[Ace o' Spades]

Hey everyone,

I have pretty much stopped using my SR-60s completely and I had a great idea. I plan to put a condenser microphone in each earcup to create binaural recordings. I know where to get the parts for it, since Radioshack sells microphone elements, but I have no idea how to amp the weak source that it will provide. Does anyone know how to convert a CMOY or another simple headphone design into a stereo microphone amplifier?

 

[vYu223]

Hmmm... they won't be very good binaural recordings, because the SR-60's would just eff up the HRTF's.

 

[joze7205]

I've tried it using Core-Sounds binaural microphones. I put the microphones into some cheap and small headphones(~3 $). I removed the heaphone elements, drilled a hole in the shell and put the mics inside with some padding. I worked OK, but the mics where very sensitive to wind.

If I were you, I would sell the Grados and get some cheaper headphones with shapes better suited for the purpose.

I you want to put together some microphones yourself, be sure to buy several elements and match them. It's important to have matched elements when doing binaral recordings. If you are going to make outdoor recordings, you may need some windshield, since most microphones are very sensitive to wind.

I'm not good at DIY, but I guess there are designs better suited for microphone amping than the CMOY. Try a google search with "DIY microphone amplifier" or something similar. A headphone amplifier amplifies a signal from line level to "headphone level", while a microphone amplifier amplifies a signal from a weak mic level to line level (it's important to minimize noise here). Also, if you are going to use condenser mics, you probably need to power the mics. This can be done with plug-in power (PIP) found on some consumer gear with mic input, with a separate battery box or with phantom power (found on most pro gear).

Good luck!

 

[Ace o' Spades]

^Thanks for the very informative post. I might use a pair of KSC75s with the drivers removed, since this are easy to work with. For the wind sheild I might buy a pop-guard and cut it down to size so that the mic is still transparent but not unshielded.

 

[BradJudy]

There some good info on Siegfried Linkwitz's site including selecting and modifying mic elements, and power circuits: http://www.linkwitzlab.com/sys_test.htm#Mic

 

[bugg100]

http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=11254&hl

check this post out and go from there.

 

[joze7205]

You can buy some winscreens from sonicstudios:

http://www.sonicstudios.com/access.htm#whb

Yes, they are expensive. I've read that some people have had success with the wire from champagne bottle covered with pieces of stockings or babysocks. The mics can the be mounted with some rubber band. I'm going to try such a solution. I've managed to mount the wire on the some cheap Sony headphones (I think it is the nonfoldable version of these), but I still don't know what material to use for the screen (I will probably look ridiculous with these). PM me if you want to see pics.

The people at the naturerecordists group and the phonography group might be able to give some more advice on these matters.