Made a mic

rory

rory

New member
Went to Ratshack the other day and picked up a small electet condenser and $9 worth of other parts and made me a 9v mic. I've tried it on acoustic guitar and electric guitar so far and I like it. It definitely sounds cheaper than my other mics (but still better than a 57). For acoustic, it needs a fair amount of gain from the preamp, but only a moderate amount for electrics. Its kinda "sea change"y sounding, pretty mellow. I originally made it to see how it would do as an overhead, so maybe I'll get to that later. If I could figure out how to post clips I would, any suggestions?

rory
 
Thanks! Heres the link, just a little doodling. Its a breedlove acoustic and a les paul custom. Try and guess the amp! (You'll never guess...)

 
I think that sounds great, is that being used on both the acoustic and the electric? Really works well with the acoustic, i would be interested in making one of these myself, very nice. So how much did it cost you in total, tools included?
 
The homemade mic is being used on both electric and acoustic guitars. I used to make guitar pedals, so I had the tools lying around and I had some old, malfunctioned cables that I chopped up, but all in all, the price breakdown would probably be like this:

$9-10 on components. Electet, resistor, 2 caps, battery clip
$10-50 on soldering iron and solder
$3-4 XLR male end
Few bucks on cable. I personally would buy an XLR cable and snip the female end off and strip that end for your "mic".

Thanks.
 
I think this may actually sound better and have less noise than the "Tape-op" mic. What is your signal chain? Did you treat the sound in any way or is that raw?

And I'll say "Twin Reverb"?
 
Haha... God if I could only post a picture. Thats my next project.

Heres the signal chain:

Breedlove/LP custom into amp> Homemade Mic> Mackie Onyx 1640> Motu 896> Digital Performer

There is a SLIGHT amount of reverb applied in the box to both gutars. The acoustic has nothing else, no compression or EQ. The electric has some echo, modulation, and some fairly heavy compression applied in the box as well.

I'll try to post a picture soon.
 
is there any way we could get you to give us a parts list??? like numbers or names, whatever works so i can go to my local radio shack and get them??? thanks a million bro, great work!!!

Jacob
 
Ok, heres a picture of it. Yes, that is cardboard. The battery basically hangs off of it along with the mic cable. Brilliant!

And it is not a twin amp. Keep the guesses coming!
 

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That Circuit is pretty much the same as the "Tape OP" Mic Circuit....What really Makes the Microphone is the Quality of element you use as the Generic Ones you Get From Radio Shack are not nearly as good as some of the Elements you can get .....

It also Helps to shield the Circuits from RF and EM Interferance as the Bare wires will Pick up a Lot of Interferance expecially in a Studio Environment were there are a Lot of Things Plugged in and Drawing Power.....

And since these Mics are so sencitive they will pick up a Lot of Noise from handleing them so I tend to Pack the Electronics in Silicone and Mount the Element in a Bed of Silicone which greatly reduces the Noise from Handleing and Vibration and the Silicone also Blocks RF and EM Interferance.....

The First one of these I made sounded so good that I am Makeing a whole Bunch of them of Differing frequency Responce for my Home studio...

I just ordered 20 High Quality Elements which will be here by the end of the week and I am picking up the Electronics today and I am also Picking up 20 XLR Connectors for $30 so I will be rolling in Mics pretty soon.....

The one thing about Makeing these Mics that you can Change is the Battery ,These Elements do not need 9v of Power ,They can actually Burn out with more than 10v, These Elements only need 1.5v to 4v of power so a Couple Watch Batteries is a Better idea as they are Much smaller and can be Mounted in the Mic Body as Opposed to haveing a seperate Power Box.....


Cheers

PS: Here is a Pic of my first Mic:
 

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Sure, heres a parts list with prices:

Electret Microphone Element with Leads, P# 270-092
$3.69

272-109, C1, $1.49

C2 is part # 272-1436 for $1.59

the resistors are part 271-1122 for about $1.00

Battery clips are part 270-325 for the cheaper ones at $1.99 or 270-324 for the stronger ones at $2.59
 
Awesome

This sounds like an awesome late night insomnia project. I already have the XLR cable, soldering orion and solder. I second the motion for a parts list. I'm going to check out that link you posted on the assembly right now.

oops I posted late.


The mic sounds great to my ears BTW. Nice playing as well.
 
thanks a lot bro!!!

MINION:

where are you getting your elements??? or is that a secret??? I respect your privacy if it is... thanks a lot!!!

Jacob
 
Jacobi1211 said:
thanks a lot bro!!!

MINION:

where are you getting your elements??? or is that a secret??? I respect your privacy if it is... thanks a lot!!!

Jacob
Click to expand...


I get my elements from here:

http://www.jlielectronics.com/spec.htm

They Have Literally Dozzens of different types and they also sell Dynamic Capsules so you can Build your own SM57 if you wanted....

The Link above doesn"t show all of the different types of Elements they have but it gives you a Good selection and it has all of the Specs for each Type Like Frequency Responce and SNR ect.....

The Shipping Price to Canada was Pretty High but if you are in the US it should be Cheaper....I ended up maying about $1.80 each Pluss shipping which made it closer to 3.25 each for 20 of them but the Prices come down as you buy more and the Guy that runs the Site is very helpfull and they accept Paypal which is Convenient.....

if you have any questions Just ask and I"ll help if I can.....

Cheers
 
thanks a lot minion!!! what do you use to hold your batteries??? I couldn't find a clip for watch batteries... and i was just thinking of taking some stuff apart that uses watch batteries and trying that... thanks a lot!!!

Jacob
 
Definitely the acoustic sounds better than a 57. Seems a bit dark, can you do a freq. response curve on it?

Also, it wouldn't be terribly difficult to wire it to use phantom power.
 
I'm afraid I don't know how to plot a freq. chart for it. The back of the box had a chart, I believe it had response from 30 to 15k, don't remember how flat it was.

This particular element is not suited for full phantom power, though I could make a circuit to drop the voltage, I'd just assume use batteries or a wall wart that is tested to not put out over 10vdc.

Ok, enough joking by myself. The amp was a tiny little Marshall Micro Stack, the MS-4. I recorded it full blast the other day and brought the samples into work. Without being told what it was people guessed all sorts of things. Pretty funny.
 
when are you planning on using them as drum overheads rory??? when you do, please post a few clips!!! my process would be underway, but i'm waiting on some parts to come in tonight at radioshack. i'm excited!!!

Jacob
 
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