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Hey all,
I would really appreciate some help as I'm pulling my hair out here.

I have the following very simple setup:

Shure SM58 Mic -> PreSonus FP10 (FireWire) -> Cubase SX3

If I set all my FP10 gain nobs to unity (straight up/centred) the volume on the PC barly registers. I figure this is fine as the SM58 needs a fair bit of gain.

So I turn the gain up on the FP10 so the volume in Cubase is fine but I can hear lots of hiss.

I know the FP10 doesnt have the best preamps but surly this very simple setup should give me a decent hiss free signal?

Logically it would seem that I need to turn the gain down on the FP10 so to illiminate the hiss and then turn the gain up in Cubase to increase the volume, is that the right way to do it?

Thanks!
AM.

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Comments

anonymous Wed, 09/10/2008 - 05:27

You are right that the SM58, like most dynamic microphones, needs a lot of gain. The best solution may be to get an external pre amp.

In most applications where I use an SM57 it is 3" to 8" from the source, and those sources are typically fairly loud. (The SM57 can record just about everything you through at it well, but it isn't always the best choice)

How much hiss are we talking about? (Can you give us a dB level of the hiss and source)
What is the source sound?
How far is it from the microphone?

With these questions answered someone should be able to tell you if this is a typical amount of hiss, or something caused by faulty equipment or OE. Then the question of how to fix the problem can be answered.

anonymous Thu, 09/11/2008 - 11:16

Hi this is Jeremy from PreSonus Audio, I would like to recommend a solution to your problem. The firepod has an S/N ratio of 101 db and a gain output of 50 db, so your noise problem could possibly be either the low output of the microphone or the mic-pre's on the firepod are damaged. To test this try using a condensor microphone. If you're not getting any noise than the problem is probaly with the mic and you need to get an external preamp. If after doing this you're still getting noise after doing these tests then the firepod mic pre's might be damaged and need repair. If you need further help, or have any other questions feel free to contact me.

-jpleasant@presonus.com

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