Shure SM7B hiss noise

E

earlgraycz

New member
I have a problem with a hissing microphone. I use a Shure SM7B microphone, Focusrite Scarlett Solo (3rd gen.), DM1 Dynamite Preamp and Roland RMC-B10 cable. This is connected to a MacBook Pro M1.

I have the Gain on the microphone input set to 50%, this allows me to speak into it comfortably from a distance of about 8cm (3.15 inch).

At this setting, however, I find the hissing noise too loud. You can listen to a sample here:
https://soundcloud.com/jakub-bla-ek-202510569/sm7b-noise?si=1a02138c93014e1c96c7d0c6163247d7&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

The room is quiet and I also tried surrounding the microphone with a curtain to eliminate the possibility of outside noise. I moved the microphone around the apartment to make sure it wasn't external interference.

Is this much noise normal with my setup? If not, what can be done about it?
 
I don't hear any noise - it's silent.

The link you posted doesn't work, so I modified it and this is what I listened to :

 
Hi,
That hiss is barely audible with my volume at full but without your voice for reference there's no way to know if that's a lot of hiss or not.
Do a short clip where you speak at a normal level, and then leave silence so the hiss can be heard on its own too.
 
I pulled the MP3 into Reaper and hit "normalize". The signal was -57.7dB, and that was actually some rumble that was higher in level than the hiss. The actual hiss level is highlighted in an area that the rumble stopped momentarily. Was this done at your normal level for recording? If so, then you shouldn't have an issue with any actual recording.

SM7B noise.jpg
 
Steenamaroo said:
Hi,
That hiss is barely audible with my volume at full but without your voice for reference there's no way to know if that's a lot of hiss or not.
Do a short clip where you speak at a normal level, and then leave silence so the hiss can be heard on its own too.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply. I'm sending another recording with a speech sample:
 
Yeah, that sounds totally normal for the gear you have.
No one's ever likely to hear that unless they're trying to be critical or looking for problems.
 
TalismanRich said:
I pulled the MP3 into Reaper and hit "normalize". The signal was -57.7dB, and that was actually some rumble that was higher in level than the hiss. The actual hiss level is highlighted in an area that the rumble stopped momentarily. Was this done at your normal level for recording? If so, then you shouldn't have an issue with any actual recording.

View attachment 131745
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for your answer. Yes this is the volume level I need for recording. So do you think this is standard noise for this microphone and I don't have to worry about there being a problem in my hardware? Could the rumble be caused by the hardware or is it usually another source?

I'm worried that it might bother people during live streaming, because I don't hear that noise with other streamers using the same microphone.
 
Steenamaroo said:
Yeah, that sounds totally normal for the gear you have.
No one's ever likely to hear that unless they're trying to be critical or looking for problems.
Click to expand...
Thanks again. I don't have any experience with better microphones so I wasn't sure if this level of noise is ok.
 
No trouble.
I'd have expected it to be a fair bit louder, so your DM1 must be doing a good job.

I regularly use SM7b/Re20 with Gen3 2i2, and I hear more hiss than that.
 
I really don't think it will bother anyone. I typically get -50 to -60dB when I'm recording just from background noise, depending on the time of day. The rumble was ambient noise, not something generated by the mic. Just touching a mic stand or moving around will actually generate a significant amount of noise.
 
I am willing to bet the OP is listening on headphones. The temptation there is to monitor at too high a level and that of course increases background noise because everything is louder than it naturally should be.

This is also a problem with speakers of course but at least then you can check the SPL with a meter or phone app. Or, get someone to speak alongside a monitor and match levels.

We just love loud!

Dave.
 
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