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AT4073a Self Noise


Soundlabz

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Hello JWSound... I'm booming an AT4073a on a Rycote Windshield #4 to an internally cabled K-Tek CF pole. My wiring is Mogami/ Canare, and I'm mixing thru a Wendt X-5 into a Tascam DR-100MKii. I have the Wendt attenuated to -20db, 0db on the Wendt = -16db on the Tascam. I'm also running (2) Sony UWP-V6. Issue I seem to be having is that the AT4073 has a some self noise. I get a constant 4-6db hiss in my audio. Easy to take out in RX3 but still an issue. Worried as I'm recording in the streets of NYC this weekend and thinking I may need to crank some gain. Is the 4073a too sensitive for the city. My other options for mics are Rode NTG-1 and AT897 or purchase a Rode NTG-3. Any advice would be appreciated.

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Actually, if you're going into a noisy environment the AT might be just fine.  The hiss comes from having to increase the gain of the preamp to get the mic up to level.  So the mic is the opposite of sensitive.  People talk louder when its noisy so you would be using less gain and have less hiss.  That being said, if that hiss is there even with lower gain settings I would suspect the mic or something in your signal chain is faulty.

 

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AT specs state the sensitivity of the 4073a at 70.8 mV (decent) and the max SPL @ 126dB.  I've never had any hiss or mic distortion issues with my 4073a. Any hiss is likely coming from the recorder or a mixer/recorder misconfiguration. I would feed +4dB line level to the Tascam.. if that's possible. Both the DR-40 & 100mkII work well with a +4dB line input.

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Bernie, Al, Angelo and Rick,

Thank you for your time and answers. I was able to limit the noise floor buy reducing gain and 0db attentuation. I had done my original test outdoor and must of had a hot signal. My followup tests were indoors which may have been the issue. Room noise and reflections. Thanks to the advice of all of you I've tweaked my settings and reduced gain. I've also purchased the Rode just in case I have issues for the shoot. Between the few mics I have should work out nicely. Thanks again for your time and professional answers.

 

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Craig,

i was was feeding it 48v. Seems my issue was too much attenuation and then cranking the gain. I need to have a better understanding of gain staging and therefore I purchased a copy of  Jay Roses book. I set to 0db Att and lowered my gain. Not completely silent but the mic picked up dialog well and noise was minimal. Tonight I'm going to try my NTG3 as a comparison. 

Thanks again

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The 4073 should be perfectly fine, and in line with the NTG3 or other common short shotguns for the application described. Self noise of the microphone would not be an issue or even detectable in any exterior city environment.

Edited by Glen Trew
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Thanks everyone for your replies. The 4073a functioned quite well in the city environment. I also used the NTG-3 which was quite similar. As an experiment due to a nice conversation with Ty Ford I also used my 4053a which was quite good at rejecting reflections and a lot of the noisy air conditioning units. Thanks again for all your help.

 

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FWIW, I put a 4073 through all kinds of abuse when I was doing  poverty stricken third-world country docu's and such in the 90's. (not to reveal my age). it never let me down.. along with an FP32.  Betacam days... Lectro 185s, and such. .

I'm glad I'm here to talk about it.. 

Edited by Rick Reineke
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