How It's Made: Microphone

[MarcoPogo]

Here's an interesting, if not terribly in-depth video of the process of making a Neumann U87:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dAbQVpHQ_M

Enjoy,

-MR

Mark Rubel
Pogo Studio
Champaign, IL

[Snarl 12/8]

I like how they act like that is how every single microphone is made. That would be kinda cool, actually.

[Mystic Steamship Co.]

Am I wrong or did they completely skip tuning the capsule? They made it seem like you can just plop the mylar on the backplate, screw it down and you instantly have a capsule. Cool video though, the press punch for the grill was pretty slick, and the CNC drilling of the capsules backplate was interesting. Makes me wonder how they made those things so well before robots came along.

[johnnydove]

Makes me wonder how they made those things so well before robots came along.

probably the same way people sang on records before autotune- they had to actually be good at it

[cgarges]

Makes me wonder how they made those things so well before robots came along.

Have you ever seen the inside of a 1974 API 550A? People with very small hands assembled those things.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[rty5150]

Makes me wonder how they made those things so well before robots came along.

probably the same way people sang on records before autotune- they had to actually be good at it

burn!



rich

[Mystic Steamship Co.]

johnnydove wrote:
Ian D wrote:
Makes me wonder how they made those things so well before robots came along.


probably the same way people sang on records before autotune- they had to actually be good at it Wink


burn!

Whatever man, robots rule! Who needs gear hand made by talented craftsmen when you can have cheap, mass produced, precision engineered stuff, free of fingerprints???

[Brian]

Makes me wonder how they made those things so well before robots came along.

probably the same way people sang on records before autotune- they had to actually be good at it

burn!



rich

Call the fire department!
Need ice for that?

[Grigoris]

That made me think of this video; many of you have probably seen it before, and it's likely been posted here already, but it's always entertaining and sort of breathtaking:

hand making vacuum tubes Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl-QMuUQhVM

hand making vacuum tubes Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S5OwqOXen8[/b]

[Vogon]

Am I wrong or did they completely skip tuning the capsule? They made it seem like you can just plop the mylar on the backplate, screw it down and you instantly have a capsule.

Mmm, I wonder if the diaphragm is tensioned correctly in that discarded former(?)-ring before installation?
Interesting that she places what appear to be ring weights on the former before screwing the capsule edges down. These would add some more tension, I guess, if all the variables are known, it's maybe a simple, cheap way to create a set tension.
?