I need help troubleshooting buzzing noise in microphone

[isagnund]

Recently, I purchased a cheap lavalier microphone, the Boya BY-M1, and noticed that the recordings have a constant electric buzzing noise, similar to the sound produced by a Tesla coil. This issue only occurs when my laptop is plugged in, leading me to believe it’s a case of electrical interference. I tested the microphone on another laptop from a different brand, and it too produced the same electrical noise whenever it was plugged in. I also tried different wall outlets in various rooms and even used a power strip, but nothing seems to fix the issue.

Additionally, one of the laptops has a weird issue where the capacitive touchpad becomes laggy, skippy, and unresponsive after being on for a few hours. From my online research, it seems like this could be due to static electricity build-up on the touchpad.

Is it safe to assume that the wiring in my house might be faulty? Can someone advise me on what to do? For context, I live in an Asian country.

 

[rob aylestone]

If you are in Asia, it could be humidity that is the problem. The Boya mics are not the greatest, but usually not that noisy. Don't forget that most laptops have dreadful preamps but if you pull the laptop power, then interference is unlikely. Can you do a recording of the noise? Two laptops suggests the mic is faulty or damaged. If it is ONLY noisy when on mains power, on two laptops, then your electricity supply could be carrying the interference. Static build up is quite rare, and normally weather related, but that too suggests humidity as a possible cause. If you have non-conventional mains wiring this could be a cause - TN-C-S is very common world wide now, and the ground and Neutral are connected at the point the power comes into your house. This means the neutral and ground will be very near the same potential, but you could have TT wiring where the ground is totally self-supporting - all that comes into the house is live (line) and neutral. ground is local, with a copper rod in the ground, or connection to metal water pipe. This system can be prone to interference if the grounding is poor.