"Despite its tiny size, the microphone measures just 3.3mm across, the MKE 1 offers outstanding sound quality; plenty of lower midrange and excellent presence with good speech intelligibility," says Astrid Vettin, product manager for Sennheiser Professional Systems. "It has a user-friendly omni-directional pick-up pattern and the microphone picks up predominantly direct sound with relatively little ambient noise; which is a real advantage for many applications, from broadcasting to theatre and musicals."
Moisture is the natural enemy of any clip-on microphone, especially when being used as part of high-energy, high-perspiration stage shows, and Sennheiser says it has developed optimal protective measures for the MKE 1. The clip-on microphone can be provided with a multi-purpose cap that simply diverts any humidity past the microphone and doubles as a windshield. Inside, a thin, acoustically open stainless steel membrane protects the capsule.
"Thanks to a new mechanical design all the contacts are now housed inside the casing or the moulded coating," continues Vettin. "This makes the MKE 1 even more reliable."
The anti-kink sleeve has also been improved in order to increase the life of the Kevlar-reinforced cable. With a diameter of just 1mm the cable is resistant to handling noise while a special plastic coating ensures that it tangles less readily.
The MKE 1's multi-purpose cap that protects the microphone from perspiration also serves as a windshield (treble boost of 1.5dB). Also included is a small frequency response cap, which gives a treble boost of 2.5dB for applications where the mic is hidden within a costume or when more brilliance needs to be added to a voice.
The MKE 1 is available in beige and black and comes with a special three-pin plug for the Sennheiser bodypack transmitters SK 5212, SK 5012, SK 250, SK 50 and SK 3063 or with an unterminated cable for other transmitters.
(Jim Evans)
