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Re: [microsound] contact mic

I tried this out last night and I have a few words of advice.

1. Buy a few of the transducers. First reason is that they seem to be pretty well glued into the casing and can be difficult to get out without bending. Second reason is that the actual "microphone" part that you will use is very thing an again may bend especially when you're trying to pull it off of a surface you have it mounted to. Another thing to take into consideration is that the contacts may quickly deteriorate and give if you're not careful. Bottom line, for about $1.50 I think we can all afford to buy a handful to play around with.

2. The directions explain how to solder your new microphone to a cable and then to a jack. Given the fragile state of the microphone you're soldering efforts may quickly go to waste when the mic goes bad. Instead I found a pre made cable (also at Radio Shack) that on one end was a 1/4" mono jack and on the other end was 2 alligator clips. This was it's easy to swap out new mics.

All in all this solution was quick and cheap. It took me about 15 minutes and should be a bit quicker next time. Total cost for 1 transducer and the cable with the clips is a little under $4. The sound quality was pretty nice as well. I'd say it ranks up there with some of the "professional" contact mics that I've played with. The only down side is the fact that this mic is very fragile and for the most part, seems to have a short life.

Good Luck

(c)

At 07:05 PM 01/17/2001 +0000, scott martin wrote:
this is the best diy contact mic site ive been able to find. it even has fotos and radio shack part #s for the totally clueless.
http://www.silcom.com/~planet5/erinys/contactmic.html

best,
scott

np: mahogany / dream of a modern day
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