Hi all, (great community, thanks Chris!)

I have an XL1s and Senn K6/ME66 mic setup. When monitoring with headphones while recording I hear a hiss thru the phones. (I also get the same hiss if I use the standard on-camera mic)

I firewired this footage to my G4 using FCP and the hiss is in there too, unless I drop the audio signal in FCP right down to nothing. The XL1s is meant to be DAT quality. Is this HISS normal? or How do i get rid of this hiss? Do I need to buy a mixer to go between the mic and XL1s.

If a mixer is needed can anyone recommend a good one?

thanks

This is definitely not normal. The XL1 and XL1s are indeed DAT quality, and the hiss must be happening before it gets laid down to tape and after the microphone input since it happens with both mic setups you have tried. I would call Canon and ask about this, as your unit may need servicing.

I also had a hiss problem with my XL1S. I was recording a soft spoken actress with a Sony ECM-77b Lav hard wired microphone going into my MA100 directly to the XL1S. In order to get a good volume level, I adjusted the gain on the camcorder to about 3/4. Playback was horrible, the hiss over powered her soft spoken voice. I went back and re-recorded, this time I used a Sennheiser Wireless system, turned up the gain on the reciever instead and kept the gain on the XL1S to about 1/4. The audio was now crystal clear and was a major improvement. This leads me to believe that you can't really turn up the audio gain on the XL1S past a certain point. Anyone else come across this?

I had a similar problem shooting a teaching workshop, until I realised I was directly below an air vent. DOH!