Soundlabz Posted July 1, 2015 Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berniebeaudry Posted July 1, 2015 Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al mcguire Posted July 1, 2015 Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 I used this mic on one job where it belonged to the production company. It seemed to need a lot of gain compared to other condenser mics. Try setting the attenuation to -10 and see if that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angelo Waldron Posted July 1, 2015 Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 You have the Wendt attenuated -20 at the preamp? The switch on the bottom? Huh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berniebeaudry Posted July 1, 2015 Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 As Al mentioned, that mic seems to need more gain, so switch to -10 or even 0 if necessary. When you get into a noisy situation you can always go back to the other settings if need be to get the gain structure working the way you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Reineke Posted July 1, 2015 Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soundlabz Posted July 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2015 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berniebeaudry Posted July 2, 2015 Report Share Posted July 2, 2015 No worries, would love to hear how it goes. BB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigF Posted July 2, 2015 Report Share Posted July 2, 2015 were you feeding it 12V or 48V phantomI find the noise goes up on low voltage phantom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soundlabz Posted July 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2015 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glen Trew Posted July 3, 2015 Report Share Posted July 3, 2015 (edited) 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 July 3, 2015 by Glen Trew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soundlabz Posted July 6, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2015 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Blankenship Posted July 7, 2015 Report Share Posted July 7, 2015 I have a 4073a in my locker. I recall it to be a rather hot mic -- according to the specs it's something like 9dB hotter than an MKH416. However, I did find that it is much more susceptible to RF when used with digital circuits -- which can add substantial hiss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Reineke Posted July 7, 2015 Report Share Posted July 7, 2015 (edited) 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 July 7, 2015 by Rick Reineke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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