Had my second run out with my new M10 this week and again I'am having a problem with a background hiss throughout the recording.
Settings were:
Rec Level: Manual
Mic Sens: Low
DPC(Speed CTRL) : Off
Record Level: 3
Mic In
Low Cut Filter: Off
Limiter:Off
Plug-in Power: Off
I was recording two rock bands in an arena this time. Position up in the seats just left of centre. The recordings came out pretty good, but again there is a "hiss" throughout the whole recordings. I was using Church CA14 Card mics - Church Battery box - Mic In-M10. Any idea what might be causing this hiss. Is there any other setting on the recorder that could be causing this hiss? or is my recorder faulty.
I've now tried both Line-in and Mic-in and get the hiss on both. I've also tried a different Battery box / Battery / Mics and get the hiss also. It has to be the recorder,right??
Has anybody ever had this problem with a M10?
Hi, hmmm, I just made a recording with my Sony M10 using DPA-4060's and 9Volt home brew battery box. I had the settings similar to yours using Mic-In, Low Mic Sensitivity setting and recording level knob set to around 2.2 on the dial. All effects and filters turned off for flat recording. I went out to record the annual Memorial Day parade passing by neighborhood. I don't hear any hiss at all with this
very low recording level setting on my M10. Since I see you tried two different inputs (Mic-In and Line-In) on your M10 and still report hearing hiss I surmise either you have a defective noisey unit OR the other common culprit is that the set of CA14 Card mics you are using are themselves generating the noise hiss you hear.
So, have you tried to test with any other microphones instead of the CA14 set that you used and see if the hiss is still there? It very well could be noisey mic elements which means defective mics and Church Audio I am sure will replace them for you if that was the case. I have the same set of mics and they work well. But you may have a noisey set? Just saying to check that as a cause of the hiss.
Otherwise I would check with Sony to see if they will replace your hissy M10.
Update: oops, I just saw that you said you did try different mics and battery boxes. So if that is the case and the hiss is always there, yes safe to conclude that your M10 is the culprit.
I don't know how loud of a hiss you are reporting but if it is very noticeable and loud then I would say it is a defect in the unit. But if it is really very low hiss, it might be normal and you have exremely sensitive hearing. Without a sample of it, we cannot tell for sure right now.
Update2: Well just want to tell you that last night I played my recording of the Memorial Day parade on the M10 unit itself listening with a pair of efficient Sony 7606 headphones and during the quiet or silent parts of the recording I could detect a slight amount of what sounded like hiss level. Not sure if it was just ambient noise level of my room surroundings or device hisss though. Maybe that's what you are hearing. Again it may just that some folks hear this hiss and it bothers them while other folks it might not bother them at all. If you are recording rock concert level sound then the hiss should not even be audible. If you are recording quieter type situations like insect noises and such then the hiss will become a factor.