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Re: Recording "Hiss"

Subject: Re: Recording "Hiss"
From: "Walter Knapp" waltknapp
Date: Wed May 30, 2007 2:51 pm ((PDT))
Posted by: "wildlifeanalysis"

> So here is the question(s): Is this hiss generated by the mics, the
> preamps, or both? Would adding a good preamp to get a better
> saturation help reduce the affects of this hiss?

Just out of curiosity were there any conifers around and even a slight
breeze? Conifers like our southern pines produce a hiss that's a whole
lot like mic or recorder hiss. And it takes very little breeze to do it.
Not saying that's your problem just curious.

MKH mics don't produce what I'd characterize as a hiss. More like a
smooth Paaaaaa sort of sound. Easily hidden.

I you were driving the mic pre to it's limits it's generally not going
to give it's best sound. Generally somewhere closer to midrange is the
sweet spot.

What I do when I need max gain out of my MKH is to feed them into my
Sound Devices MP2 pre and feed the output of that (with some
attenuation) into the mic input of the Portadisc. Then both are set on
their sweet spot for gain and the combo is more gain than either alone
could do cleanly. Note this is usually something I'll do with the
MKH-20/SASS, which is a quieter and more sensitive mic setup than the
MKH30/40 MS. Not sure if the latter would handle that much gain.

Walt




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