hiss problems

  • Thread starter Thread starter Henk
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Henk

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Hi. I have been reading this forum for a few weeks now and have learned a lot already. I am new to recording, and just collecting some gear. I have a Yamaha AW 2816 hard disk recorder and some old mics from my father (two Sennheiser md-421's and a MBHO mbc 540 SD condensor running on two 15 volt batteries). I also have a Rode NT1 and a Behringer ECM8000. When using the older mics I get a lot of noise or hiss. The ecm8000 is pretty silent in comparison, although according to specs both the ECM8000 and the MBHO have a self noise of 22 dB (?). Perhaps because the ecm has a higher output level?
I am wondering whether this is a problem with the mics (e.g. the MBHO is 600 Ohm, don't know the significance of that), my preamps (it doesn't matter whether I use the Yamaha's or my little Behringer UB mixer), cables (I already exchanged them without much improvement), or something else. Also, the gain on my Yamaha harddisk recorder is just barely sufficient to get a good level out of these old mics. According to specs it has some 46 dB gain. I'd be very grateful for any suggestions on what the problem might be, or even better, any solutions?
 
The 421s should not be noticeably hissy at all. Maybe you're turning the gain too high, Try tracking and then see what you think.
 
If I turn the gain up to at least 90% on the Yamaha, And I play a saxophone full blast into a 421 (close miked), I get approximately -3dB when recording. Then when I don't play it's quite hissy, at least to my ears. With the same amount of gain the nt1 is just as hissy, but I get signal that is far too loud and clips all the way. I like the sound of my saxophone on these old 421's btw.
 
Sounds like the hiss is from the pres not the mics. Do you have any other preamps or mixers to test the mics on?

The 421 is a really smooth sounding mic...very pro.
 
I also tested them on a little Behringer UB mixer, that is said to be better than the previous model, and that doesn't make much difference. It's pres have more gain, so I don't have to turn them all the way up, but the same amount of hiss is still there. Perhaps I should just use a noise gate? Thanks for thinking along.
 
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