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Author Topic: Homemade?  (Read 5960 times)

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Alchemy

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Homemade?
« on: October 05, 2006, 04:55:34 PM »
Hi, I record a show every now and then, although not very frequently, and I have a question about microphones.

I was reading in a different thread that it is possible to build a pair of your own mics with a little bit of soldering and ingenuity and some omnicaps. I was thinking this might be an interesting venture- just to try it out and experiment a little. But before I do that, can anyone attest to this actually working? Just in general, what is the quality usually like? I have a mic that works fine for me right now, but I think this would actually be an upgrade if it worked since the frequency response on these omni’s seems to be a little wider.

Thanks for any response.

Offline bluegrass_brad

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Re: Homemade?
« Reply #1 on: October 05, 2006, 04:59:32 PM »
I built some of these and have used them lots and lots as onstage mics, and split with my AKG's in the center XY. As long as you use High quality components they work great.  the battery lasts for months.
http://prosoundweb.com/recording/tapeop/buildmic/buildmic_16_1.shtml
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Offline celticrogues

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Re: Homemade?
« Reply #2 on: October 07, 2006, 06:51:35 PM »
I have built these as well and they work fine. The tape-op plans are great, the only problem is that they are a few years old and the microphone capsules recommended in the article are no longer available. The ones I found to substitute are the Panasonic WM-61A capsules, available at digi-key. They are almost identical to the capsules in the article, just a little less flat in the high freqs. They sound pretty cool though - a little bit of honkiness, but a cool sound for a $20 mic. They are fun to make as well. Digi-key has a data sheet for these capsules on their site if you want to check out the specs.
Good luck!
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Offline Church-Audio

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Re: Homemade?
« Reply #3 on: October 08, 2006, 10:36:56 AM »
Hi, I record a show every now and then, although not very frequently, and I have a question about microphones.

I was reading in a different thread that it is possible to build a pair of your own mics with a little bit of soldering and ingenuity and some omnicaps. I was thinking this might be an interesting venture- just to try it out and experiment a little. But before I do that, can anyone attest to this actually working? Just in general, what is the quality usually like? I have a mic that works fine for me right now, but I think this would actually be an upgrade if it worked since the frequency response on these omni’s seems to be a little wider.

Thanks for any response.


You can build mics for cheap, that sound very good. Here is a source of WM-60 capsules these are the same ones earthworks uses in the m-30 mic
You can order hand matched calibrated capsules from this guy they are more expensive but you will end up with a matched pair of capsules. I would be very careful about the mods to this capsule they are hard to do but the mod that I do is a simple 4.7 k metal film resistor between the ground pad and the capsule ground pad on the back of the mic the trace between the capsule ground and this pad must be cut with a razor.

You must have a good set of radio shack heat sinks they only come in a kit that includes a bunch of soldering iron tools they are like aluminum alligator clips but they are flat you clamp both of them onto the capsule when soldering them, its very important to be fast with your soldering and have a very good like and a good pair of eyes. But it can be done if you can afford to buy two sets of capsules you should here is the contact info for these capsules.
Its also very important to have a great soldering iron with a very fine tip. This can be an expensive thing to get into, but it can be very rewarding I use brass tubes from a hobby store for my omni mics and I use epoxy to glue everything together with some heat shrink and remember the tube that the mics sit in is very important to the sound with out giving away to much information on what I do and others like earthworks its all about what the capsule is placed in even more so then the capsule it self that determines the frequency response of the mic. Shielding is very important to reduce noise. So look around on the Internet. let me know if I can help you out I would be glad to.

I do my own matching when I build mics this is possible because I have 1,000's of capsules when you buy one or two from digikey its very hard to get a good match. Kim has been doing this for a long time and is very good at it.

Chris Church

Kim Girardin
Wadenhome Sound
1400 Homer Rd. Suite 2
Winona, MN, 55987, USA
507-454-8844
kmgrdn@luminet.net
for warranty returns email me at
EMAIL Sales@church-audio.com

Alchemy

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Re: Homemade?
« Reply #4 on: October 08, 2006, 11:29:54 AM »
Thank you for all of the replies.

It appears that there a few different ways I could take this project. I could start off simple and just solder the Panasonic capsules to a basic headphone wire. (I was reading that two capsules producing the same frequency response is a rarity...ouch!) Or I could go through the complete process as linked above with the battery box as well.

Also, I should note that I understand there is no way a $20 homeade mic is going to perform as well as a mic from the upper price ranges. However, I feel that with my current budget and equipment, this project would be worthwhile.

Offline Church-Audio

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Re: Homemade?
« Reply #5 on: October 08, 2006, 12:25:06 PM »
Thank you for all of the replies.

It appears that there a few different ways I could take this project. I could start off simple and just solder the Panasonic capsules to a basic headphone wire. (I was reading that two capsules producing the same frequency response is a rarity...ouch!) Or I could go through the complete process as linked above with the battery box as well.

Also, I should note that I understand there is no way a $20 homeade mic is going to perform as well as a mic from the upper price ranges. However, I feel that with my current budget and equipment, this project would be worthwhile.

Go for it. Just remember to take your time. Its pretty cool building things. Also remember that unmoded panasonic mics will only be good for about 100 db or so before they start to overload.
for warranty returns email me at
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RebelRebel

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Re: Homemade?
« Reply #6 on: October 08, 2006, 08:10:40 PM »
Period Punctuation in Writing

PERIOD:
The use of periods as punctuation in writing.

The primary uses of the period are:

a)      At the end of a sentence, when the sentence is a statement or instruction.
 Example: 

      Please have those reports completed and on my desk by Friday.

b)      After an abbreviation or after initials.
 Examples:

      Gov’t.                      etc.                   I.R.S.                John W. Smith

c)     It is acceptable to omit the period after an abbreviation that consists of the first and last letter of a word.
 Examples:

             Mr.  or   Mr               
             Dr.  or   Dr

d)      When abbreviating, for example calendar months, titles, degrees, or days of the week, it should be remembered that only one space follows the period at the end of the abbreviation, and that no spaces follow the letters within the abbreviation.
Examples:

             U.S.A.   not   U. S. A
             Ph.D.    not    Ph. D.

e)      If a sentence concludes with an abbreviation that ends with a period, a second period should NOT be used
 Example: 

       This matter will now be referred to the I.R.S.

an important message for Chris Church :P :P :P :P




Hi, I record a show every now and then, although not very frequently, and I have a question about microphones.

I was reading in a different thread that it is possible to build a pair of your own mics with a little bit of soldering and ingenuity and some omnicaps. I was thinking this might be an interesting venture- just to try it out and experiment a little. But before I do that, can anyone attest to this actually working? Just in general, what is the quality usually like? I have a mic that works fine for me right now, but I think this would actually be an upgrade if it worked since the frequency response on these omni’s seems to be a little wider.

Thanks for any response.


You can build mics for cheap, that sound very good. Here is a source of WM-60 capsules these are the same ones earthworks uses in the m-30 mic
You can order hand matched calibrated capsules from this guy they are more expensive but you will end up with a matched pair of capsules. I would be very careful about the mods to this capsule they are hard to do but the mod that I do is a simple 4.7 k metal film resistor between the ground pad and the capsule ground pad on the back of the mic the trace between the capsule ground and this pad must be cut with a razor.

You must have a good set of radio shack heat sinks they only come in a kit that includes a bunch of soldering iron tools they are like aluminum alligator clips but they are flat you clamp both of them onto the capsule when soldering them, its very important to be fast with your soldering and have a very good like and a good pair of eyes. But it can be done if you can afford to buy two sets of capsules you should here is the contact info for these capsules.
Its also very important to have a great soldering iron with a very fine tip. This can be an expensive thing to get into, but it can be very rewarding I use brass tubes from a hobby store for my omni mics and I use epoxy to glue everything together with some heat shrink and remember the tube that the mics sit in is very important to the sound with out giving away to much information on what I do and others like earthworks its all about what the capsule is placed in even more so then the capsule it self that determines the frequency response of the mic. Shielding is very important to reduce noise. So look around on the Internet. let me know if I can help you out I would be glad to.

I do my own matching when I build mics this is possible because I have 1,000's of capsules when you buy one or two from digikey its very hard to get a good match. Kim has been doing this for a long time and is very good at it.

Chris Church

Kim Girardin
Wadenhome Sound
1400 Homer Rd. Suite 2
Winona, MN, 55987, USA
507-454-8844
kmgrdn@luminet.net

« Last Edit: October 08, 2006, 08:12:45 PM by Teddy »

Offline Church-Audio

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Re: Homemade?
« Reply #7 on: October 08, 2006, 09:07:54 PM »
Period Punctuation in Writing

PERIOD:
The use of periods as punctuation in writing.

The primary uses of the period are:

a)      At the end of a sentence, when the sentence is a statement or instruction.
 Example: 

      Please have those reports completed and on my desk by Friday.

b)      After an abbreviation or after initials.
 Examples:

      Gov’t.                      etc.                   I.R.S.                John W. Smith

c)     It is acceptable to omit the period after an abbreviation that consists of the first and last letter of a word.
 Examples:

             Mr.  or   Mr               
             Dr.  or   Dr

d)      When abbreviating, for example calendar months, titles, degrees, or days of the week, it should be remembered that only one space follows the period at the end of the abbreviation, and that no spaces follow the letters within the abbreviation.
Examples:

             U.S.A.   not   U. S. A
             Ph.D.    not    Ph. D.

e)      If a sentence concludes with an abbreviation that ends with a period, a second period should NOT be used
 Example: 

       This matter will now be referred to the I.R.S.

an important message for Chris Church :P :P :P :P




Hi, I record a show every now and then, although not very frequently, and I have a question about microphones.

I was reading in a different thread that it is possible to build a pair of your own mics with a little bit of soldering and ingenuity and some omnicaps. I was thinking this might be an interesting venture- just to try it out and experiment a little. But before I do that, can anyone attest to this actually working? Just in general, what is the quality usually like? I have a mic that works fine for me right now, but I think this would actually be an upgrade if it worked since the frequency response on these omni’s seems to be a little wider.

Thanks for any response.


You can build mics for cheap, that sound very good. Here is a source of WM-60 capsules these are the same ones earthworks uses in the m-30 mic
You can order hand matched calibrated capsules from this guy they are more expensive but you will end up with a matched pair of capsules. I would be very careful about the mods to this capsule they are hard to do but the mod that I do is a simple 4.7 k metal film resistor between the ground pad and the capsule ground pad on the back of the mic the trace between the capsule ground and this pad must be cut with a razor.

You must have a good set of radio shack heat sinks they only come in a kit that includes a bunch of soldering iron tools they are like aluminum alligator clips but they are flat you clamp both of them onto the capsule when soldering them, its very important to be fast with your soldering and have a very good like and a good pair of eyes. But it can be done if you can afford to buy two sets of capsules you should here is the contact info for these capsules.
Its also very important to have a great soldering iron with a very fine tip. This can be an expensive thing to get into, but it can be very rewarding I use brass tubes from a hobby store for my omni mics and I use epoxy to glue everything together with some heat shrink and remember the tube that the mics sit in is very important to the sound with out giving away to much information on what I do and others like earthworks its all about what the capsule is placed in even more so then the capsule it self that determines the frequency response of the mic. Shielding is very important to reduce noise. So look around on the Internet. let me know if I can help you out I would be glad to.

I do my own matching when I build mics this is possible because I have 1,000's of capsules when you buy one or two from digikey its very hard to get a good match. Kim has been doing this for a long time and is very good at it.

Chris Church

Kim Girardin
Wadenhome Sound
1400 Homer Rd. Suite 2
Winona, MN, 55987, USA
507-454-8844
kmgrdn@luminet.net


Bite me  :P

Sorry Ted what I ment to say was, bite me. :P
« Last Edit: October 08, 2006, 09:11:04 PM by Church-Audio »
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RebelRebel

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Re: Homemade?
« Reply #8 on: October 08, 2006, 09:08:58 PM »


Bite me  :P

 :D I was jest messin' chris.

nothing but love here man!

Offline Church-Audio

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Re: Homemade?
« Reply #9 on: October 08, 2006, 09:11:50 PM »


Bite me  :P

It's all good.

Chris


 :D I was jest messin' chris.

nothing but love here man!
for warranty returns email me at
EMAIL Sales@church-audio.com

RebelRebel

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Re: Homemade?
« Reply #10 on: October 08, 2006, 09:31:01 PM »
it's all good, but you still cant use quotes for shit. :P :-*




Bite me  :P

It's all good.

Chris


 :D I was jest messin' chris.

nothing but love here man!

Offline Church-Audio

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Re: Homemade?
« Reply #11 on: October 09, 2006, 01:11:45 AM »
it's all good, but you still cant use quotes for shit. :P :-*




Bite me  :P

It's all good.
Dont make me come down there and show you how to mix ok.  :P

Chris


 :D I was jest messin' chris.

nothing but love here man!
for warranty returns email me at
EMAIL Sales@church-audio.com

Offline markdc70

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Re: Homemade?
« Reply #12 on: November 22, 2006, 12:44:20 PM »
That ceramic disc cap that he has in figure 1 doesn't seem to be used by any of the other designs of this style of mic that I've found.  Does this cap help the performance of this mic circuit?

Offline Humbug

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Re: Homemade?
« Reply #13 on: November 22, 2006, 02:51:07 PM »
You two (Chris and Teddy) were really funny on this thread.

Dunno if this place gets any traffic, but the files should be useful:

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/MicDIYers/

and (apparently):

http://www.freeforum101.com/forum/micdiyer.html
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Re: Homemade?
« Reply #14 on: November 22, 2006, 05:18:14 PM »

c)     It is acceptable to omit the period after an abbreviation that consists of the first and last letter of a word.
 Examples:

             Mr.  or   Mr               
             Dr.  or   Dr


......er, when the hell did this one get to be a rule?  That's just lazy.  :P
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