[RNLD] Hiss and the Marantz PMD670

[Meikal Mumin]

Hi Anna,

I would suspect the cables. The problem might relate to construction issues
http://pin1problem.com/

if your connection is XLR
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XLR_connector

in which case you could try changing cables

or, if you use a TRS connector
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS_connector

to interference from other electrical sources as Hiram said, in which case
you could try a filter, such as
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheath_current_filter

Best,

Meikal
--
Meikal Mumin (meikal.de/profile)

Institut für Afrikanistik
Universität zu Köln

mailto: meikal at mumin.de

On Sat, Jul 21, 2012 at 1:30 PM, Honeyman Tom <t.honeyman at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Anna,
>
> These are all good suggestions for getting to the bottom of this, but I
> also vaguely recall that the Marantz 670 had problems with it's preamps
> that introduced hiss in certain circumstances. I believe that's why the PMD
> 671 followed closely after. Or maybe it was the 660? A quick Google should
> clear this up.
>
> If I remember correctly, pairing the recorder with a (portable) external
> preamp (and hence bypassing the internal one) may fix the problem.
>
> Good luck with it!
>
> Cheers,
> Tom
>
> On 21/07/2012, at 9:05 PM, David Nathan wrote:
>
> > Hi Anna
> >
> > Adding to Frank's suggestions:
> >
> > If possible reduce the variables - most of these things should be easy
> to do:
> >
> > 1. try recording with a different mic (also cable if possible), or even
> the inbuilt ones, and see what difference that makes
> > 2. try recording on battery only - sometimes the power supply will pick
> up or induce noise
> > 3. check levels and impedance setting (if any) - if input level is (too)
> high, there is likely to be a significant level of hiss, especially made
> palpable when listening through headphones. Note that you would not expect
> a recording from this model to be totally hiss-free even under quite good
> circumstances.
> > 4. is hiss the same when simply monitoring (ie not listening back to a
> recording)?
> > 5. check battery in mic (if applicable) is full
> > 6. I think that using a condenser mic or otherwise probably isn't
> correlated with less vulnerability to hiss as you might be assuming (I'm
> not very experienced with dynamic mics but my instinct would be that
> condenser mics might be more susceptible than dynamic all other things
> being equal)
> >
> > best wishes
> >
> > David
> >
> > At 19:42 20/07/2012, Frank Seidel wrote:
> >> Dear Ann,
> >>
> >> I am by no means an expert. But these are the things that I would check
> and consider. Unfortunately, you are very vague about your situation, so it
> might be the case that you already excluded these:
> >>
> >> 1) Does the Marantz' 670 use sd-cards? I do not know that generation of
> Marantz very well but, maybe it has issue with certain SD cards. Check if
> the hiss is there even, if you use the SD card that came with the device.
> >> 2) You might have Phantom power on and are running the mic from a
> battery at the same time (which would be a bad thing anyways).
> >> 3) The mic is damaged or incompatible for some reason with the Marantz.
> Check if the hiss is there, if you use other microphones. See this webpage
> by Bartek Plichta on more of this issue: <
> http://bartus.org/akustyk/noise_testing.php>
> http://bartus.org/akustyk/noise_testing.php.
> >> 4) You are recording with a mono-mic, but still record on both channels
> owing to the settings you chose on the Marantz.
> >>
> >> These are but some possibilities, but you might check these until
> somebody who knows more about these things answers.
> >>
> >> All the best of luck with this.
> >>
> >> Frank
> >>
> >>
> >> On Thu, Jul 19, 2012 at 7:53 PM, Anna Ash <<mailto:MRALC at westnet.com.au
> >MRALC at westnet.com.au> wrote:
> >> Dear list members, and recording experts in particular,
> >> We are having difficulty in recording with a Marantz PMD670 in WAV
> format. We are using a condensor mic, but are still getting unacceptable
> hiss levels. We can rule out interference from fluorescent lights and a
> nearby laptop.
> >> Thanks in advance
> >> Anna
> >> --
> >> Anna Ash
> >> Coordinator-linguist
> >> Many Rivers Aboriginal Language Centre
> >> C/- Muurrbay
> >> 14 Bellwood Road
> >> Nambucca Heads NSW 2448
> >> Ph. (02) 6568 5695 Mob: 0404 456 992
> >> Fax. (02) 6569 4295
> >> web: <http://www.muurrbay.org.au>www.muurrbay.org.au
> >> email: <http://MRALC@westnet.com.au>MRALC at westnet.com.au (I don't
> check my google address)
> >>
> >> Please consider the environment and use recycled paper if you need to
> print.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> Frank Seidel, Ph.D.
> >> University of Florida
> >> Center for African Studies at the University of Florida
> >> 427 Grinter Hall - PO Box 115560
> >> Gainesville, FL 32611-5560
> >> Tel: 352.392.2183
> >> Fax: 352.392.2435
> >
> > __________________
> > David Nathan
> > Endangered Languages Archive
> > SOAS
> > djn at soas.ac.uk
> > http://www.hrelp.org/aboutus/staff/index.php?cd=davidnathan
> > http://elar.soas.ac.uk
> > http://www.dnathan.com
> > +44 (0)20 7898 4584
> > __________________
>
>
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