MAKING a kick speaker thing

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drummerdude666

drummerdude666

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I think the title of the post explains it all.

Half way through Eng Lit GCSE a few days a thought stuck me. I've been quite hypocritical. I've given advice to a number of people on this forum about how to record their kit. Most times i've mentioned a kick drum speaker, I've used ones before when helping out at other studios but i realised whats the point of telling someone to do if i myself don't have one in practice all the time. So i thought i better start using one.

Then i thought, i have no idea how to make one. Not a clue. So i thought i'd ask you guys and see if you could help me make a kick speaker thing :D

At this point I realised the exam had started and i'd better start anwsering some of the questions. :rolleyes:

I'm also planning on making a kick drum tunnel when i have some spare time, but in the mean time will the kick speaker thing work just as well without the tunel, i'll rephrase that, I know it will work, but how does it sound?

Also I think we need a name for the kick speaker thing, as to keep calling it a kick speaker thing will get annoying. So this thread is also to help name (unless it already has one) the kick speaker thing :cool:
 
Wow, sodding fast reply. Nice one :D

Question. I searched before making this thread and the thread you gave me or any of the threads within that thread came up. How come i could find those threads?

We still need a name...
 
LOL. Up late and knew where it was.

Are you saying you searched and couldn't find the right threads?
 
Yeh, I searched 'kick speaker' and just had tons of threads about kick drums, kick drum mics etc.

I've just destroyed a tanglewood amp I had and just got a bollocking from my parents as i'm not meant to be doing anything apart from revising.

I've got it all figured out....I think.

Positive lead of the speaker to pin 2 of the XLR, neg to pin 3. What about the spare pin? Also just to confirm before I make a big mistake, pin 2 is (looking at the end with triangle pointing down) the one on the left. Then pin 3 is the bottom one (the tip of the triangle)

Is this right? Also I read all the threads but I couldn't find what was the best thing to case it in?
 
How exactly do these work, ive never seen them before,
thanks

- Idgeit
 
drummerdude666 said:
Yeh, I searched 'kick speaker' and just had tons of threads about kick drums, kick drum mics etc.

?
Click to expand...

Ahh...I knew it was in the mic forum, so I searched there using the same terms as you- plain luck at having seen a thread about it there. When you search inside a specific forum, it only searches there, not the whole bbs.

As far as a case- hmm... you need something so you can get it close enough. Apparently these thing put out tons of signal, so it doesn't need to be close except for isolation and tone. You might be able to use the amp the speaker is in, and use a riser to get it up far enough. I saw one that was mounted in a wooden frame, like a picture frame, suspended top and bottom by wire from the holes where the screws went.
 
Idgeit said:
How exactly do these work, ive never seen them before,
thanks

- Idgeit
Click to expand...

Basically-

A mic uses a diaphragm, wire coil, and a magnet to convert sound energy into voltage. A speaker uses a diaphragm, wire coil, and a magnet to convert voltage into sound. So someone figured since they were sort of the same thing, a speaker could be used as a mic.
 
Sorry to repost this, But this is my only question left.I'm going to keep the speaker in it's case for the moment, i'll post results when i get them.

Positive lead of the speaker to pin 2 of the XLR, neg to pin 3. What about the spare pin? Also just to confirm before I make a big mistake, pin 2 is (looking at the end with triangle pointing down) the one on the left. Then pin 3 is the bottom one (the tip of the triangle)

Is this right?
 
drummerdude666 said:
Sorry to repost this, But this is my only question left.I'm going to keep the speaker in it's case for the moment, i'll post results when i get them.

Positive lead of the speaker to pin 2 of the XLR, neg to pin 3. What about the spare pin? Also just to confirm before I make a big mistake, pin 2 is (looking at the end with triangle pointing down) the one on the left. Then pin 3 is the bottom one (the tip of the triangle)

Is this right?
Click to expand...

Oops- sorry, missed that. Depends on if you are looking at the inside or outside of the connector. Two is on the left if you are looking at the back, on the right if you are looking at the pins. Look close, there are usually tiny numbers on the connector beside the pins and solder cups.

Yup, 2+, 3-, leave 1 unconnected.
 
Wooh, tiny numbers!

I've never noticed them before :D

I can't give you rep, apparently i've got to share the rep love before giving it to you again so you must have helped me in the past. So thankyou boingoman!
 
How can i do that?

Solder it to the metal of the speaker???
 
drummerdude666 said:
How can i do that?

Solder it to the metal of the speaker???
Click to expand...

No need. The speaker frame won't be a source of noise. But you can solder the shield to pin one on the XLR, if you want, and you happen to be using shielded cable.
 
boingoman said:
No need. The speaker frame won't be a source of noise. But you can solder the shield to pin one on the XLR, if you want, and you happen to be using shielded cable.
Click to expand...

No, the speaker frame isn't a source of noise. Its a sheild to prevent the coil from picking up noise. I used a shortened drill bit (be careful) to put a screw by the terminals and attached it there. This is the whole reason microphone bodies are attached to ground.
 
So I do or don't attach pin #1 to the metal casing of the speaker?
 
I think you'd be fine either way. Boingoman's point is that it probably won't pick up any noise as that's a rarity. If it does, however, the sheild may help. Go without it at first.
 
Is th speaker that you are using brand new, or is it in a speaker cabinet?

If it's in the cabinet, you can just leave it in the cabinet - my experience has been that it won't hurt any. I just installed an XLR in the back of the speaker cabinet. I attached a machine screw & nut to the speaker's frame (it already had an extra pair of holes in it), and wired the shield to the nut and machine screw.


Tim
 
boingoman said:
Basically-

A mic uses a diaphragm, wire coil, and a magnet to convert sound energy into voltage. A speaker uses a diaphragm, wire coil, and a magnet to convert voltage into sound. So someone figured since they were sort of the same thing, a speaker could be used as a mic.
Click to expand...

When I was a kid back in the 60's, my parents had an intercom installed between the house and an outbuilding. There was a push-to-talk button on the wall unit in the outbuilding that my dad told me converted the speaker to a microphone by swapping some wires around. Wheels turned in my head.

Not too long after that, I "invented" the electric guitar by taping a 4 inch speaker over the sound hole of my old Silvertone acoustic guitar and sticking the bare wires from it into the phono inputs of an old tube record player/radio combo. I also immediately discovered feedback.
 
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