what do you think about this 20$ mic? (DIY)

  • Thread starter Thread starter tenkas
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I built one a few months ago. I haven't had much chance to use it yet, but the trial recordings I did with my acoustic were really good. I don't have much to compare it with but I was definitely pleased with my investment. I spent about $25 on it, but I bought parts locally instead of through a distributor like DigiKey.

Darryl.....
 
These mics are worth the investment of $20 a piece, they work well, and they are kind of fun to make.

That being said, I don't know if they are what you are looking for. These aren't really anything like the B1.

What do you need to get a new mic for? Vocals? Drums?

Let us know.
 
I need a mic more for drums maybe... but could be used for guitar also...
for what part of the drum is it good for? thx
 
how do you solder leads to such tiny contacts on the diaphragm???!!

T
 
Get some help...

You really need 4 hands to do it right... so get somebody to hold the capsule and a wire with some pliers, while you do the soldering (or vice versa.)

I did it alone, but it took about 3 or 4 tries. The solder actually kind of pools on the contacts, and stays away from the gap between contacts (kind of.) So, if you don't glob too much solder on, you should be fine.

After you solder it on, coat the back with epoxy!

It's really not as hard as it looks... I saw the capsule and I was like "No fucking way..." but you can do it. Even with 2 hands. But 4 would help.
 
I had to have my wife hold a magnifying glass so I could see what the heck I was doing.
Also dont try to use solder while you are attaching the wires to
the capsule. First you tin the wire, That means put solder on the
wire first so that it runs into the wires after it cool,s then
just touch the wire and the element with iron at the same time
and they will attach them selves.

Mine are not done yet cause I am having trouble finding the
1000pf capacitor.
 
I was able to find the 1000pF capacitor at Radio Shack (I think they list it as .0001 uF there)

but, if you want to pay the $5 handling fee for a part that is super cheap, here is the part number at DigiKey - C315C102J1G5CA

Somebody asked what part of the drums to use this for... probably most would recommend it as an overhead microphone... but I think this microphone is versatile, you should just experiment with placement, and different drums I can get an okay bass drum sound with it, okay for vocals, etc.
 
:eek: If any one builds one here, please post how the thing works; It looks kind of Mickey mouse to me. thanks



da MUTT
 
Thanks Baniak, I went to radio shack and they dont list it as 1000pf, But Im sure they had it listed at .0001 i am not that up on electronics anymore, They should have known but you know how that is these day,s finding someone in the store that knows
their product. I was thinking maybe it is listed as
.001 instead of .0001 I will have to check
 
Ooops... my bad, it is .001uF - darned fractions, or whatever they are... ;)

Yeah, Radio Shack isn't very helpful when it comes to the knowledge department (or anything else if you ask people on this board.)

Hey Muttley, these mics are kind of mickey mouse, in that they aren't professionally made... mine are mounted inside two highlighters - it's kind of fun to have a pink microphone, but not professional in any way.

That being said, I think they sound okay. The capsules have good flat pickup, I'm sure you can experiment with mounting them, and get different results.

I'll record some stuff with them soon, and post it, you can listen for yourself.
 
I hadn't paid much attention to this thread for awhile, but from some of the recent conversation I thought I'd drop a couple of notes.

If you really don't want to screw around with soldering the leads on the mic element, you can get a mic element from Radio Shack that has teh same exact specs and has the leads already soldered on. I think it cost about $2 or so.

As far as those caps go, I wound up getting 2 500 pF caps and wiring them in parallel (parallel capacitance is additive, not like resistance), and this seemed to work fine.

I was asked to do a voice over for a project last week, and since my only other mic is an SM57-clone, I decided to try the DIY mic. It came out great, once I put my DIY pop filter in place to catch the plosives.

I'm gonna have to build me another one to try out as drum overheads, now.

Darryl.....
 
DDev... do you have the part number or anything for that radioshack element? i've been wanting to do this forever, but just haven't gotten around to calling digikey to send me the capsule. if i could just drive across the street, then i'm happy.

thanks,
.pete.
 
No, I don't have the part number. I took the specs for the element with me when I went to the Shack for some other stuff and compared it to see if they had something similar. I was surprised that the specs were basically exact so I just bought it. So far so good.

Darryl.....
 
thanks darryl, i'll run over there this week, and try to make this my weekend project.

.pete.
 
hey guys...
i need some help!! i built two of these mics and one of th em makes this buzzing noise. do any of you electronics guys know what it could be? what should i look at?? it's stressin me out here... thanks a lot

T
 
a bit of verification...

it's just one of the power supplies. the mics themselves are fine. and it just buzzes a little, except for when you touch it. then it stops

thanks again,
T
 
I had the same problem. The steel power supply chassis needs to be grounded to the same ground as the preamp you are using. I just connected a piece of copper wire from the power supply to the chassis of my main rack. I prefer the sound of these mics to my MXL 603s on my Taylor 412 through my RNP. I haven't tried them on my Martin yet but I'm predicting they will work like a champ. I also made two of these mics with radio shack elements and they sound quite dark. Good luck.
 
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