getting hiss - please help

  • Thread starter Thread starter crgman
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C

crgman

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Hey- tonight I was getting a lot of hiss through a couple condensor mics. Recording acoustic guitar with a AKG C3000B and an Oktava MC012. As I tried to hit the board hard, I got a lot of loud hiss, especially with the omni capsule on the 012. I am coming into a Mackie VLZ 1202, out the Alt 3/4 and into the Mackie. Also tried coming out of the Mackie from the main xlr outs as well as using the Mackie inserts.

Any ideas? I mean- that hiss is loud!

-c
 
OOPS! I meant- I am coming out of the Mackie into a Roland VS-880EX!
 
Have you checked your GAINS?

Have you checked all of your connections?
 
One of my mic preamps will do that when you have the gain cranked up all the way. It is nice and quiet right up to the point where it is at 95% on the knob, then pushing it just a little bit more will increase the hiss, but not affect the signal much.

If you have permanent hiss on tracks that you have recorded you can remove it with any number of new DX plugins that sample the hiss and then subtract it from the signal.
 
Thanks! Are these DX plugins for the Roland? Or for PC editing? Where can I get the plugins?

-c
 
PC editing. You will have to export, de-hiss, and re-import.
 
jgourd.....yeah where are those plugins? that would rock for me. a lot of my bands like thier basses EQed punk rock style (really higih high mid and low...you know).... (sample at http://www.angelfire.com/emo/shackrockinc/links.html ... click the only link available there). Listen tot hat and i'm sure you'll hear TONS of hiss during stops, etc. (thats from bass eq). You're saying i could get rid of that with a plugin?
 
Hiss removal is hardly transparent. If you use it hard enough to remove the hiss you end up with weird artifacts that almost sound like your flanging.

A slight touch of it is good when your restoring old recordings but I cant imagine using it as an alternative to a clean signal path.

If you use EQ to add highs you will always add hiss. Dont use EQ to add highs. If your mics dont have a good enough high end response then your stuck until you get a different mic.

crgman - Do you have a compressor you can use to make sure your getting a consistently hot signal into the mackie? Then you can be sure you are only using as much gain as you need to.
 
I listened to your track. I really do not hear lots of objectional hiss, even during the breaks. I do hear a little bit of room noise but it is pretty quiet.

This track's biggest problem is DC offset. The whole track has differing amounts of DC offset which can screw up all sorts of things when trying to process the file. It also has lots of moments when the signal is clipped.

I took the liberty of removing the DC and some of the rumble from your track. Here it is:

 
what exactly is dc, etc.?

how can i get rid of that stuff by myself over here? lol....

as for the clipping - i know it clips a little bit every once in a while...but i got no way of stopping that for now...lol - got no limiter, or real knowledge on using one. although i do know a bit on compresssion (i hope), lol.
 
Thanks, everyone. I re-checked my gains. Set everything to Unity Gain and then set the initial gain level with the trim on the Mackie. That seemed to do it.
Also- I was getting a ton of hiss with the omni capsule on the Oktava 012; but I had the -10dB pad capsule on it as well. Took that off and it made a big difference. Much more quiet.
The only unwanted noise I got after all of this was the low rumbles of the duct work, but that was cured 90% with the Low Cut switch on the Mackie.

So- success! Thanks again!

-c
 
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