my only mic
Click to expand...

Only have a inexpensive Apex ribbon, it needs a lot of gain,
so you'll get a little more hiss. But I would think you would
get a lttle more magic with the blue.

I'd be interested in knowing who sent you a dented mic though!
 
RandyW said:
Only have a inexpensive Apex ribbon, it needs a lot of gain,
so you'll get a little more hiss. But I would think you would
get a lttle more magic with the blue.

I'd be interested in knowing who sent you a dented mic though!
Click to expand...

haha, i'm not gonna shame them, after all they have been quite helpful (trashed mic aside :D)

seems the woodpecker might suffer from a bit of hissing:
http://emusician.com/mics/blue_microphones_woodpecker/



a bit annoying, can't have you cake etc... :rolleyes:
 
Ribbons require a lot of gain. Which means a lot of hiss from preamps / converters. In addition to whatever the mic possesses. I wouldn't expect the lowest hiss character of all mics out of a ribbon. Not that it's not the mic, but it might not improve much with a good one.
 
Id exchange it for a nice condencer...you dont want this for your only mic.
 
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