What is buzzing noise that Olympus LS-12 is recording? (1 Viewer)

In recordings made with my Olympus ls-12, there is a constant buzzing noise. You can see it in the sonogram below (the faint think black line at c10kHz). Anyone know what this buzzing noise is?

It is usually electronic noise. Either internal noise if you have the mic gain turned up high or from externally powered mics or pre amps. The only way to find out is trial and error, removing the various sources and see what difference it makes.

The noise can come from other non-connected sources, such as a mobile phone or say a computer, its clock signal being radiated is one possible source. With nothing connected other than headphones my LS-14 only records typical white noise mush at full recording volume through its internal mics in an effectively sound proof room with no discernable buzz. With one older recorder I even picked up local taxi radios some years ago.

I've tried the recorder on low and mid gain settings and the buzzing remains. Any other suggestions for how to get rid of it?

Ross Ahmed said:

I've tried the recorder on low and mid gain settings and the buzzing remains. Any other suggestions for how to get rid of it?

Click to expand...

try recording in a **really** quiet place in calm weather..

Ross Ahmed said:

I've tried the recorder on low and mid gain settings and the buzzing remains. Any other suggestions for how to get rid of it?

Click to expand...

Is it there with internal or the external mics, or both?

I had the earth connection go on a Soundman OKM binaural pair of mics. Picked up no end of whine from the display, which of course went when I unplugged the external mics.

Unfortunately I didn't jump to that before I had the LS10 in pieces :C but when I reassembled it and fixed the ground connection on the mics it was fine.

10k will sound like a high-pitched whine, buzz is usually picking up something mains related and usually < 500Hz. It's often associated with a grounding fault - check the connection of the mic ground to the sleeve of the 3.5mm jack with a meter.

You sonogram shows a lot of hash in the low frequencies which is where you'd find buzz. The 10k isn't there all the time which it would be if it were interference and is quite broad band between about 9.5 to 10.5kHz, I'd suspect that's a resonance in the mic capsule or recording rig and wouldn't really worry about it