Hissing in shots

A

azznrivera

Member
I've encountered a fairly loud hissing noise in the background in the short film I've been trying to shoot. The noise is present in all the shots, even in those where I've turned the sound off. I'm using rode ntg2 and dvx100b. In this clip the actor is having a monologue but the hissing is really distracting. I'm wondering if the noise is inherent or am I doing something wrong with the sound? Thanks for the help.

Here's the clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO2o2rWqKNo
 
My suggestion is to listen to the tape while play it from a deck with head phones on to see if the noise is still present. I would be more concerned with the room echo you have present you are picking up while the actor is speaking.

I have a question or 100. Did you have a dedicated sound person? How close was the mic to the speakers mouth? Was the mic pointed directly at the actors mouth/chin/upper chest area? Was there an additional piece of equipment used between the mic and the camera, i.e. mixer? If so what brand was the mixer? Some mixer preamps are noisier than others. Just a few questions off the top of my head.

Edit: was the camera's mic switches set to mic internal or exterior mic? What about the mic cables they may be noisey cables?
 
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Maybe it's the sample or maybe it's my laptop or old ears but I don't hear what I would describe as hiss. There is some mechanical noise, maybe a refrigerator in another room? the sound of the camera transport? some light hum anyway. It sounds like a live room but it looks like a live room so I wouldn't be too worried about the room echo. You are picking up a clock on some of the takes. Sounds like one of those quartz battery powered wall clocks, and a bit of light traffic. If you were using the onboard mics you are probably picking up the camera and "enhancing" the room echo. Booming close would help both. And get the clock turned off.
 
The ntg-2 is directly connected to the camera via xlr cable. The problem isn't room tone or boom issues. Because I get the same hissing even when I have the camera sound turned off. I guess I should've shown this clip and it would have been a lot clearer- it's everpresent for some reason. And there are times when some the dialogues are really quiet and the hissing noise really stand out. Thanks for any help. And thanks for noticing the room tones in the first clip, I didn't even catch those.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VIpAhuqkAo
 
I hear the hiss just fine if I crank my computer speakers up to 10.
Sounds like its either the mic's self noise, or the camera's self noise.

Where were your audio levels hitting?
They don't sound bad..but because these cameras are pretty sub-par in the audio
dept its really important to send a really strong signal to tape.

Also, I havent used the 100 in years but
if its like the 200, there is a setting in the menu which is basicly a pad.
Make sure its on the setting that is NOT padding down the signal an additional 10db.
You're only making the cameras mic pre's have to work harder and in turn creating more hiss.
 
OK so if I crank and listen better I can hear it, but it's high up there.

SO I took a look
Noiz%20print%20dvxU.pdf


And you can see the lines (this is a short bit between takes.

The lines are
15,719 Hz - 15,746 Hz
14,433 Hz - 14,499 Hz
7,457.5 Hz
6,355.8 Hz
5,175.6 Hz

You could notch the lower three and either notch the upper two or just bring down a low pass to around 14k or so. You could also take a noise print and that might get rid of that garbage at the bottom also. Though, I did notice that there is a fly buzzing around quietly. That could generate artifacts if it's part of the noise print. So listen carefully.
 
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