DIY Ribbon Microphone Tutorial

[RickshawRecords]

I'm a newbie to DIYAudio, and I've been lurking for a few weeks, researching ribbon Microphones.

In that time, I've designed, built and documented a DIY ribbon microphone tutorial for the DIY community.
The DIY tutorial for my AUSTIN Ribbon Mic is posted at:
www.RickshawRecords.com/ribbonmic

I plan to make the tutorial available as a paid internet download, and/or an eBay item in mid-February, but it will be FREE to the DIY community for awhile, so your comments and suggestions are appreciated.

The document and design have been copyrighted, so my only request is that you do not re-post or link to the document without my expressed permission. In other words, download the tutorial now, and build as many mics as you like, but please allow me keep control of the Internet distribution of the document.

Thanks,

- Rickshaw
www.RickshawRecords.com

[kevinkr]

I downloaded your tutorial. Cool.. I might try to build some in the future. How do they sound?

[RickshawRecords]

There is a sound sample of my first attempt at recording with the AUSTIN Ribbon mic here:
http://www.RickshawRecords.com/ribbo...ic_Samples.wav

I also recorded some of my other mic's at the same time as a comparison.

NOTE: Go easy on the volume. The ribbon samples have some very low bass transients, due to handling noise and a loose ribbon (my first attempt). It also has the $25 Edcor transformer, which doesn't have the best high frequency response.

- Rickshaw

[EC8010]

Interesting stuff. It certainly highlights the difference between neodymium and traditional magnets. The STC 4038 (originally a BBC design) has a huge horseshoe magnet and typically needs 70dB of gain on the desk.

[Foxx510]

Thanks, nice design. My only suggestion is that you include a photograph better showing the position of the magnets on the truss, maybe a closeup, they are a little hard to see on the clear acrylic. Otherwise, nice job.

[RickshawRecords]

A drawing of the mic truss with the ribbons attached is posted here:
www.rickshawrecords.com/ribbonmic/truss.gif
This graphic is not in Rev 1.0 of the document, but Rev 2.0 will include it.

Hope that helps,

- Rickshaw

[RickshawRecords]

After over 300 downloads of the Ribbon Microphone plans, the free download period for the the DIY community has now ended.

Rev 2.0 of the plans (with more photos and descriptions) are now available from www.RickshawRecords.com.
I spent a long time on the design and the tutorial, and the microphones sound great... It's worth the $9.99.

I've built three mic's so far, and even with a low-cost Edcor transformer, they sound far better than my other other $100 microphones. I've already started recording with them (check out the new sound samples on the download page above.)

I'm currently designing a stereo version with the help of my friends at www.ZenMastering.com. It'll have better transformers and more attention to detail... Don't know if I'll post that design, though.

- Rickshaw

[Foxx510]

Nice sounds. Pretty amazing what you have acheived with this project. Have you considered a preamp in the mike running from phantom power to bring the noise level down? Not sure if it would work, just a thought.....

[RickshawRecords]

Have you considered a preamp in the mike running from phantom power to bring the noise level down?

Check the middle of the FAQ at:
www.rickshawrecords.com/ribbonmic/ribbonfaq.html
... But the short answer is no. If I was going to use an external preamp, I'd probably use this one from Cascade: www.cascademicrophones.com/DPOWERPUG.html

The mic's themselves aren't noisy at all... The noise is coming from my 1990's era ART Tube MP that's been dragged around for 10 years.

Listen to the drum sample, and notice the noise level on the cymbals as they fade away. This is was recorded direct to digital through an on-board preamp in a Korg D3200.

- Rickshaw

[Foxx510]

Ah, thanks. I guess I was thinking that for those who don't already own mic pre's it might be handy, mainly to send a nice beefy balanced signal to the desk to reduce any noise picked up in the cable. Might be harder to impliment than I imagine though. Keep up the good work.