What levels to use for H1 Zoom to get rid of hiss

Greetings,

Was wondering if anyone knows whats best levels to use for an H1 Zoom when recording sound?

The feature I produced has been shot with most of the dialogue and on location sound already recorded. The audio im recording now is for post. Voice overs, sound effects, ambient sound, etc.

For this, im using an Audio-Technica ATR-6550 mic, that's hooked up to the H1 Zoom. The WAV/kHz/Bit is at 44/24 and the input level is at 60. I've played with the input levels high and low, but my problem is I'm getting that hiss noise. Its not as bad when mic is on normal mode, but the overall sound in this mode is crappy. I want to use the mic in tele mode since it sounds way better but need to know best level settings to reduce the hiss.

Thanks.
 
The WAV/kHz/Bit is at 44/24 ...

You should be using 48/24. 44kHz is the sample rate used for music CDs, 48kHz is the sample rate used for everything else; film, TV, etc. This won't help with your hiss problem but will eliminate the need to sample rate convert at a later stage.

Was wondering if anyone knows whats best levels to use for an H1 Zoom when recording sound?

Just as there's no one setting on your camera which will always give you a great picture, there's no one setting to always get good sound. Just as with filming an image, there are variables which affect which settings will work best in any given situation. With sound, these variables are: The equipment you're using to record the audio, the amount and type of environmental noise, the volume/loudness of the signal you're trying to record and the distance between the mic and the source of that signal.

As at least some of these variables change with every different sound you're recording, so the settings which result in the least hiss will also change, often very considerably so. You can increase the level of the signal you are recording relative to the noise (hiss) by getting the mic closer to the source but this will also change the perspective of the audio and cause an increase in unwanted artefacts if you get too close. The other obvious consideration is to remove any sources of noise/hiss from your recording environment. For example; laptops, computers, air-con or other electronics with fans.

Even with high quality recording equipment, it's virtually impossible to completely eliminate hiss but with some experimenting (to identify where your mic-pres get noticeably hissier), practise and environmental noise control you should be able to achieve usable recordings for most of the sounds you need. Also don't forget that again like visual images, the quality of the final result is significantly dependent on post processing. In the case of images the final quality has a lot to do with the color grading and in the case of sound it has a lot to do with the mixing (EQ, noise reduction, reverb, balancing, etc.).

G
 
Back
Top