bapu

foxwolfen


Well... interesting thread.

You read it?


Kudos to you Shad. I lost interest at about post #9. But I have the attention span of an Irish Setter.

You made it to post nine? Kudos. I got to post three, and pretty much knew what the rest of the thread would be like. Just for the sake of completeness, I just went back and scanned over the other posts, and sure enough... pretty much as I predicted. I think the mic is cool though. Company sounds cool too.

One of the things that truly bug me about this kind of thing is that it has all ended up pricing oridnary workman like sensible gear out of all proportion.
 
These things were staples back in the day now they've become collector items like tiger-skin rugs and stuff like that the cost far exceeds any practical purpose that anyone sensible will pay.
 
I recently looked into getting a replacement AKG D12 and the best price I could find for a tatty looking example was around £400.  This for a mic that was pretty much on a par with an SM 58 in it's time.  SM 58's have been priced at just below the £100 mark new for as long as I can remember and the newer AKG the D112 weighs in at a street price new of around £130-£140 so the price parity there is still about the same as it always was.
 
I know why I'd prefer the old D12 over the 112, it's merely to do with the shock mount and the resonant chamber that was built-in underneath the capsule which gave it a distinct sound, but I ain't mug enough to pay £240 over the odds to get an antique just for the bragging rights and that minor tangible difference in tone.
 
Funnily enough I always used to run with a D12 in the kick and a U47 outside and I could probably count on the fingers of one hand the times the U47 track ever got used, if I'd spent a few grand on one today I'd feel compelled to use that track whether it was needed or not just to justify the cost of having that mic even though the cheap dynamic has given me exactly what I really need from that position.
 
I've heard some of McQ's drum recordings and I'd humbly suggest he could gain much more from attending to his current kit micing technique before worrying too much about the internal resonances inside a mic body that is the same shape and dimensions as every other U47 clone out there.
 
He laugh at all the Sonar console and other hardware emulation DSP type stuff yet he's here justifying a very similar kind of minutiae dressed up in a shiny $300 custom body.  And I'm just saying what he says to everyone else that claims anything about anything in these types of situations, show me the evidence.  Of course he wont because he can't.  He knows that and I know that.
 
He's having fun though, making stuff up from the components, I get it, good luck to him.
 
 

SteveStrummerUK


Despite the 2012 Olympic Games having ended, the IOC have announced that the USA has been awarded a late gold medal....



Soundman Mike McCue (© Michael McCue ~ Tallahassee) said, "I'm really honoured to receive this medal on behalf of my country, but all I did was hit mute on Victoria Beckham's microphone."

I'm always the first to give respect where it is due.
 
Congratulations Mike, a well-deserved award.  Most things are beyond being improved by a custom mic body, Posh isn't even on the scale of 'possibly'.

Jonbouy

foxwolfen

Are sour are the only kind of grapes you have Jon? It is the only kind you share. You sound like a jilted lover. Did Mike refuse a pass by you or something?

Did you have to something on the topic are is it just the usual contentless dick swinging?

Oh, I wouldn't give him that much credit. I'm thinking it's more like, Peek-a-boo, I see you.

Mesh

Mic porn for mugs?  
 
I can't even look at the head basket on that red one, it reminds me too much of an old flame...
 
Same lines and everything, oh how I wish I could whisper sweet nothings into her capsule once more.
 
  
  
 
They'd still sound like **** mind you.
 
 
(see what I did there?)
 

I think Mike likes mics because they sound like his name.


See, 'Mike' sounds a bit like 'Mic'....


I may well be on to something here.


Mind you, I don't expect this works for everyone.


Especially not for my next door neighbour - Mrs Freda Elephantsbellend.



Bye for now.

Best regards,
Steve Vindaloo.

Good times :-)

Well I lurrves me some Jam.

jamesg1213

Jonbouy

Bub

Jonbouy

foxwolfen

Are sour are the only kind of grapes you have Jon? It is the only kind you share. You sound like a jilted lover. Did Mike refuse a pass by you or something?

Did you have to something on the topic are is it just the usual contentless dick swinging?

Oh, I wouldn't give him that much credit. I'm thinking it's more like, Peek-a-boo, I see you.

Oh my, I just said "are is it" instead of "or is it" my normal accent just came out accurately in a forum post.

How cool is that?

Don't worry, I'm still picking my way through '' Did you have to something on the topic''

 
LOL, my brain has got to the point where it resembles an Aero bar, you have to fit the bits in that are occupied by a bubble.
 
I'll warn you there could be many more of those to follow.

So then the answer was "yes" I take it. Do you remember when I introduced you to this forum? I said it was full of some of the nicest guys I had met. You replied that it would be a nice change, as all the musicians you knew were egomaniacs and love to do nothing but attack others. Jon, that guy is you. You have changed man, and not for the better. Or, maybe you were always this way, and I just missed it. Mike does not bother me. But your constant drivel does get to be boring. Really boring. You have so much more to offer us, but instead waste your time here. Its a shame really.

It turns* out that the transformers were sold through so my order has been put on the list for the next batch they make up.

I've got 2 weeks to figure out the power supply layout.

With unregulated guitar amp supplies the design has a lot of wiggle room and you get the B+ in the neighborhood.

With the old mic designs, the guys making the fancy mics seem to enjoy using unregulated supplies that are tweaked at the recording location to provide a very tight tolerance on the B+ and the heater voltage.

I'm just building this mic for learning about it here at my place... so I don't expect to tweak it every session the way some of the older rental mics are used... but I do want tight tolerances here at the "base" camp.  I have to learn a bit more about how this power supply will differ from a old guitar amp.

The first thing is to locate a transformer that will input 120VAC and output some 140vAC and some 6.3vAC.

The 120 to 140 step up is about as uncommon as I can imagine. It's easy to find bigger step up designs but this slight step up is uncommon.

I think I'll follow John Templeton's (a.k.a. ampfixer) advice and ask Edcor to build me a power transformer once I determine the specs I need.


best regards,
mike



*pun for guys that wind coils. :-)

I'm not too concerned with NOS except for the tubes.

I bought a box of 50 NOS tubes for my other mic project a couple weeks ago.


Everything else is still being built to great spec so sourcing the parts isn't too difficult.

The capsules can be bought directly from a handful of assemblers... many of whom trained at Neumann. The guys that make the boutique mics that are selling for big bucks today will tell you exactly which capsule they are using and where to get it. Most of them feel that a genuine Neumann will arrive with the very best quality control... but they all use capsules sourced from smaller work shops because a genuine Neumann capsules costs 3x-4x as much. 

The Sprauge electrolytic caps are popular... but from a practical standpoint you have many options... if you can hear the sound of a power supply cap... it's because you must want to... as a good design should minimize any of that possible effect. 

The small capacitors that are actually in the audio circuit are made better today than ever before... I don't have any romance for an old capacitor so I'm not concerned about that.

I happen to have 10's of thousands of NOS Allen Bradley Carbon Comp resistors... I'll probably use modern metal film resistors because I'm not looking for vintage brownian noise via an old resistor.

The audio transformers are being made by various places...  and ever since Dean Jensen formalized the study of audio transformers in the 1970s the practice of designing and building transformers has become fairly well understood. The company making my transformer used to fabricate trannys for Jensen. They know what they are making. The next step up is to get a transformer from Tab Funkenwerk. They are the top of the price range and supported by the idea that the company principal possesses the actual original blueprints for the transformers used in the most famous mics and he knows exactly how they were made. I may try one of those in a subsequent project.




The practical reality is that I am going down a road that many, many people have already made smooth.

When I taught myself to make tube guitar amps I was working from old books and magazine reprints... that took some time and I had some foibles.

The info available for making a microphone is super easy to find these days... and that is why I am doing it... the opportunity is right here, right now. 



I didn't want to fall into a trap of thinking I was building something that might seem better than what I can buy... so I bought a special boutique microphone last month to quench that thirst and it is allowing me to experience what the guys that know what they are doing are doing.

I have another mic that I plan to buy as soon as the production run is finished... it uses a different capsule and circuit and is often thought of as a good compliment to the mic I just bought.

That frees me up to enjoy this as a hobby. I'll build a few mics on the side and maybe, just maybe... I'll like the results well enough to use the mic for some good recording. Who knows?


The truth is, very few if any of my guests have any interest in tech or gear... I invite them over because they are fully engaged in music. I do the tech stuff because I enjoy it and I want to make their visit seem relaxed and easy. I like to keep it all focused on music in the music room.

The more I learn about mics and such on my own time the easier it is to make good choices while never seeming to be doing so.


Stuff like that.


all the best,
mike

Bub you could take those gems to a Ham Fest and sell it all..

Mike thanks for sharing your comments and findings. I was somewhat familiar with finding parts at Ham Fests , not so much audio related , but components either NOS with the box falling apart, or in a bin.

I wasnt equating Chinese components with garbage, although a lot of radio shack stuff connectors and switches are flaky and fail often.

I certainly cant hear the power supply condensor sound you refered to, but component tolerances can affect sound.

Thanks again