Just Got My New Olympus, Need Advice

[WSGR]

My Olympus arrived today, it's a model WS-853. I was just wondering from the experienced users if there are any preferred settings to get the best quality captures?

[jinhui]

Hi WSGR i have an older one, but basically my settings are "zoom" mode and "high sensivity" for the microphone. That's what worked best for me in front of doors. When recording with an external source (e.g. contact microphone, connected via cable) I reset those microphone settings, because the contact microphone already has it's own amplifier.

Best regards,
jinhui

[physicist]

x

you are needed here, my friend

[edtraveller]

I think you will have a great time with this unit.

Jinhui's settings sound very good. I would only add the following:

Batteries -
Opt for disposable Lithium and keep an extra battery on hand. The Olympus rechargeable batteries are garbage.

Low Cut Filter -
Keep this on - it reduces/eliminates machinery background noise - air conditioners and the like.

VCVA - This is the voice activation mode - turn off for continuous recording so you don't get choppy captures.

If there is any air flow hitting the mic, if it's placed near an opening, back the recorder away about 4". I have ruined at least one good recording by placing too close to an opening where air pressure from the other side from an air conditioner created a background roar. I had the mic too close and didn't have a wind filter attached. Speaking of such, you can also use one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/Gutmann-Micropho ... or+olympus
I have this for my recorder and it works great.

Looking forward to hearing your captures.

[jinhui]

I'm using Eneloop batteries for my Olympus recorder and of course I have always two pairs of them with me. Also I have the Eneloop recharger with me, which is more or less small in size.

I did never use the voice activation mode because of bad experiences with cut-off captures as gekko said. Instead I was doing a long-term recording once where I connected the recorder to a wall socket and set a recording timeframe for each day (to save memory). No need to record a complete day if you know there's nothing to record within a specific timeframe...

My settings
mic sensivity: high
recording audio mode: mp3 (WMA works too)
zoom mic: zoom
low cut filter: off (I might change this after gekkos recommendation)

Besides the recording settings I've set the display light to a short period (10s), deactivated the LED and turned off all signals.

Best of luck
jinhui

[WSGR]

Yeah I've already had some not so great experiences with the batteries haha I'll be switching to lithium soon. I have Low Cut Filter turned on, and the mic sensitivity turned up to high as well. I'll probably be grabbing one of those windshields too for the best quality. I've been getting ballsy lately trying to get some great captures so I've been recording outside my roommates bedroom, but unfortunately they almost always have a loud fan turned on thats close to the door -_- so that might help. Thanks a bunch Jinhui and Gekko for the advice! Gonna be uploading my Olympus captures soon, just don't want to disappoint so I'm waiting for an amazing one! I have a feeling Valentine's is going to be a great day for the forum haha

[jinhui]

You're welcome WSGR Good luck and fun with your new device

[horny87]

Question: i had a phillips with 3mic zoom+ and captured my neighbours but now the recorder died after just using couple of times and im scared to use the guarantee because couple of recorded files on it. Quality was ok but little bit rushing noise maybe because i record it with the recorder lay on ground between a small door gap in my apartment door or because the stairwell pressure i dont think there is too much wind. I was sad because it was not identical on the record compared to hear it live with my ear in my doorgap. So i would like to know if a olympus ls-p4 in combination with that gutman wind protection can do a better soundrecording when i put him on same spot. The neighbours are stairwell downstairs and i only can hear her moaning but i like it alot...