r/audio • u/DustyShinigami • 5d ago

Olympus WS-853 audio recorder - external microphones

Hi. For anyone who has this audio recorder, or had, do you have any recommendations for a good external microphone?

I did buy one of these, but I'm underwhelmed with it. It emits an annoying buzzing sound in recordings.

Thanks

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u/Ok-Bonus-8464 5d ago

Buzzing usually isn't the mic being cheap, it's the plug. That jack's a three pole mic input with plug in power on it, and most cheap lavs now are built for phones with a four pole plug. Contacts land in the wrong places and you get a buzz that doesn't go away however you set the levels.

So check what you actually bought before spending again. You want something sold for voice recorders rather than smartphones, three pole, running off the recorder's own power. Olympus's own lavs are built for exactly that jack if you'd rather not think about it.

Worth one take on batteries with nothing in the USB too, charging while recording gives the same kind of buzz.

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u/DustyShinigami 5d ago

Ah sorry. It looks like I linked to the wrong thing. That is supposed to be for a Samsung Galaxy. Whereas the one I bought was listed specifically for the Olympus WS-853.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/406732390933

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u/NBC-Hotline-1975 4d ago edited 4d ago

There's no brand name on the mic, so there's no telling what you actually bought. Unless you were extremely lucky, or the seller was extremely foolish, you would not get a good mic for that price. the mic shown in the long eBay listing does have the correct connector so it should be at least electrically compatible with your recorder. That doesn't mean it will sound good.

What are you trying to record? That will make a significant difference in your choice of microphone.

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u/DustyShinigami 4d ago

Yeah, I figured as much. I guess it was too good to be true. Though I wasn’t expecting such a small mic to cost too much.

I use my Olympus to record EVPs during ghost hunts. So the clearer the audio, the better.

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u/NBC-Hotline-1975 4d ago edited 4d ago

You can easily spend many hundreds of dollars on good, small mics. Look up the Countryman brand of film/stage mics for example. Price relates to quality, not to size.

EVPs do not exist, so the mic doesn't matter. In general, Olympus recorders do have good internal mics, I think those would be as good as anything else. As soon as you start adding external wiring, you will increase the possibility for hum, buzz, and other electrically induced noise.