Designed and manufactured in the USA by The Sound Professionals, these are among the smallest, most powerful USB microphones available, and are popular choice for court reporters, students, business people, voice recognition purposes, Skype communication, VOIP and Podcasting anyone that needs to record high quality audio into computer!
This is an all-in-one high quality USB microphone, combining high quality miniature computer soundcard and microphone in one small device. It is capable of picking up all of the sounds in an entire room (click the specification tab for effective pickup range). Its small size (about the size of USB flash drive) makes it perfect for situations where you don’t want to draw attention to the fact that you are recording audio right into your computer. It also includes headphone jack that offers real-time monitoring of the sound being recorded, and has high quality sound output for playback of mono or stereo sources.
This microphone will work with any audio recording program you want to use. If you don’t already have audio recording software, you can download the full featured Windows shareware CDWAVE software program. For multitrack recording, you can download Audacity instead. For Mac users, Garage Band works well.
Features:
- High sensitivity, high fidelity mono omnidirectional microphone built-in (see specifications for details)
- Headphone monitor jack with independent controls so you can hear what you are recording. Also serves as the headphone output for playback. (The real-time headphone monitor is not activated with Mac). If you need headphones, see the suggested accessories list.
- Microphone jack for an external microphone. If an external microphone is plugged in, the sound from the external mic is blended with the built-in microphone. Microphone must be compatible with computer mic inputs. If you need an external microphone with the same sound quality as the mic built in, this is an excellent choice.
- Optional USB extenders are available for tight clearance USB ports. See the suggested accessories list.
- Optional USB extension cables available if you want to move the mic away from the computer, or if you want to attach the mic to the lid of a laptop with some Velcro (not supplied). See the suggested accessories list.
System requirements
- Windows 98 SE (Second Edition) or higher
- Available USB Port
Anonymous –
Originally, I bought this for my fiance who is a court reporter, but out of curiosity and frustration with the “free” mike that came with DNS9, I decided to try it out on my laptop. In setting it up with DNS9, I had a 16/20 sound quality which was higher than I had seen with either the free mike or with a Tektronix USB mike that I had bought to use with ViaVoice.It also has worked well with my Mac using it with Skype and iChat.Way to go Sound Professionals!
Anonymous –
This Mic was Incredible, I am a Graduate Student and desired to occasionally record lectures/seminars. I have tried various omni directional mic’s but hated the long wires and “bulkiness”. I will admit I was very skeptical about this little mic, but it blows away the other’s that I was using and is semi-discreet!!!
John Barrett –
I was really impressed by the sound quality of this tiny microphone. It picks up all of the people speaking in a room and the headphone monitor is a nice bonus. For the money, nothing I have tried compares.
Anonymous –
Originally, I bought this for my fiance who is a court reporter, but out of curiosity and frustration with the “free” mike that came with DNS9, I decided to try it out on my laptop. In setting it up with DNS9, I had a 16/20 sound quality which was higher than I had seen with either the free mike or with a Tektronix USB mike that I had bought to use with ViaVoice.It also has worked well with my Mac using it with Skype and iChat.Way to go Sound Professionals!
Anonymous –
This Mic was Incredible, I am a Graduate Student and desired to occasionally record lectures/seminars. I have tried various omni directional mic’s but hated the long wires and “bulkiness”. I will admit I was very skeptical about this little mic, but it blows away the other’s that I was using and is semi-discreet!!!
John Barrett –
I was really impressed by the sound quality of this tiny microphone. It picks up all of the people speaking in a room and the headphone monitor is a nice bonus. For the money, nothing I have tried compares.
Anonymous –
The quality of the recording is fantastic given how much you pay for this. Perfect for recording lectures and meetings
Anonymous –
I purchased this microphone specifically for recording lectures and meetings. I had previously been using a digital recorder and taking notes on my laptop. WAY TOO COMPLICATED. I was looking to simplify. I began using Microsoft OneNote for my notetaking and discovered that I could record audio directly into the program. I began looking for a USB microphone that would work for my situation and discovered the SP-USB-MIC-1. Amazing little thing. So convenient and compact. I would have, however, also purchased the Flexible USB Extender as an accessory.
Anonymous –
For years I put up with the built-in microphone on my tc1100 for recording lectures when using Camtasia Studio. The problem with the built-in microphone is its weak strength; the volume for recorded audio is extremely low and requires amplification to be heard adequately in a video. This arrangement finally became untenable when I replaced my 4200 rpm hard drive with a much noisier 7200 rpm hard drive, resulting in annoying clicks in the audio. My solution is to use an external microphone instead, in this case the Sound Professionals External USB Microphone. For $59, this microphone plugs into any USB port and is compatible with Macs and PC’s. The USB device also includes jacks for audio out and a separate jack for microphone-in to be blended with the USB mic. To separate the microphone from the computer to get away from the fan and hard drive noise I used a standard USB extension cable. You could get better audio from the speaker by using a clip-on microphone or headset, but it’s kind of a pain to be tethered to the computer via microphone or have to deal with batteries and a wireless microphone. These solutions also won’t pick up any spoken audio from members of the audience. The bottom line is I’m very happy with the microphone. It does a great job recording audio for a speaker close to the microphone and does a passing job for speakers farther away from the microphone. It was also easy to set up. Although drivers are available for download from the website and from the CD included with the microphone, I was able to just plug it into my machine running Vista and it automatically installed the necessary drivers (it shows up as a C-Media USB Microphone). For those of you that like to “safely remove” your USB hardware, there is no need here and I normally just rip this in and out of the USB slot with no ill-effect. More here: http://www.math.uaa.alaska.edu/~afkjm/techteach/?q=node/12#comment-32
Michael Harrison –
Price-wise the SP-USB-MIC-1 looked good and the features sounded like just what I needed. Very sensitive, small package, built in mic with monitor plug. The extra mic input was not something I expected to use. More…..read the full review here: http://www.dragonseye.com/blog/archives/336-SP-USB-MIC-1-Microphone.html
Anonymous –
Originally, I bought this for my fiance who is a court reporter, but out of curiosity and frustration with the “free” mike that came with DNS9, I decided to try it out on my laptop. In setting it up with DNS9, I had a 16/20 sound quality which was higher than I had seen with either the free mike or with a Tektronix USB mike that I had bought to use with ViaVoice.It also has worked well with my Mac using it with Skype and iChat.Way to go Sound Professionals!
Anonymous –
This Mic was Incredible, I am a Graduate Student and desired to occasionally record lectures/seminars. I have tried various omni directional mic’s but hated the long wires and “bulkiness”. I will admit I was very skeptical about this little mic, but it blows away the other’s that I was using and is semi-discreet!!!
John Barrett –
I was really impressed by the sound quality of this tiny microphone. It picks up all of the people speaking in a room and the headphone monitor is a nice bonus. For the money, nothing I have tried compares.
Theresa Kramer –
This external mic is powerful. It picked me up clearly while whispering 10 feet away. I never expected the recording to be so powerful. I use an extender for it so it’s not right up against the computer and I sit the extender with the mic in it up on the conference table. That way it’s away from my laptop and steno machine. I’m very pleased with the product!