DIY microphones as of 2022

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Scodiddly
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DIY microphones as of 2022

Post by Scodiddly » Thu Aug 18, 2022 7:23 pm

I promised I'd try to write something up about the current state of DIY microphones... in brief, it's really great these days. The "Alice" mic is still very good, and there have been a lot of variations and new designs as well as greater availability of quality mic capsules. Also there are a lot of super cheap (and generally shitty) microphones available from China, which are a wonderful source for a microphone body and other mechanical parts. No machining required!

First off, it's hard to keep up. The current best resource that I know about is the MicBuilders group:
https://groups.io/g/MicBuilders
A lot of useful files and discussions, even a few heavy hitters have been known to contribute. Also the best place to find info about the following designs.

You can make a high quality microphone with little more than a capsule, a connector, and 2-3 other components, aka the "Simple P48" design. Probably not what you'd take on tour, but totally solid for recording use with most common gear:
https://groups.io/g/MicBuilders/files/R ... pleP48.pdf

JLI Electronics, who've been carrying the Transsound capsules (featured in the Alice and some good quality commercial mics from CAD) are now also carrying pre-built circuit boards for building mics:
https://www.jlielectronics.com/diy-accessories/

Jules Ryckebusch has been a very active contributor, and has some videos up on YouTube as well as designs available in the MicBuilders files:
https://www.youtube.com/c/SoundSleuth

Oh yeah, there's a good Facebook group with some of the same people:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1705803613000543

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digitaldrummer
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Re: DIY microphones as of 2022

Post by digitaldrummer » Fri Aug 19, 2022 5:51 am

I got a U47-style (well at least in terms of windings) transformer from

http://www.3uaudio.com/ (which also makes the "Warbler" mics)

they are tiny little things but it worked for the project I had (reworking a NADY tube mic) and sounded good. They have several different transformers in their e-Bay store that are pretty reasonably priced.
Mike
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Re: DIY microphones as of 2022

Post by Colorblind » Mon Aug 22, 2022 10:14 am

The Groupdiy.com forums are a great source of info. Also, vintagemicrophonepcbkit.com is great if clones are your thing. I built a pair of D-87s, a D-EF47, and a D-47FET.

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trodden
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Re: DIY microphones as of 2022

Post by trodden » Mon Aug 22, 2022 2:30 pm

digitaldrummer wrote:
Fri Aug 19, 2022 5:51 am
I got a U47-style (well at least in terms of windings) transformer from

http://www.3uaudio.com/ (which also makes the "Warbler" mics)

they are tiny little things but it worked for the project I had (reworking a NADY tube mic) and sounded good. They have several different transformers in their e-Bay store that are pretty reasonably priced.
I've never heard of these warbler mics before. They're cheap, and there's so many different varieties it makes my head spin.

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Re: DIY microphones as of 2022

Post by standup » Tue Aug 23, 2022 4:47 am

I picked up a 3U Audio GZ251, it’s a good mic. Lots of heft, lots of low end, and a sparkly high end.

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