Tech advice on sound quality/room hiss (DBX286s, UMC404)

[Stevexoh]

Hi - I'm a newbie so not sure if I am posting in the right forum. Apologies if not. I couldn't find anything about my specific setup here so wanted to see if anyone could add some thoughts/ideas to help me troubleshoot.

I'm recording podcasts/voice audio and my setup is: Audio-technica AT2035 mic > XLR > DBX286s > TRS > UMC404HD > USB > Macbook.

I also use a Reflexion RF=X filter behind the mic. And worth noting that I record in a reasonably large room with large room background "hiss"/ambience (I have no choice in this unfortunately)

I've just introduced the DBX286s to help enhance my sound for a new project and I love it but it has also made me even more obsessive about clean sound and I can't work out if there is any way that I can improve on it.

What I notice is that I can use the gate to reduce the background room "hiss". But obviously when the gate opens for me to talk that hiss gets back into the signal. (It sounds to me like a closed hi-hat vibrating - something a listener might not even notice but I do). For me it is now even more noticeable than when I had no gate at all and the hiss was just there all the time.

Is there a way that I work with the gate AND not let the hiss in when it opens? Or is this something that I'm just going to have to live with and sort in post-production?

Any help/tips advice/settings on either unit much appreciated.

Steve

 

[Papanate]

Hi - I'm a newbie so not sure if I am posting in the right forum. Apologies if not. I couldn't find anything about my specific setup here so wanted to see if anyone could add some thoughts/ideas to help me troubleshoot. I'm recording podcasts/voice audio and my setup is: Audio-technica AT2035 mic > XLR > DBX286s > TRS > UMC404HD > USB > Macbook.
I also use a Reflexion RF=X filter behind the mic. And worth noting that I record in a reasonably large room with large room background "hiss"/ambience (I have no choice in this unfortunately)
I've just introduced the DBX286s to help enhance my sound for a new project and I love it but it has also made me even more obsessive about clean sound and I can't work out if there is any way that I can improve on it.
What I notice is that I can use the gate to reduce the background room "hiss". But obviously when the gate opens for me to talk that hiss gets back into the signal. (It sounds to me like a closed hi-hat vibrating - something a listener might not even notice but I do). For me it is now even more noticeable than when I had no gate at all and the hiss was just there all the time.
Is there a way that I work with the gate AND not let the hiss in when it opens? Or is this something that I'm just going to have to live with and sort in post-production?

A couple of things - do you have the pad engaged on the AT2035 or the UMC404HD or both? Can you post a recording with nothing but the sound of the mic?

 

[Stevexoh]

A couple of things - do you have the pad engaged on the AT2035 or the UMC404HD or both? Can you post a recording with nothing but the sound of the mic?

Hey. Thanks for the reply.

PAD isn't engaged on the UMC or on the AT2035 (AT 2035 has the low cut switch to the right - the straight line and the PAD to 0dB)

Attached is a recording. Not sure if I've done what you suggested. But is a recording with the DBX active and then bypassed and then active again)

 

[rob aylestone]

It was tricky as you didn't stop talking - but when you said you had bypassed the UMC I could just detect a roughness in the tiny silences. Sadly, your issue is exactly what a gate does - prevents signal pass through until a pre-determined signal level is exceeded. So from silence to very quiet background noise will always be heard. In fact, gates rarely are of much use on the spoken word because all the lulls would make the opening and closing very obvious. Great on drums and electric guitars that have lots of spill, or amp/effects noise. Spoken word? Always obvious. You did say "bypassed the UMC" - I assume you meant bypassed the DBX. Normally, bypassing decreases noise, but in this case it not only increases noise, it's got a characteristic sound - not really sure where it comes from.

If you start adding compression, by the way, this makes gating even more obvious. I'm not detecting any obvious room sound being captured, just electronics noise. Maybe your gain staging is a bit odd? The output level of the DBX compared to input level on the UMC, for example - having the noisiest device doing the smallest amount of gain production is the best way - but I would just try combinations of DBX output up, UMC input down, and then swap to DBX down, UMC up in small stages till you identify the least problematic settings.

 

[Stevexoh]

It was tricky as you didn't stop talking - but when you said you had bypassed the UMC I could just detect a roughness in the tiny silences. Sadly, your issue is exactly what a gate does - prevents signal pass through until a pre-determined signal level is exceeded. So from silence to very quiet background noise will always be heard. In fact, gates rarely are of much use on the spoken word because all the lulls would make the opening and closing very obvious. Great on drums and electric guitars that have lots of spill, or amp/effects noise. Spoken word? Always obvious. You did say "bypassed the UMC" - I assume you meant bypassed the DBX. Normally, bypassing decreases noise, but in this case it not only increases noise, it's got a characteristic sound - not really sure where it comes from.

If you start adding compression, by the way, this makes gating even more obvious. I'm not detecting any obvious room sound being captured, just electronics noise. Maybe your gain staging is a bit odd? The output level of the DBX compared to input level on the UMC, for example - having the noisiest device doing the smallest amount of gain production is the best way - but I would just try combinations of DBX output up, UMC input down, and then swap to DBX down, UMC up in small stages till you identify the least problematic settings.

Ahhh sorry! I've just realised what you meant by just recording the mic noise . And yes, you are correct - I did mean bypass the DBX. Dyslexia muddles up my acronyms. Not the best start for my first post.

Thanks so much for your help. I will have a play with the gain staging as you suggest. That sounds like a good way forward.