Building your own XLR mic.

[Sic]

Anyone have a schematic, or any links for building your own XLR mic?

i did a google search, and didn't find much of any help.

my singer has a cheap-ol $10 1/4''  mic... i figure since im learning how to do all this diy stuff, and i want to build myself some cool gadgets... that i might as well experiment with all the different dynamics of DIY audio.

thanks ahead of time.

[brett]

I think you'll find mic building a bit like wah building - the electronics are easy compared to the physical stuff.

I don't gig but wanted a reasonable mic for my daughter and her friends to sing into when I play or along with CDs at parties.  For about $40 at a pawn shop I got a Shure M-14 (?I think?), which obviously isn't a top-grade mic, but it isn't too bad, either.  And it came with a 30 foot cable (Shure brand).  So check out pawn shops and second-hand shops.

I once made a mic out of half of a set of headphones.  Deliberately lo-fi (kinda like the Black Keys).  Worked fairly good.  As does a good mic into an Easydrive.

If you do find a DIY mic site, I'm sure that lots of us would really like to see it.

cheers

[GuitarLord5000]

I've heard of mic's being made out of old speakers; And one guy wired up the bottom end of a telephone handset for use as a mic.  But the problem you'll find is (as stated above) the physical part of the mic.  Building a reliable housing for mic that also looks professional (or at least doesn't look completely unprofessional) will take more money/time/effort than it's worth.  And you have to make sure that the housing doesn't totally ruin the mic's ability to capture 'true' sound.  Look at MusiciansFriend.com for some decent sounding mics at decent prices.  You'll sometimes find 'em at VERY reasonable prices.  But if I DO find anything concerning rolling your own mic, I'll let ya know.

[GuitarLord5000]

Here's something:
http://prosoundweb.com/recording/tapeop/buildmic/buildmic_16_1.shtml
Supposedly able to make a mic for under $20.

[Ge_Whiz]

I was doing some experiments miking-up different amps last week for recording purposes. I was surprised how good my cheap mics were; the sound quality was definitely due more to the amp and its settings than the mic. A new Philips dynamic mic, picked up from a radio fair for £10 last year, perfomed well, but excellent results were obtained from cheap 'Yoga'/'Vivanco' stereo condenser mics. These are available from Maplin in the UK for £15, or £10 during sales. I run them with one side facing the speaker, but both mics connected to the recorder, so one side picks up direct sound, and the other ambient (reflected) sound. The build quality is flimsy; I wouldn't use them in a live situation, but for home recording, they're fantastic.

[B Tremblay]

http://www.angela.com/catalog/microphones/Microphones.html

Scroll down a bit and you'll see...

[moosapotamus]

There's been a lot of discussions about the DIY telephone mic at the TapeOP forum lately. Head over there and do a search. Short story... Cool lo-fi sounding mic. Use the earpiece element. If you use the mouthpiece element you'll need +48V phantom power. But, that's cool, too!

And, for something at the complete opposite end of the spectrum...
http://www.gyraf.dk/gy_pd/g7/gic.htm

~ Charlie

[ryanscissorhands]

http://www.christianmusicweb.com/microphones/mic_project.html

This guy ^ built his based on the prosoundweb design. His schematic is kind of realy hand drawn (is that crayon?), bt pretty cool. He also has a sund clip in stereo of his first two mics and they sound really bright. Costs are about $40, but that includes the soldering iron. I'm planning on building one after summer.

[Sic]

thanks for all the replies, its a start

[petemoore]

And   A "Better' condenser.
 I built some mics using a condenser element for about 4$ each.
 they actually work real good too.
 Getting the element for a cardoid mic is a very technical deal requiring alot of overhead to get started, I would say buy a Shure, or something decent, or try a condenser...really quite the performer...I've used it for recording and it works just fine.

[Sic]

Hrm, would this work, or is it too small??

Circuit Specialists Link

[Bluesgeetar]

Do a search on the web for Scott Dorsey.  He seems to be like the R.G. Keen of the DIY Mic mods and stuff.

[Gus]

Sic  google some more there is alot of info out there.  Moose gave you a good link.

Gus