Audio hiss with the A1

Hi all,

This is above water but I have just been through my topside footage and my audio has a constant hiss. You can hear the little birdies singing away but cloaked in this bloody hiss all the time.

What am I doing wrong my friends. I have the A1 mic settings on:

Input 1

CH1 - MIC - +48V (on)...Mic level on auto.

PLEASE HELP !!!!!!!!!

Dive safe

DeanB

The auto gain control might be pumping up the background noise too much.

You should get less hiss if you set the audio level manually but that's a pain in the neck for general use.

Better external mics and shock mounts would help too. I don't know about your camera specifically but Sonys often come with poor mics as standard.

Credit card time again Dean. Check out the Audio Technica AT897 and get your plastic out.

Here's a very good place to ask this question, where you will get a much better informed reply than mine:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/forumdisplay.php?f=99

As well as that HC1/A1 forum there's an audio-for-video forum here:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/forumdisplay.php?f=53

Nick

Cheers Nick,

Just noticed I had one of the channels up to high. I'll try everything.

Dive safe

DeanB

If you are shooting for audio, always use a set of headphones to hear what you are recording. Studio style headphones are best as they cut out noise. If you don't like the bulk, use the Etymotic earplug headphones. They cut out about 30db and you can hear the recording relatively well.

Adjust levels manually if the sound is crucial.Sennheisers are great mic and generally very quiet.

Nice one drew,

Been using my old stereo headphones with left side not working (doh)

Cheers...

Dive safe

DeanB

After much research I got myself a pair of Sony MDR-7506 studio headphones. They are really excellent and seem to be something of an industry standard.

However I've seen sound guys using Sennheisers more than once on shoots.

Those Etymologic in-ear phones that Scubadru mentions are very highly regarded too and would double as great phones for your ipod!

Sennheiser are definitely industry standard for shotgun mics (MKH 416 etc..) but Audio Technica are now very popular too and better value for money.

Nick

Cheers Nick,

Shot gun is the way to go. I'll take a look at the Etymologic's less obtrusive the better me thinks..

Dive safe

DeanB

I've got the Etymotic ER-4S and use them for exactly this purpose. You will hear any hiss, background noise, etc. with these better than any other headphones since they isolate sound so well.

The new ER-4P look good too.

check out more in ear monitors at:

http://www.headphone.com/guide/by-headphon...r-monitor-type/

Anyone use Bose Noise cancelling headphones for this work?

Yes, I have a pair of those too. They are a bit more comfortable for longer wear however are more bulky. Sound quality (subjectively) is not bad - actually pretty good for Bose (since they are now geared more to the consumer market).

They do cancel out a lot of sound, but not as much as the Etymotics. They electronically create a white noise matched to certain outside frequencies, thereby cancelling them so you don't hear anything. However, if there are frequencies outside of what they cancel, you can hear them. Note that they only cancel outside sounds, not what you are electronically listening to.

They work great on Planes since they are matched to remove that kind of low frequency sound.