The MS-WRITER-MIC-2 is a high powered Omnidirectional double microphone that can be plugged directly into the mic input jack of your Steno machine, a standard mic input on a computer or a digital recorder.
The microphone is very small measuring approximately 1.75″ long and 1.5″ wide. The upper portion of the microphone which houses the two microphone elements consists of high quality brass shell covered in black rubber, and is approximately 1/4″ in diameter. The vertical, lower portion of the mic which plugs into the recording device is spring loaded to help prevent excess wear and tear on the input jack of the device. Removable premium black foam windscreens are provided at no additional cost. These come in handy when you find yourself sitting under a HVAC vent with air blowing down on you and the mic.
This microphone has a double pickup range of 50 feet – in other words, each mic can pick up sounds 50 feet away. This microphone has an extended frequency response and produces a very clean, crisp recording of voices.
The optional microphone mount/stand (SP-SPSC-16) is about 6″ high. With the microphone attached, the total height is about 8 inches.
This microphone was designed and is manufactured in the USA specifically for Court Reporting applications.
Microphone specifications:
- Pickup Pattern: Omnidirectional
- Frequency Range: 20 Hz – 20,000 Hz +/-1dB
- Sensitivity: -24dB ±3dB @ 94dB SPL
- S/N Ratio (1kHz, 94 dB input, A-weighted): 70dB
- Self Noise: 24 dBA
- Maximum SPL at 12vdc: 115dB
- Dynamic Range: 91dB, 1 kHz at Max SPL
- Impedance: 2.2 kOhms
- Voltage range – 2vdc – 12vdc (48v on XLR version)
- Current draw: 500 µA
Information for Court Reporters:
This product is compatible with any Steno machine writer. The following information applies to *any* Steno machine writer. We use the Luminex as an example, only:
The Luminex is a very popular and high quality Steno machine. The manual should be followed as written, however, the following information will help you to achieve the best possible results when recording audio with your writer. The recommendations below are intended as a way of fine-tuning the information found in the manual:
On page 44 of the manual, it states:
“Microphone Gain – indicates the current gain setting for the microphone, 0 – 100%. If your microphone is battery powered, set the gain lower. A suggested starting point is 75 – 80%. If the microphone is not battery powered, set the gain higher. A suggested starting point is 95-100%.
These statements assume that battery powered microphones are more sensitive than non-battery powered microphones. This is not always the case. A battery powered microphone could be more sensitive, but merely being battery powered does not mean it is more sensitive (or powerful). An amplified microphone would be more sensitive, but these are extremely rare, and not recommend for devices that have microphone inputs, like the Luminex. In fact, the battery powering a microphone is redundant as the Luminex supplies the necessary power needed for most microphones. This is called microphone “plug in power”.
The microphones we supply to Stenograph for the Luminex do not have batteries and are properly powered by the ‘plug in power’ supplied by the Luminex. In fact, these microphones are more sensitive (powerful) than most battery powered microphones available today. So, they actually require a lower gain setting in the Luminex, not higher. With our ultra-high sensitivity microphones, we recommend a starting microphone gain of 50%
The manual goes on to say:
“Setting this gain too high, may cause audio feedback. Press the – and + sensors as necessary to set the percent. A graphic bar indicates the selected level.”
This bar graph is divided into 3 colors – green, yellow and red. It is important to set the gain for the maximum recording level without overloading to get the clearest, strongest recording possible. The ideal recording level is achieved when the sounds you are recording cause the recording level indicator to illuminate the green and yellow segments. The red segments indicate overloading, so it is important that the red segments only illuminate occasionally.
If you hear feedback when monitoring with headphones, simply lower the headphone level until the feedback stops.
On page 43 of the user manual, it states:
“Plug the microphone into the microphone jack on the back of the Luminex. Using a direct feed from a videographer to the microphone jack is not recommended since most of those feeds are line level (much higher) and not microphone level.”
If you need to connect a direct feed from a videographer, you can use this cable to reduce the signal down to a safe level that will not overload the mic input on the Luminex.
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