The Sennheisers definitely have noise too. What I have noticed in
some of the recordings I took with them is that the high frequency
hiss is suppressed during a loud sound event - especially when
recording in very very quiet environments. Its as if the diaphrams,
without excitation, produce a self-noise in the upper registers.
Again though, this is with an overzealous setting on the trim. Again,
the sound of silence is the noise of the capture devices.
Walter K posted some recordings comparing mic setups a couple weeks
back and the recording with the 30/40 pair has this hiss. I found the
recording using the MKH's the clearest, but also with the most high
frequency noise. This conflicts with all accounts of the MKH's from
the web, this list, and the professionals. Basically, the MKH's are
supposed to be the quietest. I will scour the list for other posted
examples.
If the Sennheisers are making unruly noise (and its not necessarily
poor 'tape' saturation), there are really only a couple of things
that could be wrong. 1) We are not using them correctly or 2) the
diaphrams we got are not so good.
Actually the last possibilty is that this is the state of the art.
It looks like this weekend is the time for testing.
--- In evs <> wrote:
>
> Hi David,
>
> interesting to hear that, i planned to make a similar topic, and i
> will, with some sound examples, because i really want to know if
this
> is normal...
> i also use a mkh30/40 combination, but with the sound devices 702.
> and i often record VERY subtle sounds.
> and i always have a Hiss on my recordings. Sometimes i also record
> room tones, which is recording a silent room.
> then you definitly hear this hiss. seems to be a sennheiser issue,
> NOT a preamp issue, as i had this with different mkh mics and with
> different mic pre amps.
> or i just was unlucky all the time and had broken mkh mics, bought
> new but broken mkh mics, or i=B4m making something terrible wrong...
>
> when i have time the next days i will load some sounds up, and
start
> a new topic on this.
> the mkh mics are really great, but this bothers me..
>
> all the best
> emil
>
> Am 29.05.2007 um 16:19 schrieb wildlifeanalysis:
>
> > Hello
> >
> > Listening back to some recent recordings, I am noticing hiss. The
> > recordings were taken on a pond where it was very very quiet. It
is
> > the beginning of the season and there are no insects to speak of.
At
> > the moment I do not have the measured frequency range of the
hiss, but
> > it is in the upper mids/ lower highs. I believe this hiss is
fairly
> > typical with condenser mics (in my limited experience) and perhaps
> > with electronic audio gear in general.
> >
> > The rig I am using is an MKH30/40 pair -> Fostex FR2LE. No preamp
> > other than the one built into the FR2LE. The trim and the input
knobs
> > on the FR2LE were set to their maximums to get a decent saturation
> > (which is probably my first clue). Maxing out these settings were
also
> > necessary in louder environments.
> >
> > 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?
> >
> > I do not have other gear to do any mashup testing, so any advice
from
> > those with more experience would be greatly appreciated. My hunch
is
> > that the FR2LE preamps are either not clean enough or are not
powerful
> > enough when using an MKH pair considering all the postings (and
specs)
> > I have seen touting the low self noise of the mics.
> >
> > Best
> > David
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
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