Topic: Excessive hiss/poor recordings with Tascam DR-03 + Olympus T-mic

[F.O.Bean]

Just checked the specs of your mics:
Frequency Response    100Hz - 15kHz

if you want to invest more in your hobby, the best spent money would be to get better mics. You lose out on both highs and low end if you stick to this mic.
Talk to Chris about a starters combo...

Yea I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND Church Audio or AT mini-mics, and a CA Preamp You will get MUCH better results, w/ out spending alot of money I would sell the Tascam, buy CA-14 Cards or Omnis or both, a CA Preamp[9000/9100/9200], and a Sony PCM-M10 and you will have a HQ rig that you can be happy w/ for many years to come

[Church-Audio]

Thanks for the tips guys. 

I really don't want new mics.  I've been very happy with this one combined with the MTII. 

If I'm using the LINE in, then I don't think I would have to worry that the signal into the DR-03 would be too hot?  It's obviously a problem when using the MIC in, but the LINE in shouldn't matter. 

The advantage of the Sony, assuming the mic pre works for me, would be that it's a one-box solution.  The down side is the cost and the larger size of the unit. 

A battery box like the Church Bat 2B would be cheaper (although at $49.99 it costs almost as much as the DR-03), but it's an extra box and wire I really don't want to be bothered with. 

I placed an ISO post for a Church bat box in the Yard Sale section in case someone has an extra.

The mics are crap in the end you will figure that out when you listen to other recordings made with other gear. I would do two things

Sell your recorder buy an Edirol r09hr or Sony buy a battery box and a pair of my mics to start. Then come back and tell us how much better your recordings sound. Not to blow my own horn but you simply cant compare that T mic to anything I make. Its a great mic for recording lectures and speeches but not for recording bands.