How to stop the SSsss when singing?

paulg1770

Can any of you music experts give me the heads up on this annoying problem and also how do remove that back ground hum that can be heard in all my demos? http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=155093672 im recording on a roland Br1200, shure 58 mic and decent yamaha acoustic.
Thanks

trackmixstudio

Hi.
The most obvious problem would be if you were plugging the mic into the line input instead of the XLR. If you are doing this the end of your mic cable you are plugging into the Roland will look the same as a guitar cable.
You should be using an XLR to XLR. If you are using a jack cable you are boosting the preamp on the Roland bringing up loads of hiss.
If I am completely wrong at least we have eliminated that.

Michael

paulg1770

trackmixstudio wrote: »

Hi.
The most obvious problem would be if you were plugging the mic into the line input instead of the XLR. If you are doing this the end of your mic cable you are plugging into the Roland will look the same as a guitar cable.
You should be using an XLR to XLR. If you are using a jack cable you are boosting the preamp on the Roland bringing up loads of hiss.
If I am completely wrong at least we have eliminated that.

Michael

Thanks mate ill try that tomorrow, im currently using XLR to normal jack plugged into No.2 beside the XLR input in the picture which is for vocals. I use this input for vocals and recording my acoustic as it produces less hiss than the No.1 input which is meant to be for guitar. I apologise im a total novice at home recording so im not too up to date on the jargon used! http://www.woodbrass.com/images/woodbrass/BOSS+BR+1200+CD.JPG

So if i buy an XLR to XLR cable for my mic which is a shure sm58 (i think) will I be using phantom power and whats the story with this phantom power I keep hearing about?
Thanks again
Paul

Thomas from Presence

paulg1770 wrote: »

Thanks mate ill try that tomorrow, im currently using XLR to normal jack plugged into No.2 beside the XLR input in the picture which is for vocals. I use this input for vocals and recording my acoustic as it produces less hiss than the No.1 input which is meant to be for guitar. I apologise im a total novice at home recording so im not too up to date on the jargon used! http://www.woodbrass.com/images/woodbrass/BOSS+BR+1200+CD.JPG

So if i buy an XLR to XLR cable for my mic which is a shure sm58 (i think) will I be using phantom power and whats the story with this phantom power I keep hearing about?
Thanks again
Paul

You won't be using it if your mic is an SM58. Phantom power sends a DC current down XLr cable as some mics with active circuitry need the power. Usually condensor mics.

paulg1770

Thomas from Presence wrote: »

You won't be using it if your mic is an SM58. Phantom power sends a DC current down XLr cable as some mics with active circuitry need the power. Usually condensor mics.

So can I still use the shure sm58 on the same XLR input?
Sorry like I say a total novice here!
Cheers

trackmixstudio

Yes you can and should use the sm58 with XLR.
Using a jack input is the cause of the problem as I suspected.
The sm58 doesn't need phantom power but is designed not to harmed by it so it makes no difference if you have phantom power on or off.
You will notice a fuller cleaner louder signal when you use the XLR input.

paulg1770

trackmixstudio wrote: »

Yes you can and should use the sm58 with XLR.
Using a jack input is the cause of the problem as I suspected.
The sm58 doesn't need phantom power but is designed not to harmed by it so it makes no difference if you have phantom power on or off.
You will notice a fuller cleaner louder signal when you use the XLR input.

Ok i bought the Xlr cable and yes it does have a fuller sound but ive still got the hiss not as bad mind you but its still there. If i lower the sensitivity of the inputs it removes the hiss but then the volume is too low to work with. If i increase the input gain on the compression function to get a better volume it brings the hiss back.
Any more ides?
Thanks

Thomas from Presence

Maybe try going into the EQ and lowering off some the treble? Is the hiss in your speakers maybe? Try headphones or another speaker. Maybe there's a noise gate in there you can use as another option.

Survivin' Ivan

If you are a quiet singer, you may not be putting enough level down onto the track in the first place. Make sure that you set a decent level on your meter before you record. The more level you can get down without going over (distortion, clipping or red lights!!) the better.
Also, if you have any way of EQing your reverb trying rolling the top end off...sibilance or the S sounds in your voice will tend to jump out in a reverb.

paulg1770

Im not familiar with a noise gate and am not sure if the br1200 has one. I use standard head phones when recording. I have no option to lower the treble on the input or at least I haven't found the function yet! Ive been messing around noise suppressors and that for the input signals which also further reduces the hiss but once i compress(if thats the right expression) the output signal to raise the overall volume of the song the hiss is still evident.
Thanks for your suggestions though, maybe I should read a book or something on sound engineering

paulg1770

Survivin' Ivan wrote: »

If you are a quiet singer, you may not be putting enough level down onto the track in the first place. Make sure that you set a decent level on your meter before you record. The more level you can get down without going over (distortion, clipping or red lights!!) the better.
Also, if you have any way of EQing your reverb trying rolling the top end off...sibilance or the S sounds in your voice will tend to jump out in a reverb.

Yea theres alot of options and different settings available to me regarding reverb. When you say top end do you mean treble? Ill give that a bash tomorrow. cheers

hexagramer

thats right man - in the music world we tend to describe beepy frequencies in our way, some more trendy words are like top-end, hi-f, HF, the higher end of this guitar, etc.

have u tried looking for a 'D-esser'? this is a fairly big thing too, it takes any hi- sounds or hisss out, maybe u might have it in-built?