hiss

  • Thread starter Thread starter seijuromitsurug
  • Start date Start date
What kind of hiss and what is producing it?

Tape?

Electronic?

Speakers?

Preamps?

Microphones?

Headphones?

HVAC?

The list goes on and on and on...
 
There's so many variables...but all my hiss has come from not grounding right or bad cables.

jacob
 
jkokura said:
There's so many variables...but all my hiss has come from not grounding right or bad cables.

jacob

That should cause hum, not hiss.
 
seijuromitsurug said:
i think what i'm looking for is mic hiss..

Unless you've got a really crappy mic, it's unlikely the source of your hiss is mic self noise. Unlikely, but not impossible. If your micing technique isn't so good, and you're cranking up a ton of gain to get a good signal from a mic with a bit of self noise, and doing this over several tracks, then you could accumulate enough mic noise to have a hiss problem. More likely it's a combination of a little mic self noise combined with more noise from not so quiet preamps being worked too hard, and who knows what downstream from there. It could also be none of the above, and could be entirely from a summing amp being asked to work too hard to make up for lack of gain earlier in the signal path. So you need to learn your signal path and apply proper gain staging along the way to make all the stages do the job they're supposed to do, and neither work too hard, nor do too little and make the next stage have to work too hard to make up for it.

-RD
 
seijuromitsurug said:
i think what i'm looking for is mic hiss..

Are you using a mic preamp? If so make sure that you are going into your soundcard thru the 'line-in' from the preamp.

What kind of soundcard are you using?
 
seijuromitsurug said:
getting rid of hiss.... tips?

Steps for getting rid of hiss:

1. Obtain some twine and two three-foot poles from Home Depot.
2. Obtain one full-grown white mouse from a neighborhood pet store.
3. Tie a piece of twine to the mouse's tail. (This may take multiple attempts. We recommend that you wear sturdy gloves to avoid painful tooth marks on your fingers.)
4. Tie one of the three-foot poles to the other end of the string.
5. Walk into another room.
6. Wait, watch, and listen.
7. Once the snake has fully consumed the mouse, it will have no way to regurgitate the string. Thus, the snake should be solidly attached to the pole.
8. Grasp both poles in opposite hands.
9. Holding the opposite end of the snake pole in one hand, use your free hand to bludgeon the snake with the remaining pole.

Congratulations. You have now gotten rid of the hiss. :D

But seriously, please list the recording chain that you are using when you hear this hiss, beginning with the microphone, ending with the audio interface, and including anything in-between.
 
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