Do-it-yourself microphone - tips and tricks on how to make a homemade sound recording device. Do-it-yourself microphone - how to make it, diagrams and increasing sensitivity Homemade microphone for a computer

Microphone is a device that converts sound vibrations into electricity. In sound transmission, the microphone is the primary link in sound reception. A microphone is a useful device that can be used to communicate on the Internet, as well as to record voices or sounds (instruments, special effects). However, high-quality microphones cost a lot of money, and cheap ones will not provide sufficient sensitivity and quality.

In this article we will tell you how to make a microphone suitable for daily use with your own hands.

What can you use a homemade microphone for?

Of course, making a condenser microphone for vocals or podcasts with your own hands is almost impossible - their design is too complex, which can become a hindrance for a person with little knowledge of electronics.

Electret microphones are much simpler in design and therefore more reliable. Besides, small sizes and the low cost of electret microphones allow them to be used almost everywhere where sound reception may be required.

Here is a simple way to make such a microphone with your own hands.

What will you need?

Electret capsule - it can be pulled out of the old one cell phone or radio;
Jack 3.5 plug for connecting a microphone to a computer;
Microphone body - a syringe cylinder works well;
Paper clip - for fixing the case and further attaching the microphone, for example, to clothing;
Thin wire - cut off a small section 1-1.5 meters long;
Black foam rubber - a small piece for protection from the wind.

Manufacturing procedure

To make it easier for you to navigate, look on the Internet for photos of a homemade microphone or a device for a standard electret microphone (“lapel”).

To make a microphone body, you need to cut off the tip from the syringe body with a knife. You can erase the markings on the syringe with a solvent;
Insert a wire through the cone of the syringe and tie a knot at its end to secure the microphone in the body;
Solder the electret capsule to the wire from the node side - connect the shielded braid to its body;
Install the capsule into the body, and secure the cone with the eye of a stationery clip;
Solder the second end of the wire to the plug, additionally connecting the left and right channels together;
Make a narrow round hole in a piece of foam rubber for the microphone. You can cut off any excess corners with a knife - this will give you a decent windproof cap.

That's it, your homemade microphone is ready! You managed to create a sensitive measuring microphone with your own hands, which is also good for communication.

DIY microphone stand

As a rule, expensive and high-quality microphones are bought for serious work or a hobby, be it professional sound recording, broadcasting or hobby vocals.

In the vast majority of cases, for comfortable work and for maximum access to the sound source, you have to additionally purchase a special stand for such microphones. Now we will tell you how to make a tabletop microphone stand at home.

What will you need?

Lamp on a clamp - can be purchased at any electronics store. Attention: the mass of the lamp must match the mass of your microphone, otherwise the microphone on a weak clamp will easily fall under its own weight.

The holder depends on the type of microphone you have: for a dynamic microphone, the holder can be purchased at a price of 250 rubles, for a condenser (spider type) - at a price of 500 rubles.

It is possible to find and purchase an adapter for a microphone holder for easier installation on a clamp.

Manufacturing procedure

Cut and pull out the lamp wire;
Disassemble and remove the lamp shade;
Attach the microphone mount to the thread on the lamp pantograph - due to the mismatch of the thread, you will only be able to screw the microphone mount once;
Attach the microphone holder to the mount;
Place the microphone itself in the holder and secure the stand to the table.

Ready! Now you have a convenient, adjustable microphone stand that can be easily attached to your desk, and the clamp design allows you to screw a pop filter and other accessories to it.

DIY microphone photos

Almost all headsets that are designed to work with a PC have such “pathetic” characteristics that if you try to use the microphone from such a headset for recording or karaoke, you will get nothing but disappointment. There is only one reason here - all such microphones are designed for speech transmission and have a very narrow frequency range. This not only reduces the cost of the design itself, but also promotes speech intelligibility, which is the main requirement of the headset.

Attempts to connect a regular dynamic or electret microphone usually end in failure - the level from such a microphone is clearly not enough to “boost” the sound card. Additionally, ignorance of the input circuit of sound cards and incorrect connection A dynamic microphone completes the job. Assembling a microphone amplifier and connecting it “wisely”? It would be nice, but it is much easier to use an IEC-3 microphone, which was once widely used in wearable equipment and is still quite common. But, of course, you will have to connect “wisely”.

This electret microphone has fairly high characteristics (the frequency range, for example, lies in the range 50 - 15,000 Hz) and, most importantly, it has a built-in source follower assembled on field effect transistor, which not only matches the high impedance of the microphone with the amplifier, but also has an output signal level that is more than sufficient for any sound card. Perhaps the only drawback is that the microphone requires power. But its current consumption is so small that two AA batteries connected in series will last for many months of continuous operation. Let's take a look at the internal circuit of the microphone, which is located in an aluminum cup, and think about how to connect it to a computer:

The gray color indicates the aluminum cup, which is a screen and is connected to the common wire of the circuit. As I already said, such a microphone requires external power, and minus 3-5 V must be supplied to the resistor (red wire), and plus to the blue one. We will pick up a useful signal from white.

Now let's take a look at the computer microphone input circuit:

It turns out that the signal should be applied only to the very tip of the connector, marked green, and to the red itself sound card supplies +5 V through a resistor. Made for food preamplifiers headsets, if used. We will not use this voltage for two reasons: firstly, we need a different polarity, and if we simply “turn” the wires, the microphone will produce a lot of noise. Secondly, the PC power supply is switching and the interference at these five volts will be considerable. The use of galvanic elements in terms of interference is ideal - pure “constant” without the slightest pulsation. So, complete diagram connecting our microphone to the computer will look like this.

Working with electrical appliances has always been considered a difficult task. Usually only people who have enough experience or have studied this in educational institutions do it. We are used to buying equipment in specialized stores, so few people think about self-production various types devices. Of course, you can repair something yourself, but making equipment at home requires skill.

if you have necessary equipment and materials, experience in this field and the desire to design something and save the family budget, you can try to find interesting ideas on the Internet. There you will find many interesting ideas and tips on how to make devices better.

In our article we will look at one of the studio devices that can also be used for personal use. We will talk about microphones and how to create them yourself at home. We will look at all the pros and cons of this method.

IMPORTANT: Working with electronics and electrical appliances carries risks and potential health hazards. We recommend that you refrain from working if you are not confident in your skills and abilities in the field of electrical appliances.

Is it possible to make a microphone with your own hands?

Man is capable of creating almost anything he wants; nature has endowed him with inimitable intelligence and the ability to fantasize. A microphone for a computer is far from the most complex device of all possible inventions of mankind. But it is worth considering the level of your abilities and skills. It will depend on them final result all the work.

If you are seriously thinking about creating a unique microphone, you should provide the workflow with all the necessary tools and materials in advance. To do this you will need to purchase:

To create an electret microphone, you will need a special capsule, which can be taken out of the radio or taken second-hand from the market. This will be the main element in creating a home microphone.
A special adapter for connecting to a 3.5 mm jack connector. You can use a wire from an old headphone with a matching cable.
For the main body, any cylindrical material is sufficient: syringe tubes, jars, tubes...
Required amount of wire. Choose the length according to the distance from the sound transmitter. The optimal length would be 1-2 meters.
Foam or fur covering that protects the body from wind and moisture.

This is quite enough to create a homemade version of the device. No expensive elements, only the essentials for normal functioning. This method will help you save money, since good equipment in stores is very expensive, and cheap models usually have poor parameters and sound characteristics.

IMPORTANT: The appearance of the microphone will be unusual and will differ from store-bought versions. If you wish, you can purchase additional parts for the case or look for old non-working devices and take spare parts from them.

Manufacturing instructions

After you have prepared everything for manufacturing, you can begin the most difficult stage of the work. Be especially careful when performing sequences of manipulations with electronics. For convenience, all points are described in detail in the instructions below:

Prepare the microphone body. Round off the pre-prepared cylindrical workpiece and cut it off at the ends, leaving the edges open.
Pass the wire inside the cylinder and secure it inside by tying one end with a knot.
Now solder the capsule to the end of the wire that is located inside the cylinder and secure it with a paper clip or paper clip. The braid of the capsule must be connected to the shielded wire.
Solder the other, remaining free end of the wire to the 3.5 mm jack plug. In this case, you should connect both channels for transmitting sound vibrations and broadcast them to the transmitter.
A foam covering works great for the top, cut it to the appropriate size and shape and attach it to the top.
After that, connect the device and check its operation by saying a few phrases into the microphone. At correct connection wires, the sound should be transmitted to the capsule and amplified.

IMPORTANT: If there is no result, the problem may be in the adhesions. Try taking everything apart and re-soldering the wires to the capsule and plug.

How long will a homemade microphone last?

It is difficult to determine and say the exact service life for homemade items, as opposed to purchased items. You will not have a warranty for this product, so you will also have to repair and extend its performance yourself. Depending on a number of factors, the period of use will vary. Among the main parameters influencing the duration of operation are the following:

The quality of materials used during work.
Wire security and ability to withstand heavy loads.
The operating mode depends on the required technical parameters and the supplied voltage.
Careful use and timely troubleshooting.

Try changing the specifications and using different materials to compare and choose the best option.

I think not all owners of ordinary, budget (cheap) microphones for a computer or laptop are completely satisfied with the quality and volume of the sound. Typically, such microphones, on headphones, in the form of a lapel or desktop type, have the following device. There is a plastic microphone housing itself, inside of which there is an electret-type microphone capsule. Such electret capsules are called condenser microphones. The capsules are quite small in size, their quality (if it is relatively inexpensive) is very good. They have connection polarity (plus and minus). A two-core, fairly flexible wire is soldered to this capsule, which at its other end is connected to a 3.5 type plug.

This microphone can be modified to make its sound much louder and better. I offer a diagram containing only a few details. This is a simple microphone amplifier. Despite its simplicity, this circuit really makes the microphone capsule sound much better. Moreover, the amplifier is powered from the same wire through which sound signal. Note for those who don't know! The computer microphone jack has three contacts, one of which is the housing, which is also a minus for the microphone, the second contact is a plus (the constant voltage on it is about 2.5 V) and the third contact is a signal one. In the circuit, the signal and positive terminals are combined.

Now about the circuit of this microphone amplifier itself. After the microphone capsule itself there is a capacitor C1, which filters high-frequency noise. The circuit will work normally without it, but it is still better to install it. Also, an electret type microphone capsule (condenser, also called) requires phantom power. It is supplied through resistors R1 and R3. Resistor R2 is a tuning type; it can be used to adjust the amount of microphone sound amplification. All resistors have a nominal value of 1 kiloohm. Capacitor C2 has a capacity of 47 microfarads, its voltage can be any. Note that it has a plus and a minus.

The microphone amplifier circuit includes bipolar transistor type KT3102. This low-power transistor has a fairly high gain. It has n-p-n conductivity. Instead, you can install any other one with similar characteristics, for example the same KT315. Moreover, when choosing another transistor, it is the high gain that is important, and not its power. Well, don’t confuse the type of conductivity (transistors p-n-p type are not suitable for use in the circuit). It is this transistor that enhances the microphone sound. A signal from the microphone capsule is received at its base, and in the collector circuit we already have an increased amplitude of this signal.

The amplified signal is sent through a wire to a 3.5 type audio plug. As you can see in the diagram, you need to solder two contacts together, this is a plus and a signal. It is also important that the wire running from the microphone to the plug is shielded. As practice has shown, the difference between shielded and unshielded wire is noticeable. A wire without a screen is affected by various external electromagnetic interference coming from the network, high-frequency devices, etc. Unfortunately, budget microphones initially have a wire without a shield. So, if possible, replace this wire with a shielded one, you will immediately feel the positive difference.

In addition to shielding the wire, you will also need to make a shield on the circuit itself. For example, after I soldered the circuit, which turned out to be quite small in size, I placed it inside a plastic syringe (2 cubes). On top of the syringe body I wound several layers of ordinary foil, which I electrically connected to the minus of the microphone amplifier circuit. As a result, it turned out that the entire signal path from the microphone capsule itself to the plug is shielded. After checking, it turned out that with such shielding, external electromagnetic interference and various interference were practically reduced to zero.

In addition, an important point is the presence of so-called wind protection. This is the small foam cover that fits over the microphone. This cover significantly weakens the effect of sobs coming from the speaker’s lips into the microphone itself. That is, when we place the microphone head directly in front of us, then those air flows that have a dull, sobbing character are not reproduced in the best way after amplification sound system. Foam rubber significantly weakens these unpleasant sounds. So having this foam cover is a must.

And one more important point. This is the selection of microphone capsules. Let’s say I had about 20 of these capsules. Many of them looked almost identical. I decided to check them out, but is there any difference between them? I connected these microphone capsules to this one in turn. homemade amplifier. After that, the computer made sequential recordings of identical sounds with each of the available capsules. As a result, despite the sameness (in appearance) their sound characteristics are very different. Out of 20 pieces, only 4 showed themselves to be of the highest quality. They produced clear sound, good volume, minimal noise and interference, and a wide range of reproduced frequencies. So not all mic capsules are created equal!

Video on this topic:

P.S. Before soldering this simple microphone amplifier circuit, I was suspicious of the final result (the circuit was too simple). After I soldered it, selected the best microphone capsule, installed shielding on the wire and the microphone amplifier housing itself, I was convinced of the good quality of this circuit. The sound that can be obtained using a regular budget microphone and after soldering an amplifier with its improvements was very different. This simple microphone amplifier makes the sound much better, louder, cleaner. So I advise you to collect it for your needs.

Almost all home devices, from phones to laptops, are equipped with their own microphone for communication. Particularly zealous fans of programs such as Skype or Mail Agent even buy themselves stationary microphones to improve communication with subscribers. Free-standing devices, wireless headsets, built-in mechanisms – today a microphone can take on the most bizarre forms. However, like all devices, it can break unexpectedly, which is why it will be useful for everyone to learn how to make a microphone from headphones.

In most cases, owners simply dispose of the failed electrical appliance and go shopping for a new one. But there is no need to rush in this matter, because anyone can assemble a microphone from ordinary headphones. To turn your phone headphones into high quality microphone for a computer, you will need to prepare suitable materials, namely:

headphones from any brand, the simplest included headphones from your phone will do;

3.5 mm plug, better known as “jack”;

high-quality wires for connections (carefully examine their integrity, do not damage the insulating material);

soldering iron of sufficient power;
sufficient amount of solder, rosin.

You can choose one of two options. You can use the headphones directly, or you can turn them into a full-fledged headset. The procedure will not take you much time and will not cause difficulties.

First way

Making a microphone out of old headphones is the most economical way out of the situation. Upon completion of the work, you will be able to receive not only a new device, but also breathe life into “junk” that no one needs. First you will have to do some soldering work.

If you strictly followed the instructions and did not overdo it with solder, which could cause a short circuit at the solder points, then when you connect the headset to the laptop, you will hear light clicks. This means that the microphone is working normally.

Second way

This is a much less effort and resource-intensive way to create a microphone at home. To do this you will need a telephone, computerBluetooth adapter and headphones included.

Connect mobile device with a computer via Bluetooth connection. Connect the headset to the phone jack and you will get a working microphone. This method will allow you to quickly restore a lost connection, but use it only permanent basis Not recommended.

This scheme is used as a temporary replacement when there is no time or money to purchase a good microphone.

Such a system is characterized by instability, because the Bluetooth connection can be interrupted at the most unexpected moment. Added to this is the need to constantly monitor the battery charge in your phone. Connecting it to an outlet will add more wires, which may make it difficult to use.

As you can see, from ordinary telephone headphones, which are included with most models, you can make an excellent headset for communication. Of course, it will never replace a real microphone. DIY devices can significantly inferior in quality transmitted sound to factory analogues. However, with quality parts on hand, you can try to build a real microphone.