Austin DIY Ribbon

[rickshawrecords]

There is another metal leaf supplier here:
http://www.lebowcompany.com/foils_list.htm

Many thicknesses, many metals. Some from Japan, some not.
I have not used these foils yet in my own mics. I'm quite impresed by the very inexpensive Aluminum gilding foil. (signwriter's leaf)

Lebow Aluminum foils from Japan are $25 per sheet - enough to make 30-50 ribbons.

- Rickshaw

[blackdiscoball]

A little off topic but at Pot luck Con I was talking ribbon mics with bob crowley and I told him I was making the Austin ribbon mic. He said they are pretty nice sounding mics when done right. I dont know if the video is on the net but they had one showing thier roswellit (s/p?) ribbon material, and its pretty amazing. They were hitting it with phantom power and the thing was flexing a half inch or more in both directions alot and never broke. truly amazing!

[sears]

And if you feel like getting some of the ribbon material Rick specifies, it's available at Michael's and here's a 50% off coupon through 6.14.8, via Fatwallet.

http://www.michaels.com/coupons/060408/coupon.html

[cdixon6]

Thanks for the coupon. I used it on two occasions. Once for my aluminum leaf, and once for this other thing I found. In the scrapbooking aisle at Michaels, they have a paper crimper for $20. Copmarable price to the tube wringer, but my shopping has found it more available. I havent used it on the leaf yet because I haven't made my body yet and I don't want to finish the fragile part before I have something to quickly secure it in. But using it on paper, it seems to work pretty well.
Another question I've thought about it how to secure the structure. I read in The Microphone Book by Eargle that most ribbon mics have a fine mesh surrounding the ribbon truss to help with low end response. I was going to attempt to try this, probably nylon or something. Anyone have any luck themselves doing something similiar?
Cody

[rodabod]

I read in The Microphone Book by Eargle that most ribbon mics have a fine mesh surrounding the ribbon truss to help with low end response. I was going to attempt to try this, probably nylon or something. Anyone have any luck themselves doing something similiar?
Cody

Yes. That's acoustic damping to tame low-end resonance. It also acts as blast protection.

Try adding some, although to do it professionally you'd need to have good measurement tools to test the effects. Nylon mesh is good though.

[crowley]

Rick has done an outstanding job jumpstarting the do it yourself ribbon mic activity of late.

BTW here is a link to the Roswellite video mentioned above. It gets hit with actually more than 48V about 50 times, but just snaps back. Those of you who have hands-on experience with ribbons will know that you could not do this even once with foil:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jsuCgGBQ5A


FYI each ribbon is made as one unit. Rather than run through gears or the like, the material has the shape built into it and therefore has a memory property, in addition to high elasticity. You can see it slowly settle in at the very end.

Bob

[rickshawrecords]

Rick has done an outstanding job jumpstarting the do it yourself ribbon mic activity of late.

Thanks Bob. I'm working on Rev 3 of the plans, and a prototype "kit" for DIY'ers who don't have the time to gather the parts.

BTW here is a link to the Roswellite video mentioned above. It gets hit with actually more than 48V about 50 times, but just snaps back. Those of you who have hands-on experience with ribbons will know that you could not do this even once with foil

...And you can not put a regular foil mic in front of a kick drum or bass amp without seriously attenuating the plosives with a pop filter or internal damping screens... Like Rodabod mentions above.

Every time I watch this video I am reminded how much Roswellite has the opportunity to revolutionize the Ribbon Mic industry. Roswellite is a fantastic new invention, not just a re-hashing of 70-year old Ribbon Mic technology.

I hope you are considering Roswellite ribbon tweeters too!!

- Rick