Author Topic: diy mini-mic setup (Read 10429 times)

boa · « **on:** April 25, 2005, 01:17:31 AM »

I got inspired reading through some of the DIY projects others here have done and thought I would get off my ass and ready for May's Black Crowes gigs. I built a spaced omni bar for my 4061's based upon what Nick had done and and also put together my interpretation of a jecklin disc for 4061's. Here is the bar:

boa · « **Reply #1 on:** April 25, 2005, 01:24:49 AM »

I took a pair of Shure transmitter antenas I got from guitar center for a couple of bucks, and scrounged up a couple of small machined bolts to match the thread on the antennas. Attached them to a couple of small metal strips via drilling holes into the strip and screwed the bolt through it to the antenna, securing it. I took a generic mic clip and unscrewed the clip, taped the two metal plates together and slid them into the slot of the base, and then screwed it back together.. I attach it to my light stand for the 4061's and just use the basic DMM0004 clip to attach to the end of the antenna.

boa · « **Reply #2 on:** April 25, 2005, 01:32:08 AM »

Here is the small jdisc I put together from a cheap pop screen. I unscrewed the screen from the frame and outlined the screen onto some wood paneling I had around the house. I cut that out and did the same outline onto some replacement speaker material I picked up at a local music store. I used some fabric glue and secured the material to the cutout:

boa · « **Reply #3 on:** April 25, 2005, 01:35:24 AM »

I added a rubber band around the perimeter of the cutout and then placed it back into the frame of the pop screen and tighted it down. Then I attached it to a small generic t-bar and made sure it wasnt too heavy on the light stand..

boa · « **Reply #4 on:** April 25, 2005, 01:41:38 AM »

Now I added a couple of pieces of rubber to the center of the jdisc for attaching the 4061's. I used some replacement rubber feet for an old llaptop that were the peel off and sticky kind

I cut a thin canal through the rubber with a razor blade and attached the mic via the cable suppressed into the rubber and added a windscreen, using the supplied clips to keep the cable in place on the mount.

boa · « **Reply #5 on:** April 25, 2005, 01:48:54 AM »

Now I can add them together on the stand and run 4 omni's or use the space bar with a pair of 4061's on top of a standard t-bar with shockmounts and some borrowed Nak 300's as I make the switch to an R-4.

poorlyconditioned · « **Reply #6 on:** April 25, 2005, 02:49:47 AM »

Quote from: boa on April 25, 2005, 01:48:54 AM

Now I can add them together on the stand and run 4 omni's or use the space bar with a pair of 4061's on top of a standard t-bar with shockmounts and some borrowed Nak 300's as I make the switch to an R-4.

+T for the mechanical hackery! I'm thinking of building a disc myself. Time to get started...

Richard

Tim · « **Reply #7 on:** April 25, 2005, 10:22:27 AM »

love the j-disc/baffle

what's the diameter of the paddle?

boa · « **Reply #8 on:** April 25, 2005, 12:39:02 PM »

Quote from: Tim on April 25, 2005, 10:22:27 AM

what's the diameter of the paddle?

Rough guess is about 7 inches or so.

Tim · « **Reply #9 on:** April 25, 2005, 12:43:44 PM »

Quote from: boa on April 25, 2005, 12:39:02 PM

Quote from: Tim on April 25, 2005, 10:22:27 AM
what's the diameter of the paddle?

Rough guess is about 7 inches or so.

that's exactly the size I was thinking of building.....

hmmmmmmmmmmm

thanks!

Chuck · « **Reply #10 on:** April 25, 2005, 12:49:28 PM »

Very cool +T

Tim · « **Reply #11 on:** April 25, 2005, 12:56:22 PM »

this is the perfect solution, I waas trying to come up with a way to easily attach a j-disc to a clamp or the top of a stand...

brilliant, now I just have to find a pop-screen somewhere.

any of the j-disc/baffle gurus care to comment on how thick the baffle should be? I was thinking that you could cut out a piece of 1" thick foam, cover it in some fleece and afix it inside the popscreen hoop...

peterbilt · « **Reply #12 on:** April 25, 2005, 12:56:46 PM »

the antenna bar is genious!

ashevillain · « **Reply #13 on:** April 25, 2005, 01:14:41 PM »

aren't those omnis on the jdisc supposed to be oriented @ 180°?

boa · « **Reply #14 on:** April 25, 2005, 01:41:09 PM »

Quote from: ashevillain on April 25, 2005, 01:14:41 PM

aren't those omnis on the jdisc supposed to be oriented @ 180°?

From reading Moke's documentation about his experiences, I thought I would need to fine tune the way the capsules attach to each side of the jdisc. You think it should be facing 180 degrees away from each other ?

boa · « **Reply #15 on:** April 25, 2005, 06:26:22 PM »

Quote from: Moke on April 25, 2005, 02:17:18 PM

at this point, I'm curious about your spreader.
How are you keeping the bars truly horizontal? I'm assuming that it is a single pivot point at the anchor bolt, which would tend to make it want to sag. Am I missing something? How are you keeping both halves matching on a horizontal plane?

With the weight of the mics, clips and cable being negligable on the 406x series, I did not think to add reinforcement to the anchor bolt to keep the two antennae matching on the horizontal plane; my own tests are relying on the pivot point to stay tight and thus keeping the halves straight. I think I'll try to add a bar to help that and take the stress of the anchor bolt. I've got another in progress so I'll try something different with that one.

I appreciate the feedback on the jdisc; I am going to try some different rubber mounts to achieve the 180 degree focus. I'll post any updates.

Todd R · « **Reply #16 on:** April 25, 2005, 07:14:06 PM »

Very cool, boa, good job!

Personally, I've never heard that the mics need to be oriented 180* apart for a j-disk. And every picture I've ever seen of a j-disk always has them pointed more or less forward, not off to the sides. Theoretically, it should not matter at all, since omnis should be omni-directional, so orientation shouldn't matter. In practice, most omni mics tend to get directional at high frequencies. But if I were concerned at all, I'd want my mics pointed more or less forward so that the directionality of the mics at high frequencies would be on-axis with the sound source, not on axis with the side wall reflections.

Some links on j-disks:

http://www.josephson.com/tn5.html

http://www.mhsoft.nl/MicTips.asp

Anyone have links/sources discussing the need for the 180* orientation?

Todd R · « **Reply #17 on:** April 25, 2005, 07:47:19 PM »

Gotcha, thanks Mike. That makes sense. Well, sortof -- now I've got to say, wow, I had no idea the 406x series were side addressed mics, not axial. Thanks for the tip, now I'll know which direction to yell into Tim's new mics.

Tim · « **Reply #18 on:** April 25, 2005, 07:48:18 PM »

careful or I'll start throwing hipchecks old man

pfife · « **Reply #19 on:** April 25, 2005, 07:49:48 PM »

ScottT · « **Reply #20 on:** April 26, 2005, 11:27:37 AM »

+T for DIY

and another +T in 12 for the "sauce au fromage pour nachos" pic in your third post

Tim · « **Reply #21 on:** April 26, 2005, 03:53:25 PM »

so I'm going to build one of these jdisc/baffles today and was wondering, since I have never even seen a 4061 upclose, what the best way to affix the mics to the disc will be? I would like to maintain the ability to adjust the distance the caps are from the baffle. I'm assuming that no matter how far out from the baffle the mics are I would always want them to be basically centered in the middle of the disc, is this correct?

thanks guys!

Tim · « **Reply #22 on:** April 26, 2005, 04:03:07 PM »

thanks Moke...

Tim · « **Reply #23 on:** April 26, 2005, 04:59:42 PM »

boa - any idea what type/model pop screen that is? I've had a tough time finding one with a mic mount, everyone I've found has gooseneck and clamp

boa · « **Reply #24 on:** April 27, 2005, 05:08:50 AM »

Quote from: Tim on April 26, 2005, 04:59:42 PM

boa - any idea what type/model pop screen that is? I've had a tough time finding one with a mic mount, everyone I've found has gooseneck and clamp

Not sure exactly - got it at Guitar Center but I also saw the same at Pro Audio on Manchester in Maplewood. It comes with a clamp and a flexible extension. I'll see if I still have the packaging.

Tim · « **Reply #25 on:** April 27, 2005, 12:51:00 PM »

Quote from: Moke on April 27, 2005, 10:16:22 AM

Tim,

Embroidery Loops,..... This is a cheap and readily available frame, though it would take some tweaking to get it to mount. i think it would be an easy enough tweak to get it to mount though.

yeah I was thinking of going that direction but couldn't come up with a good way to attach that hoop to a stand. I don't have a work bench or any power tools....

hmmmmmmmm

Tim · « **Reply #26 on:** April 27, 2005, 02:15:17 PM »

ahhhhh

good thinking...

thanks for all of your help... much appreciated

Tim · « **Reply #27 on:** April 27, 2005, 03:49:59 PM »

just got back from the craft store

ended up getting an 8" embroidery ring, it's made of heavy yellow plastic

I bought two 8" foam "wheels" to go inside the ring, one is 1" thick and the other is 2" thick.... I think I'm going to use the 1" though for now

I picked up some heavy black felt squares and I'm in the process of glueing them to the foam using Liquid Nails

this is the easy part... I'm going to grab a cheapo mic clip later and try to dissect it for a mic mount later (good idea moke)

Tim · « **Reply #28 on:** April 27, 2005, 04:05:20 PM »

not sure what you mean

Tim · « **Reply #29 on:** April 27, 2005, 04:13:27 PM »

yes, LOTS of different sizes... the people at the store were no help at all

I had a 7inch wooden hoop but I couldn't find any 7inch foam so I went with the heavier duty 8inch plastic hoop. It's bright yellow but my other options were pink and purple

I think I caught a buzz from the Liquid Nails

Tim · « **Reply #30 on:** April 27, 2005, 05:49:59 PM »

just went and got a simple butterfly style mic clip, the butterfly end grabs the disc firmly and the other end is a standard mic mount...

I'm going to touch up the blackfelt and when my mics arrive I am going to determine exactly how I want to attach my mics but this was a *very* easy project that probably cost me $20 in parts, all of which were easy to find.

the disc is 8" and just over 1" thick...

Tim · « **Reply #31 on:** April 27, 2005, 06:15:45 PM »

some pics... it's not real pretty just yet but I'm going to take some of the extra felt and clean it up a bit

Brian · « **Reply #32 on:** April 27, 2005, 06:16:57 PM »

dude....you are SO back!

Tim · « **Reply #33 on:** April 27, 2005, 06:27:20 PM »

hopefully my rig is here in time to give it a test run on friday.... I guess I'm going to take it louisville with me for panic too

Brian · « **Reply #34 on:** April 27, 2005, 06:33:24 PM »

and would you look at that......taping panic for the first show back. nice! too bad you can't make it to St. Louis. It's going to be a hell of a time.

but yeah the derby......that's sweet too

boa · « **Reply #35 on:** April 27, 2005, 10:10:00 PM »

This is the 4061 jdisc with a few mods to it. I removed the rubber feet to secure the mic cables to the center of the disc. To replace them, I drilled a 5/16" hole in the center and then cut a piece of #2 Ticonderoga pencil about 1 1/2" long and centered and glued it into the hole of the jdisc. Then to attach the mics, I took a couple of external rubber pencil erasers and cut a slot into them slightly smaller than the cable diameter. I routed the mics and used electricians tape to secure the cables and then added windscreens. I think I will need to add a piece of tape to get a more 180 degree setup but I believe this is an improvement.

boa · « **Reply #36 on:** April 27, 2005, 10:18:06 PM »

I also made a longer spaced omni bar with longer antennae I got at the local Cracker Barrel. They had magnets on the end that I snipped, and then secured each to a small metal bracket. Then I screwed the brackets together, and placed them into the slot of a generic mic clip. The antennae are snug onto the metal brackets but removable; I might decide to just glue them on permanent. I took some electrical tape and placed it over the ends of the antennae and then used the basic DPA mic clip to attach to the taped end. Added a windscreen and I think its good to go - It will be fun to test it out this friday.