Lo-fi Mics, Crazy Mics, Carbon Mics - What do you love?

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T-rex
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Lo-fi Mics, Crazy Mics, Carbon Mics - What do you love?

Post by T-rex » Wed Dec 16, 2015 9:49 am

So, I have a new project and I want to pic up some cheap cool mics for some aural craziness. I've been away for a while so just checking in to see what people are using?

I recently ran across the old phone handles that have been converted to mics on ebay. I would do one myself if I could locate an old phone but haven't found any scrounging around the local goodwills etc. Anyone using one of these?

I loved my Copperphone but I didn't get enough useage out of it to justify keeping it around so this time I was hoping to pick up a couple of cheaper flavors of poor quality
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Post by kslight » Wed Dec 16, 2015 9:56 am

My friend has one of those telephones converted to mics and it is a pretty cool vibe piece. Not perfect in terms of managing handling noise and plosives and such, and it sounds cool... but I'm guessing you know that.

I also have an old Silvertone harp mic that's another fun vibe piece.

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Post by vvv » Wed Dec 16, 2015 11:22 am

I have a defective EV664 that is a lot of fun on vox every now and then; I might sugggest looking on the Ebog for defective or "project" mic's; the one I bought was sold as good but wasn't and I got some kind of refund onnit ...
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Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Wed Dec 16, 2015 1:07 pm

I used to have a big collection of telephone sounding mics - telephones, dispatcher mics, cb handsets, etc. Sold them all when I got an Altec Salt Shaker. It's probably a similar price to the copperphone so not the cheapest option but it is a great, great mic and I use it all the time. Often it gets used beside a better mic and at mix time it becomes the treble fader.
It's great on snare and can make any upright into an instant tac piano.

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Post by floid » Wed Dec 16, 2015 4:36 pm

I've bought and made a bunch of stuff over the years, but my fave is the earpiece from a Bakelite telephone I wired to the working half of a guitar cable twelve or so years ago. The body involved a coathanger, faygo bottle, and both kinds of tape.
It just sounds good. On all kinds of sources.
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Post by joninc » Wed Dec 16, 2015 6:55 pm

i have a pile of crystal mics from flea markets and thrift stores that i've picked up over the years. they are little mics that would have come with cassette decks and home stereos. Mostly they have mini plug ends on em. brands like GE etc...

put it in front of your drums and run that into a RAT pedal or a DYNA COMP. instagrit.
or record it next to your nice Condenser mic for vocals and season to taste.

I always think it's weird to spend a bunch of money on something that's supposed to
sound lofi.
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Post by jimjazzdad » Thu Dec 17, 2015 3:28 am

Shure 737a. Don't even remember where or when I got it. Used very occasionally when I want the 'Roaring 20s' sound on vocals.
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Post by T-rex » Thu Dec 17, 2015 7:56 am

joninc wrote: I always think it's weird to spend a bunch of money on something that's supposed to
sound lofi.
Yeah, totally agree. I loved my copperphone (and wouldn't consider it lo-fi) but even if I left it up most of the time i was only able to really use it here or there. If I had a massive mic locker, I would totally have kept it but I don't really need that now.

Cool, thanks for the ideas, pretty much what I thought I was going to get. I had forgotten about the Pawn shop route though, I'll hit some of those and see what I can scrounge up. I definitely want to try the phone thing. I also have an eggstatic mic that I use occasionally but looking for a few other paths to weirdness.
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Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Thu Dec 17, 2015 8:16 am

If you go the phone route remember that the mic needs power (6 volts I think but the correct info out is there). Lots of people wire up the handset speaker as a mic but if you want to use the mic as a mic you'll need a power supply.
A friend of mine bought one online and who-ever built it used a circuit to convert phantom to a usable voltage. It's got an XLR jack and is plug and play ready. Super cheap too if I recall.

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Post by blungo2 » Thu Dec 17, 2015 6:50 pm

I like my bing carbon mic a lot, but i don't know if they're still in business.

i'm curious about the wasaphone mics. I've liked the sounds i've heard from them.

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Post by T-rex » Fri Dec 18, 2015 9:47 am

A.David.MacKinnon wrote:If you go the phone route remember that the mic needs power (6 volts I think but the correct info out is there). Lots of people wire up the handset speaker as a mic but if you want to use the mic as a mic you'll need a power supply.
A friend of mine bought one online and who-ever built it used a circuit to convert phantom to a usable voltage. It's got an XLR jack and is plug and play ready. Super cheap too if I recall.
Thanks, that's good to know. That sounds like the one I am looking at.
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T-rex
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Post by T-rex » Fri Dec 18, 2015 9:48 am

blungo2 wrote:I like my bing carbon mic a lot, but i don't know if they're still in business.

i'm curious about the wasaphone mics. I've liked the sounds i've heard from them.
I keep seeing things about the Bing but I can't find anything on them. guessing they aren't around anymore?
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Post by blungo2 » Sun Dec 20, 2015 6:26 pm

Not sure, but i think they're gone...

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Post by MisterMark » Mon Dec 21, 2015 11:03 pm

T-rex, yeah Bing is no longer... However, if you are considering a carbon mic, we finally have our Carbonphone available:

http://www.placidaudio.com/products/carbonphone/

It's about as pro level as you can get for a 'lo-fi' carbon mic as it employs a transformer balanced military grade carbon element... used in tank intercoms and air traffic controller headsets. And with the Tone Box you get 5 unique tone settings to further tailor the sound.

Hope that helps,

Mark
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Post by KennyLusk » Wed Dec 23, 2015 1:21 pm

It's pretty well known around here but I'll mention it anyway, the Alice mic's made by Scott Helmke (if he's still making them) are fantastic. The mids are really aggressive with a bit of low mid heft. No mud, awesome color. This mic reminds me of the incredible aggressiveness you get from the AT 4041, just not as bright.
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