Hiss

[KillerCrunchie]

I am recording with a shure sm57 through a beringher xenyx mixer and into a decent quality laptop but there is a hissing noise in the background even when the mic is muted. Could you tell me why this is and any cheap ways to eliminate it. Thanks.

[Moseph]

Smart money says the laptop's soundcard is placed too closely to the power supply or processor.

You can filter it out using EQ/filter plugins, or you can spend about $50 and get a 2-channel USB audio interface which won't have that problem.

[The Chemist]

or the fact that you are using a beringer mixer. thay have a horrible signal-to-noise ratio and an even worse cross talk, which all equals loads of hiss. You should be able to get rid of it with EQ, like Moseph said.

[Moseph]

or the fact that you are using a beringer mixer. thay have a horrible signal-to-noise ratio and an even worse cross talk, which all equals loads of hiss. You should be able to get rid of it with EQ, like Moseph said.

Isolate the parts and see where the hiss is. If you can record another line source with the laptop without problem, it's probably the mixer. If you can listen to the mixer's outputs using another device without hearing the hiss, it's probably the laptop's soundcard. If you can do both, I'm betting it's an impedence problem.