Is it possible to record audio off the court's miking system?

[Alice Clark]

Our courthouse in Roseville, CA is new, and I think it might be possible that there is a cable that could be used to do kind of like the line-in audio we do with videographers. Does anyone know if that is possible? One of the bailiffs is going to ask the IT guys, but sometimes they might not know that either. There is one jack that isn't labeled on this little box on the reporter's desk. Right now I have been rotating one of the earphones on the headphones to the outside and I line up my USB mike with it, and it can be somewhat decent.

[Karen Klein]

You should be able to buy or ask for a cable to plug from your laptop microphone jack to the courtroom jack - so the audio goes directly in to your laptop microphone jack, similar to how we do video depos. Need to ascertain whether that jack is connected to the courtroom microphones - if so, it's easy. No need to spend a lot of $$$.

[Cindy L.A.]

I've done it. I can plug into the speaker box on my desk. It's a simple, cheap line-in (or out, whatever it would be) audio cord, and the other end goes into where I normally put my eclipse mini mic. I did a test one day and the sound was about the same as putting my mini mic near the speaker box. The courtroom main speaker system runs on a different thing, and this is just the box for us to hear better, so I have complete control over it. If the attorneys are not near the courtroom microphones, however, you won't be able to pick them up! My judge is a real stickler about them using the lectern or their microphones anyway, so it shouldn't be a problem where I am. It's good to know that I have that option as another backup if my mini mic isn't working, though.
Cindy L.A.

[Alice Clark]

Do either of you know what you might call that cable? Would it be a Radio Shack kind of thing or special audio store thing, do you think? It seems like I might be asking for a cable with an audio jack on one end and microphone jack on the other maybe? Thanks so much for you help!

[Katherine Eismann]

I use the audio in our courthouse all the time. I purchased my cable at an audio store. It's a stereo cable. You can also use mono, but I've had better success with the stereo cables. Just ask for a cable to come from a mixer with probably a 5/8 connection on one end and a 1/8 on the other. I think mine was less than $8.
Kathy Eismann

[Alice Clark]

Thanks, everyone. I'm going to email your answers to the court reporters on site so they can check it out with IT, and maybe soon we can all be plugged in for better audio. Alice