Can you help diagnose whether this noise is a mic problem or recorder problem?

H

hurleyreyes

Member
Testing out some new equipment I bought.

I have Rode NTG-3 connected to Zoom H4n using a 3' audio technica XLR cable into one of the XLR inputs on the bottom of the H4n.

If you turn up the volume a little bit on this clip you'll detect, underneath the ambient noise and the occasional handling noise, an oscillating/shifting electronic noise of some kind:

http://www.4shared.com/audio/sa4jub4o/101118-001A.html

I've swapped the cable - so it's not the cable. I've tried running the cable into input 1 and input 2 - no difference. The noise is not constant - sometimes it goes away for minutes at a time but then returns.

I won't be able to try another mic on the H4n for a few days. Any guess as to whether it's the Zoom or the NTG-3?
 
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MP3 artifacts? It's so far down in the noise floor it's hard to tell. Being that it's so far down in level, I'd probably just cover it with tone and call it good. Can you detect it at all when recording dialog?
 
I recorded it as .wav - just uploaded the .mp3 b/c I was having trouble finding a reliable place to host .wav's for free to post on this forum. It's noticeable during pauses between dialogue.

I'm gonna try and plug in some other mics to my Zoom this weekend and see if I still hear the noise. And maybe find another NTG-3 and see how that sounds.
 
hurleyreyes said:
If you turn up the volume a little bit on this clip you'll detect, underneath the ambient noise and the occasional handling noise, an oscillating/shifting electronic noise of some kind:

http://www.4shared.com/audio/sa4jub4o/101118-001A.html
Click to expand...

I hear something on the right channel only. Sounds like mechanical noise. Actually sounds quite a bit like my kitchen refrigerator. I get sounds like that after the compressor has shut down, but the fans are still pushing air around inside the case. Not really fan noise, but the noise air makes flowing through a duct. One of those things you can only hear late at night when everyone is in bed and the house is really quiet.

Easy enough to check -- move to a new location and try again. If you still hear the problem sounds, and they are equally loud, then the cause probably moved with you.
 
Do you have the 24V or 48v phantom on? Fresh Batteries?
Even with the 48v on it's possible there isn't enough voltage to run you mic.. resulting in a 'motorboating' kind of oscillating.
 
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