Why does my LAV mic make a hissing sound with the H4n.

[2cool4games]

I am using the h4n with the at899 lav. And when I use it I hear a noisy background noise in the background. The vocals seem fine but the background sort of a hiss is not that good. Any suggestions?
Link to sound: https://www.dropbox.com/s/v9ha3lfbress45y/STE-001.wav

 

[Rick R]

Most budget recorders pre amps are just inherently noisy, period.
It's probably better to power the mic via Phantom Power.. but the difference would be slight and probably not audible.
The posted file is just the noise floor and tells us very little without 'program audio'. If there 'were' dialog, peaking around -6dBFS, the BG noise @ -50dBFS ain't that bad.
A high-quality (expensive) external preamp (such as the Sound Devices MixPre) would help somewhat.

 

[2cool4games]

Thanks. Your awesome!

 

[Noiz2]

Also on another thread you were saying you were using "mono mix", and that may be part of the problem. Not sure about the H4n but often "mono mix" takes both inputs and mixes them together. If that happens and you only have one mic connected the "open" input could be generating significant amounts of noise and the "mono mix" is adding that to the cleaner signal. In that case record "stereo" and toss out the channel that is just noise. There may also be a "mono" setting? that uses just one input. If so that would be the better choice.

 

[2cool4games]

Thanks man for your insights. Is it possible that the omnidirection lav that I have pick up a lot of background noise? I think that maybe the case because I also tested it outside and it picked up a lot of traffic noise behind me while I was talking.