diy mics - big fun for all!

[leigh]

I made two mics with the phantom power circuit, with 1/4" aluminum tubing (next time brass so I can solder a ground/shield wire?) into the smalled diecast aluminum box available

That sounds cool! Any digital pics around you could post?

Leigh

[dayvel]

I ground modded caps by bending and soldering a paper clip to make a clip/mount for them. Like so-


Seems like it would be flaky, but it works really well.

[Scodiddly]

I made two mics with the phantom power circuit, with 1/4" aluminum tubing (next time brass so I can solder a ground/shield wire?) into the smalled diecast aluminum box available

That sounds cool! Any digital pics around you could post?

Leigh

[thenumber]

yea, i saw those were out of stock today while trying to order 4 of them

but! i did find what looks to be a suitable replacement

http://www.digikey.com/scripts/dksearch ... 38&Site=US

better sig:noise, lower sensitivity (not sure how greatly thats gonna affect the quality), and, get this, theyre SMALLER! 3.4mm wide! soldering is gonna be fun..

gordon

[thenumber]

oh wait, im an idiot, theyre 3.4 mm tall, still 6mm wide

btw, those pics look sweet

im gonna mount mine inside a pair of busted sony walkmen headphones, for max ambient city recording, and another pair inside a manaquin wig head. anyone know where to buy a classy looking head?

[jeffoczek]

Hey, I'm just wondering about a few things regarding the TO diy mic's...

I'm pretty clueless with this sort of stuff, but first of all...

It calls for a mic cartridge that is no longer available, so I'll most likely use the WM-60AT (as opposed to the WM-60AY)... is there any reason I shouldn't do this?...

also, what should the voltage be for the capacitors? I see that some are extremely high, does it matter how high or low this value is? And...the resistor, should it be 1/4 or 1/2 watt? Sorry about the questions, but I'm sort of new to a lot of DIY stuff with only some soldering experience. Any help is appreciated, thanks a lot.

-Jeff

[Scodiddly]

The capacitor voltages should be at least 25vdc for the electrolytics (the 10uF), and at least 50vdc for the 1uF caps becween the capsule and the transistors.

1/4 watt resistors are plenty big enough.

As for capsule choice, you should still be able to order the 60AY until Feb 15. After that, dunno. Probably the author of the original article didn't have any massive project to test all the different capsules and find the best. I don't think slightly lower sensitivity would be a problem.

[thenumber]

oh man

i built 2 of the original schematic mics today

they sound badass, really, they do. Of course, all ive done so far is put em randomly up in the air to record some drum jamming, then guitar. clear, strong audio coming out of these babies

while one of the capsules was still just on a wire, i stuck it halfway down my throat and recorded myself flicking my neck. KICK SAMPLE FOLDER, HERE WE COME!

im using the Panasonic WM-61A from digi-key. Mounting the capsules on the casing of a pair of shitty sony walkman headphones. ripped the drivers out, drilled a hole. the capsules will be almost flush with the phone casing, fucking slick looking. i cant wait to wear this around town w/ dat recorder in my backpack. no one will ever suspect

ill post pics once the mounting is complete

[Scodiddly]

Been playing with this stuff again... I've also ordered about half the parts I need to try one of those mp3forkidz projects.

What I've been doing lately is trying to put the omni capsule on the end of a few feet of cable but still use the phantom power circuit. Results are interestingly mixed! I did make one capsule with the 3-wire mod which works fine but requires more gain.

The tricky/weird part involves shielding the wire to the capsule. Since I did the 3-wire capsule with the drain wire (single pair shielded wire) connected to the capsule body I ended up with the power going down one of the leads, not the shield (didn't think that one too far ahead, aparently). But it's quiet anyway! Then I used the same type of wire to hook up a capsule the regular way, with the two leads doing the capsule and the drain wire grounded. Hum! But disconnecting the ground made it dead quiet. Hmmm... I guess that since the capsule is essentially hooked up as balanced then it makes sense that it doesn't need much shielding.

I need to find some source of very thin shielded 2-conductor wire. My protoypes used some headphone wire; I guess I need to go shopping for cheap extensions with the right kind of wire.

[Vern]

Hey, I just finished building one of these things. I had trouble finding a 10uF Mylar Film Capacitor localy. So I started out with a 10uF Electrolytic. There was a really loud hum around 60 Hertz. So I went out and found a 1uF Mylar Film. It actually sounded exactly the same as the other capacitor. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone else encountered this or knows what this could be. At this point, I'm thinking that the cap is not the problem. ???

[thenumber]

yo, before replacing components, take the mics to another location and try them out. it might just be a strong electrical field within yr house. if such is the case, play with some shielding methods

definitly report back! good luck

[lobstman]

Anybody have a problem with not getting much high end? I built a pair a while ago, and they both sound "dark" in a ribbon mic kinda way. I know they're not supposed to be bright like a Chinese condenser, but they sound like they have a blanket over 'em. Any idea what I might have screwed up?

[Scodiddly]

Anybody have a problem with not getting much high end? I built a pair a while ago, and they both sound "dark" in a ribbon mic kinda way. I know they're not supposed to be bright like a Chinese condenser, but they sound like they have a blanket over 'em. Any idea what I might have screwed up?

Do both mics sound the same?

Could be an impedance matching issue, I suppose. I do know that they don't sound like much when you just test them on the bench, or with headphones.

[bantam]

here's a stupid question from someone trying to build these condensors from the tape op 16 article.

here goes... do you solder the connections to the little capsule? its pretty small and i was worried that a 15W iron would heat this thing up so much that it would cook it. It mentions epoxy but that's no way to enusre a complete circuit.

thanks

[Scodiddly]

20-35 watts would be fine. You just have to be quick, which is where a hotter iron actually helps.