DIY ribbon mic

[rafafredd]

Hi.

After seeing this:

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=r...F-8&selm=aniurk$7p2$1@panix2.panix.com&rnum=1

I´ve been thinking of building my own ribbon mics...

Theres a ribbon microphone sowter transformer that may fit.

Anyone knows about the magnectic elements positions and wiring...
Anyway, anything about DIY ribbon microphones (I´m quite sure it´s possible)...

Thanks

 

[EC8010]

The step-up transformer is probably the least of your problems.

You need very thin aluminium foil. Traditionally, DIYers have obtained this from cigarette packet inner sleeves by dissolving the paper.

You need a very powerful magnet. Really powerful. No, I mean it. Really, really powerful. And sourcing that is probably the biggest problem. (Magnets salvaged from magnetrons are a possibility.)

The "Microphone Engineering Handbook" edited by Michael Gayford (ISBN 0-7506-1199-5) has a good section on ribbon design, but it's expensive.

It's probably easier to make a capacitor microphone and associated head amplifier...

 

[psarin]

sounds like a good idea!

no pun intended...

you may want to check out the following set of links:

http://gyraf.dk/gyraf2/gy_pd/g7/gic.htm
and
http://recording.org/users/kev/

these guys do quite a bit of DIY cloning of the high-end gear. i've been toying with starting something in this vein too.

cheers -

pradeep

 

[wetty]

Howdy, these might be of interest:

http://www.lkmusic.co.nz/ribbonfix.htm

http://make_a_ribbon_mic.tripod.com/

 

[marz.tv]

I have a Beyer M260N with a dead ribbon. Tried different approaches on making a new ribbon, but I couldn't find the right thinness. If anyone knows a source for that, I'm interested too...

 

[drummerguy]

you can get 4 micron aluminum ribbon in small amounts here:
http://www.audiocdmasters.com/ribbon.htm

 

[doomy]

You need a very powerful magnet. Really powerful. No, I mean it. Really, really powerful. And sourcing that is probably the biggest problem. (Magnets salvaged from magnetrons are a possibility.)

How about magnets from harddisks? Look at my attached picture.
They use a strong magnet to control the reading head.

I reccommend neodyne magnets, they're the strongest one,
they're commonly availble, the bigger one are usually sold at sites
related to DIY windmills. Please note that they're fragile, so they're
usually coated to avoid parts/bits falling of.

(No, I'm not interested into building a microphone!)