Help with induction mic

Hey everyone,

I just received my induction mic,

http://www.radioshack.com/search/index.jsp?kwCatId=&kw=telephone%20pickup&origkw=telephone+pickup&sr=1] [url]http://www.radioshack.com/search/index.jsp?kwCatId=&kw=telephone%20pickup&origkw=telephone+pickup&sr=1 [/url]

and did a recording on my television. It recorded well enough but also picked up me talking nearby. I thought induction mics filtered that?

??? Induction mics can pick up some noises but shouldn't pick up your voice unless it's being transmitted by the TV speaker.

Did you buy the $9.99 one? I'm fairly sure the olympus one - as it says it picks up both sides of the conversation - may have two mics - an induction mic and a normal mic). No use for our purpose.
Model: 44-533  |  Catalog #: 44-533 is the one you want.

Edit. Looked at the specs and the olympus model isn't an induction mic - it's just an ordinary mic which fits in the ear and so records the phone (if you hold it to the ear the mic is in) and your voice too.

It's also possible that the speaker diaphragm received vibrations from your voice if you were close enough. Speakers can act as microphones to a certain extent.

Very true but they make rotten mics so the sound has to be pretty loud to compete with the sound being produced. I've not picked up any crowd sound using the standard pickup though even when kids are screaming. Maybe there was something else plugged into the TV that had a mic. Pure guesswork as I've never come across this before. I'm still guessing that it's the telephone mic rather than the induction mic though.
mradamlaurie, if it is, don't feel we'll laugh - we've all done similar. I have, anyway.

eyore said:

I'm still guessing that it's the telephone mic rather than the induction mic though.

Click to expand...

He got the usual Radio Shack induction mic; the link got a little munged in his posting so here's the fixed link:
http://www.radioshack.com/search/index.jsp?kwCatId=&kw=telephone%20pickup&origkw=telephone+pickup&sr=1

mradamlaurie, out of curiosity, how much hum did you get in the recording of the TV speaker?

When I feed in the link, it shows two "telephone pickups" so I thought "maybe the more expensive one will be better". It's not clear that one is induction and one is just an in-ear mic. I would have been tempted to that train of thought myself and maybe gone for a "better" one.

Very good point eyore 8).
mradamlaurie, did you get this telephone pickup?
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103876

pixelated, yes, I got the cheaper one of that search, the one in your last link. I did technically talk almost directly into it while it was on the television speaker so I am about to go do another test where I am a reasonable distance away talking normally.

Try it on more than one source too. The TV may just have over-sensitive speakers. Both mics and speakers work on the same principal although the speakers are far less efficient so if you yell into a speaker, it may well pick up your voice if it's loud enough to operate the diaphragm. Speakers don't really pick up anything at any distance though and normal crowd volume (even if kids run past shouting) shouldn't be a problem.