Audio Hiss –tried TrackEQ, tried Audacity

[Steve Rhoden]

https://www.izotope.com/products/audio/RX/

Steve Rhoden
(Cow Leader)
Film Editor & Compositor.
Filmex Creative Media.
1-876-832-4956

[John Rofrano]

While I agree with Steve that iZotope RX2 is the ultimate noise reduction plug-in, if all you need to do is remove hiss, BIAS SoundSoap 2 can do it for a lot less money.

As for lav mics, I like the Audio-Techica line. I use an AT899 for all of my wired lav work ($199USD) but the less expensive AT803B is a nice mic too ($149USD)

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Dave Haynie]

First thing, characterize the hiss. Using an audio editor (rather than Vegas), you can get a spectral histogram of your audio, which can very precisely locate the frequency of your hiss… assuming it’s fairly fixed, which it often is. Once you know what to filter, you can set up a very sharp band-stop filter for just that frequency range.

I still have Sony’s noise reduction package around here, which comes with some of the various incarnations of Vegas or Forge. It’s not as good as the very latest stuff, but it’s often good enough, particularly if you have a “clear” sample of the noise (eg, nothing else in the soundfield).

There’s a pretty big difference between a $25 mic and one that costs thousands. What you’ll find, in fact, is that the quality vs. price is kind of a log scale. So for small increases in price, the quality can jump up pretty amazingly. Going from really good to excellent, on the other hand, can cost a bundle (and I’m kind of a mic guy.. I have over 20 worth using: shotguns, studio, stage, and one lav mic that really needs an upgrade).

Check you recording path, too, to make sure it’s just the mic. Of course, if you’re using an electeret or dynamic on a 2-4m cable to an 1/8″ with a cheap mic, yeah, expect noise. And low quality audio. I just did a video shoot last week for some “work” folks — the marketing group (I’m usually an engineer). They had done some videos in the past with a little Edrol field recorder and a tiny stereo mic… they were kind of blown away with the sound I got from a 16″ shotgun on a proper boom. A good lav mic could probably has done similarly.

-Dave

[Nigel O’neill]

Kelden

If is appropriate, you could mask the hiss with a bit of background music played at a low volume. I use this technique when interviewing in noisy places such as restaurants where the noise in the kitchen sometimes filters through.

I use a Rode mic on camera and sometimes I detach it hook it up to my 5 metre XLR cable and use it as a field mic. If I am going wireless, I use Sony’s lapel wireless mic.

My system specs: Intel i7 970, 12GB RAM, ASUS P6T, Vegas Pro 10e (x32/x64), Windows 7 x64 Ultimate, Vegas Production Assistant 1.0, VASST Ultimate S Pro 4.1, Neat Video Pro 2.6

[Kelden Amadiro]

Thanks for your advice!

Dave–do you have any specific mic recommendations?

Nigel–Do your Rodec or Sony mics generate any background noise? If not, what is the exact kind of Rodec/Sony mics do you use?
Thanks
K

[Kelden Amadiro]

For removing hiss, does anyone know if izotope’s Music & Speech Cleaner is as good as rx-2 or anr-b?
Thanks,
K

[Danny Hays]

Try narrowing the bandwith (Q) of the 4th eq filter as narrow as it will go and sweep the frequency untill the hiss is gone.

[Nigel O’neill]

Sony NTG-1, Rode Video mic and Sony UWP-C1/62 Wireless Microphone.

I haven’t heard of any background noise issues that these mics generate.

[Dave Haynie]

I have lots of ideas on quiet audio.

For on-camera applications, I usually use shotgun mics. I have a Rode NTG1 as my standard, sometimes with an MXL 301, occasionally on-camera, but often on a mic stand or on a boom pole, recording to a Zoom H4n. Neither is noisy, though with any super directional mic, it’s possible to pick up sound you didn’t hear on your own.

It’s also important to keep your mic isolated from what noise you can. Use a good shock mount. Most come with a foam sleeve which is ok for in-door “wind”, but for outdoors, you need a dead cat or a blimp, pretty much just count on that.

Using the Zoom and a proper level adjustment, it’s pretty easy to ensure you have adequate headroom but a strong signal. One mistake lots of people make is recoding too low, so you have to boost system noise into an audible range, where it might be missing entirely. On the other hand, for anything that’s going to get really loud, keep at least one mic on a 20-30dB pad. My NTG1 will take a 139dB,spl input, but the pre-amps on my HMC40 won’t get anywhere near there (and many camera level controls are not actually adjusting a pad on the input, but the bias on some intermediate amplification stage — so you can still get analog saturation even when you’re not digitally clipping).

For voice-overs, I get the speaker in front of one of my large diaphram condenser mics. You don’t have to pay a fortune. I have a Blue “Bluebird” which is pretty decent for about $300, but I also have an Audio-Technical AT2020 and a couple of MXLs that are excellent choices. A condenser will pick up anything nearby, and can couple to noisy electrical sources, so watch it.

And if you don’t have one of these, a good vocal-quality dynamic stage mic is fine. I can recommend the Rode M1, my current favorite stage mic, or the Electro-Voice D767A.

For on-camera, I use the MXL shotgun most of the time, really good sound from a boom. I have a lapel mic I’m not happy with, it’s an older Shure for a wireless system that was cabled up to work from a battery pack and direct connection to a recorder or camera. I really should get a decent wired lapel mic. Though you have to watch placement of these, too… I’ve seen them hooked on so that a shirt collar blocks the mic depending on where the subject turns, pretty much defeating the purpose of the lapel mic.

Anyway… time for sleep.

-Dave

[Kelden Amadiro]

I’ve tried a boom mike once and because it was a small room the voices I recorded sounded “boxy”. Did yours work well in small space?