Will this mic be any good for measuring?

[joe58]

Hi

Would a Shure SM58 be any good for taking measurements? It is the only mic in the media loan centre(free) of my university and therefore the only one I can get my hands on. I do realise it's a vocal mic, but surely it's better than nothing and should give a reasonably accurate response?

It's the first time I've tried taking measurements, so just looking for a bit of advice.

Thanks

 

[joe58]

Have just realised it only has a freq response from 50-15000hz. Didn't realise that would be the case.

 

[Pano]

Right, not a good choice. The SM58 has a bass roll off that will make it seem you are getting no bass in your measurements. The top end isn't great, either.

Better to buy a Panasonic mic capsule than use the 58.

 

[joe58]

Do you mean building something like this? Linky

 

[Pano]

Yep, that's the one! A lot of folks have had very good success with that one.

 

[joe58]

So if I were to build that little mic unit would I need any form of amplifier? It would be simply connected into my laptops 'mic in' socket. I have limited free time and money, so cheap as possible and glad you've pointed me to this little Panny mic.

 

[mickeymoose]

Go to Linkwitz Lab - Loudspeaker Design and navigate to microphone in the projects section. Some good advice there! E

 

[Pano]

It needs power, about 5V. Some mic connectors supply that. I don't know on your laptop.

 

[joe58]

I thought so. I am trying to get on the Linkwitz site, but it won't seem to load at the moment for me.

 

[Svein_B]

This will work nicely with the mic input on your notebook:

SB

 

[Pano]

You want a DC blocking cap in there, right?

 

[Svein_B]

You want a DC blocking cap in there, right?

Yes, there is a 10 uF capacitor in there.

Sorry but I made the drawing for the non-engineer, so it looks more like the physical representation of the componets rather than our normal electronic symbols.

SB

 

[joe58]

Thank you for the drawing. It will be a short while before I get around to doing this, maybe 3 weeks or so after my 2 current uni projects are finished. When I do I will have to come back to this thread to make sure I've soldered it up correctly even on this non-engineers diagram. As I am unsure of the - lead from the cell. Does it connect to both mic leads that then I presume lead to the 3.5mm jack on the right not shown?