Topic: DIY Mics (WM-61a's)

[gkatz]

I remember seeing a thread somewhere about a guy doing the same thing I want to do, which is make a stealth set of mics. so sorry if this is extraneous.

I just got 4 of these capsules from digikey, and I plan on going to radioshack to get the rest of the parts. I have a nice and small soldering iron too. I am just not sure on exactly what parts I should get there. I know I need the wire and jack assembly (I think I would like to make a 'binaural' pair) but as far as a simple batt box? or do I not need one with the H120. any guidance appreciated.

oh yea and I'm thinking of having them either headphone mounted or sunglass mounted (is that called 'croakie'?) so I can stxxlth shows with the iriver.

[bucsab12]

I think this is what you need:

http://forums.sonyinsider.com/index.php?showtopic=14343

Good luck

[gkatz]

great thanks alot that's perfect

[listener2]

I tackled this same project about 4 years ago myself.  I bought 20 of these Panasonic WM61A mic capsules also from Digi-Key.
I sorted and tested the capsules to find closest matched pairs for stereo left and right channel binaural mic'ing use.
If you do a searh on WM61A you will find there are published modifications for these capsules where by you can lower the sensitivity of the WM61A for use at Louder Concert recording environments.  The original WM61A capsules are very high sensitivity and sound really really good to excellent.  But they are prone to overloading due to their high sensitivity.
The modification of the capsule requires delicately separating by cutting a tab on the back of the mic capsule and then rewiring your external battery box circuit to rearrange the configuration of the FET circuit such that it is less sensitive.  They claim improved frequency response changes too, but I think that is subjective.  I made a stereo set of mics with unmodified capsules built into a cheap set of Sony headphones and I also made a set with the modified mic capsules.  They both sound really good. 
The unmodified capsules sound brighter (more high frequencies emphasis) than the modified capsules.  The modified capsules are much less sensitive than the unmodified capsules and also have duller high frequencies response.  They both sound great and make excellent recordings.
Also beware that when making the Linkwitz modification (as I think it was called) that there are two ways to wire up the DC power supply voltage to the FET circuit.  The two different circuit layouts accomplish basically the same thing, however, one circuit has the DC polarity of the supply reversed such that if you do it that way, then you will also have to make sure you have a reversed battery box to supply the voltage to the mics.  The other circuit was added later that I could tell and does not require you to rewire your battery box (in other words its polarity is correct and compatible with original standard battery boxes). Anyway, that's all I have to say on these capsules.  They are great sounding capsules and can hold their own with the more expensive lavalier type mics.  Really!