Creative Communities of the World Forums

The peer to peer support community for media production professionals.

Activity Forums Canon Cameras Audio Hiss

  • Audio Hiss

    Posted by Phil Beastall on July 7, 2008 at 3:08 pm

    I am trying to capture audio straight onto mini dv using an Canon XL2, with an XLR mic plugged into audio 1 on the back. For some reason there seems to be a constant hiss running throughout. When I unplug the mic, there is still a hiss. Albeit the level has been turned up to 3 oclock, but thats because I am capturing some relatively quiet audio. Is there something that is causing this hiss or is this just because its going through a camera?

  • 3 Replies
  • Todd Roush

    July 8, 2008 at 5:36 am

    What kind of mic are you using? If it’s a dynamic mic you may get some hiss.

    Do you have the XLR’s set to LINE or the ATTENUATION turned on?

    Check these first.

    TR

    Todd Roush
    Dreamscape Digital Media
    Panny DVX-100’s but changing so Sony or Cannon HDV soon.

  • Phil Beastall

    July 8, 2008 at 8:22 am

    Well the mic doesn’t have anything to do with it because even with it unplugged you could hear a hiss when I turned the levels up. With the ATT turned on and off there is hiss. Albeit there is less when its on, but still surely there should be no hiss when nothing is plugged in?

  • Bouncing Account needs new email address

    July 8, 2008 at 12:18 pm

    [Phil Beastall] “Well the mic doesn’t have anything to do with it because even with it unplugged you could hear a hiss when I turned the levels up.”

    A condenser mic will usually have a much higher output (great “sensitivity” figures) and the signal will be high enough that the gain does not need to be increased so much, reducing the background hiss.

    [Phil Beastall] “surely there should be no hiss when nothing is plugged in?”

    No input can exhibit noise that can drop significantly when there is a proper amount of input “impedance” added, as when an input device (in this case, a mic) is connected.
    This is especially true of high-gain mic inputs.
    Most line-level inputs won’t exhibit much noise with no connection.

    All this is moot if your camcorder currently has some audio technical problems.
    I can’t tell that from this end.

We use anonymous cookies to give you the best experience we can.
Our Privacy policy | GDPR Policy