Are Condenser mic's stereo or Mono?

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Kenny202

Member
I got a little Boss BR Micro recorder and it has a stereo 1/8" input socket. I wish to connect my Condenser mic to the unit using a separate 48v phantom power supply. From there I would need an XLR to 1/8" adapter cable with the 1/8" plug to go into the boss..... but the only cable I can find have stereo 1/8" plugs on them. I assume most general mics are mono so why would you use stereo plugs on one end? Boss does mention it is a stereo input and if you use a mono mic it will simply just record one track instead of stereo and no problem with this...then they vaguely suggests using an XLR to 1/8" stereo cable wont work and show a double headed XLR set going into a single 1/8" stereo plug.

Can anyone put me on the right track here?
 
Hi,
A connector having three conductors, tip/ring/sleeve (TRS), doesn't necessarily indicate stereo.
You can have balanced, or unbalanced, signals which complicates things a little.

With a balanced mono signal three conductors are used for shield, positive, and negative.
The balancing technology compares positive and negative, which should be identical, to reduce/remove noise picked up along the way.

With an unbalanced signal you'll either have mono tip/sleeve (TS), or stereo tip/ring/sleeve(TRS..think headphones),
so there's just shield and one additional conductor per signal.

I don't know that specific device but the crucial thing to know would be if the inputs it has are mono/stereo/balanced/unbalanced.
 
Steenamaroo said:
Hi,
A connector having three conductors, tip/ring/sleeve (TRS), doesn't necessarily indicate stereo.
You can have balanced, or unbalanced, signals which complicates things a little.

With a balanced mono signal three conductors are used for shield, positive, and negative.
The balancing technology compares positive and negative, which should be identical, to reduce/remove noise picked up along the way.

With an unbalanced signal you'll either have mono tip/sleeve (TS), or stereo tip/ring/sleeve(TRS..think headphones),
so there's just shield and one additional conductor per signal.

I don't know that specific device but the crucial thing to know would be if the inputs it has are mono/stereo/balanced/unbalanced.
Click to expand...
It is definitely a stereo input, mentions it several times in the manual. Why there is a stereo socket for a mic input makes no sense to me but that's the way it is. The input socket actually doubles as a LINE input (which normally would be stereo) and a mic input. You select whether you want Line or mic on the input settings
 
You are posting lots of questions about pretty much the same problem.

Your stereo inputs are on the 3.5mm sockets, your mic inputs appear to share them?
 
There is no stereo mic input on the Micro BR80. It has stereo line inputs on a TRS 3.5mm plug, stereo built in mics, and a single mono TS mic/guitar input. The stereo mic inputs were on the older Micro BR.
 
Bums - if it shares the mic function on a mono input, it's odd the effects are only on the line setting? I was convinced it could record in stereo - but clearly not. Are we sure it is a BR80 - it doesn't mention it specifically in this topic.
EDIT it does in another - but downloading the manual suggests that the effects are applied to mic AND guitar level signals, but not the line input, so I can't see he has a problem. Plug in a mic, select the FX, job done? Have we missed something? It does mean there's no stereo mic in as Rich spotted, but that's not an issue is it. I noted a mention that noise may be a problem on the mic input. That's worrying - that they actually put that into the manual?
 
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rob aylestone said:
You are posting lots of questions about pretty much the same problem.

Your stereo inputs are on the 3.5mm sockets, your mic inputs appear to share them?
Click to expand...
The mic inputs share the LINE input socket which is stereo. Then you go and select input channel or assign the input channel to it. So on the machine you can designate LINE or Ext (mic). Selecting the Ext input automatically selects 2 tracks (Stereo). It's almost like a bit of a mistake. For those wanting to use a stereo mic I guess great but that's not the norm I wouldn't have thought. My opening post says it a Boss Micro BR. IS adding say delay as a post effect have the same dynamic as using delay live while recording. I think you can use effects on the track post recording but not sure
 
Kenny202 said:
This is a micro BR
Click to expand...
Sorry, it was confusing with the comment in a different thread where you said:
Kenny202 said:
Its a micro BR (BR-80 next generation) and does have switchable power (2.5V) for a powered input mic I think they call it. Like a lapel mic used for speaking I think. But you wouldn't use that power for a dynamic mic would you?
Click to expand...
The input layout for the Micro BR is in the manual. I don't know why you would think it's "a bit of a mistake." It's set up to accommodate the various stereo microphones that are common for use on video cameras. They are usually electret condensers, and run on low voltage, often a battery. The 2.5V lets you run without using up the battery. While it isn't the norm on most recorders, on a miniature device like the MicroBR there's not enough room to put XLR plugs, or even multiple 1/4" plugs. The thing isn't much bigger than a 3x5 card after all.

BR80.jpg
Page 109 clearly states that it's not usable as "phantom power".
 
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