I got this little mic with a 60’s reel to reel player and it’s so great. Lays flat and is perfect for adding environmental sounds to a setup. This morning I discovered that rubbing my finger across the metal grill through reverb stirred up some lovely windy leaf sounds. Very appropriate because it’s been whipping around here lately.
Everything just sort of clicked this morning. Playing/being surrounded by this in low-light at 5am was the perfect start to my day.
Got these wired up and put together today, but only had a few minutes to actually record with them. The mics themselves sound very good and are WAY more sensitive than the h4n pro built-in mics. I’m typically setting input level around 70 with those and these capsules were set around 30 for my quick test. Overall pretty happy with them, but need to figure out a way to keep the mic alignment even. The ear hook material is softer (for comfort) so is a little bendable and the mics move with them. It’s not a dramatic amount and will need to test further to hear how much difference it makes. They are also not as stealthy as I was hoping, but in the woods or on a normal walk it won’t matter. Going to have to keep scheming on it.
Sorry for no build pics. Time was tight so I was working too fast and forgot to take any along the way.
Emi and I spent a few hours hopping from dollar stores to junk shops in hopes of finding hackable headphones and/or “fluffy" stuff” that could be used to house my diy mics/become wind protection. Ended up bringing home 5 pairs of headphones (bottom right is a 3 pack) in varying levels of workability and ridiculousness. I got the everything in the picture for $12.
I think the green and white thing is some sort of dishwasher safe cleaning cage. It has hinges on one side to open and close — just add some nylon and fur and you’ve got a $.99 mic blimp.
The kitty cat headphones are almost perfect functionally, but I’m pretty sure the fur is glued so that I won’t be able to cut a hole in the cup without destroying it. Aesthetically they leave something to be desired haha. The other cool thing about it is the furry headband can now become windjammers for a whole bunch of mics.
The earbuds which go with the over the ear hooks are actually perfect. I managed to get them open without destroying them and the grommet which holds the mic capsule fits in there exactly. They are also detachable from the ear hook so they can be used for other applications without any trouble. Going to get them all rigged up tomorrow and hopefully go try them out, but we got a few more inches of snow today so I’m not sure what tomorrow will bring.
Not a lot to show for all my hemming and hawing tonight. Mostly just looked at all the mic parts and headphones from every possible angle and rubbed my chin. Did this quick sketch as an idea for putting the capsule inside the body of the headphone, but I’m not sure that this won’t produce feedback. I should test, but I might have to give up being able to record and monitor at the same time. Im also trying to make the whole setup as adaptable as possible. Putting the mics inside there is fine, but then I can’t use them for other recording configurations. The chin rubbing continues.
I’m (tentatively…) headed to Seattle in a few weeks and it will be the first time I’ve made the trip since I moved back to the east coast. Got the idea in my head that I wanted to do some urban walks with a stealth recording setup so I ordered a the parts to make my own stereo binaural-ish setup based on the Primo EM172 capsules. Everything arrived today (only 6 days after ordering from the UK) so now the planning can really begin. My initial thought is to attach the capsules to the earpiece, but adding windscreens really blows the stealth aspect. I’m have tempted to see if I can fit the capsules inside the earpiece…