Hello everyone,
I am working on a school project involving disecting a tape deck to record a mic'd in sound and have it play back though a speaker in one channel and an oscilloscope into the other. I have all that working except for the recording bit.
The dinky tape deck I'm using has a record function but no external input. There is a little condenser mic attached but nothings picked up on the tape when I record and make noise into it. I tried soldering the dinky mic from this (Electric Voice Changer Party Megaphone (10) Voices - Toys & Hobbies Pretend Play, Preschool) and nothing happend.
Next I tried soldering the mic into the circuit board connected to the left and right channels on the read head. That didn't work.
What I'm wondering is where should I try and solder into with a mic and if the little dinky piezo mic from the megaphone is gonna work. Should I try to solder it directly to the head or I'm guessing that would need some amplification.
Everything on this deck works fine so i'm thinking the mic isn't really broken and I've just screwed something up. If it involves plugging a little amp inbetween the mic and the head I guess that is what I'll have to do but I am an incredible novice with very little time so it would have to be a really easy to find and use amp. There is a little bazzar that has all sorts of electronic doo-dads that I could possibly steal an amp from but I would need suggestions on what sort of gadget would have the best kind and then what makes up the amp once I get it open.
Ok so I guess my real question is how can I make a tape deck record from a mic if it doesn't have an external input?
Hope the explanation wasn't to long winded and if you do have any advice please remember I am a electronics novice so try not to make it tooo complicated.
Ok. Thanks!
over and out
I am working on a school project involving disecting a tape deck to record a mic'd in sound and have it play back though a speaker in one channel and an oscilloscope into the other. I have all that working except for the recording bit.
The dinky tape deck I'm using has a record function but no external input. There is a little condenser mic attached but nothings picked up on the tape when I record and make noise into it. I tried soldering the dinky mic from this (Electric Voice Changer Party Megaphone (10) Voices - Toys & Hobbies Pretend Play, Preschool) and nothing happend.
Next I tried soldering the mic into the circuit board connected to the left and right channels on the read head. That didn't work.
What I'm wondering is where should I try and solder into with a mic and if the little dinky piezo mic from the megaphone is gonna work. Should I try to solder it directly to the head or I'm guessing that would need some amplification.
Everything on this deck works fine so i'm thinking the mic isn't really broken and I've just screwed something up. If it involves plugging a little amp inbetween the mic and the head I guess that is what I'll have to do but I am an incredible novice with very little time so it would have to be a really easy to find and use amp. There is a little bazzar that has all sorts of electronic doo-dads that I could possibly steal an amp from but I would need suggestions on what sort of gadget would have the best kind and then what makes up the amp once I get it open.
Ok so I guess my real question is how can I make a tape deck record from a mic if it doesn't have an external input?
Hope the explanation wasn't to long winded and if you do have any advice please remember I am a electronics novice so try not to make it tooo complicated.
Ok. Thanks!
over and out
Orson,
The internal microphone can't drive the record head directly. There must be components on the circuit board that act as an "amplifier" to make the relatively tiny output from the condensor mike able to drive the tape head. I don't know what your particular problem is - maybe the microphone is no good - maybe the amplifying circuit. All I can offer is to try and independently determine which may be bad.
Charles
The internal microphone can't drive the record head directly. There must be components on the circuit board that act as an "amplifier" to make the relatively tiny output from the condensor mike able to drive the tape head. I don't know what your particular problem is - maybe the microphone is no good - maybe the amplifying circuit. All I can offer is to try and independently determine which may be bad.
Charles
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