Re: Audio Hiss --tried TrackEQ, tried Audacity

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