The world's simplest phantom powered condenser microphone design!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ส.ค. 2024
- Episode 1: Learn how to build a DIY microphone. Is it really as simple as promised? If you like this video, please comment and let us know. You can support our little family business by visiting nordicaudiolab... and sharing with your friends.
I've been looking for years how to make this electret devices work on phantom. You are heaven sent!
Congratulations on doing this with a common condenser microphone capsule, something I never tried to do, honestly.
But it’s important that you measure the voltage resulting from this setup at the microphone capsule input so that everyone can see what the resulting value is - something I guess will hover between 3 and 6 volts, starting from the original 48 volts of the Phantom Power.
I refer to these values to know that most of small condenser microphone capsules work well with this volt range.
You did a good job.
Macedo Pinto
Portugal
Thanks. The voltage over the capsule depends on the capsule used, and can be trimmed by changing the resistor value. I picked a resistor value I thought would be fairly safe to avoid blown capsules.
I add my gratitude to the rest here!!! Just built mine while watching. Works like a charm!!!!
looking foward to episode 2. thank you
Thank you for the great (and simple) circuit. It serves my purposes better than anything I've found, and I'm now using it to refurbish and restore some old, cheap crystal mics.
Thank you so much for sharing, Nordic! You’re awesome video gives me some new ideas for concealing mic’s on film sets! Love the look and sound of the video as well, BTW!
Very nice. Enjoyed that!
Moi! I found your video while looking for a way to power an EM272 using XLR phantom power the other day. I'm going to try to do what you show in this video and see if it works. Personally, I've enjoyed the "real" time speed of your video and the way you present everything. Also, the hole you made in the wood is a great idea. I struggled the other day soldering the capsule... on a table, haha. By the way, the NU-100K looks beautiful. Anyway, kiitos for this video!
Did you find the exact resistance value for the EM272 by any chance?
I've made a couple of similar mics, they were one extra component than this! It's the SimpleP48 circuit, which has an extra series capacitor between capsule negative and pin 2.
Yes, twice as many parts 🙂
Great job, bro
This was great! Thanks for the knowledge!
Fantastic!!
I did this the other day, I don't know why I did, nor why you did, but I was also surprised that it worked.
Excellent presentation!
That was amazing. Wish you could explain why it works with so little electronics. Thank you
Thank you, I will do as you suggest in the next episode!
Electricity and electronics are pretty simple. We want to just increase the power of our signal. We can do that with voltage increased or current or the mix of both. When we do so we also increase the noise if any.
I would like to make a phantom powered preamp, compressor, limiter, gate, enhancer, fx and expander with a maximizing summing circuit. A complete Ultimate channel strip that can fit in my coat pocket.
A lot of things that we buy are Grander in scale and size so it has a presence and a sort of a visual clout value materialisticly aesthetically.
We could though make a selfie stick that has everything in the stick.
What's cool about audio is that it's all math playing with a signal. It's not a true three dimensional process but linear.
Playing with volts and amps and what it sounds when you run real world physical waves converted into electric energy signal.
I like to imagine on day the way we record a physical movement,
that one day we will do in reverse.
Audio and frequency / volts and amps gets played with on a Terawatt worth of power.
Imagine the possibilities of levitation, soil shifting, manipulation of the flow of water or just many new technologies and principles would also develop.
If we multiply the processes of audio using more power and multiple amps and transducers I can only imagine what kinds of fun with wave energy and manipulation of solid and organic matter changing stat and shape. "The Force" Magnetics and resonance.
Hi, can you show us a video how you solder a 3 wire connection capsule (as Primo EM273) to an xlr connector for P48 or a minijack for plug-in power please (if possible stereo)? I couldn't find any tutorial on the internet.
EM273 may be a better choice for some situations with its higher max SPL.
Thx a lot for your attention!
The three wire capsules open up a whole new world of possibilities. As you might know, all of these capsules can theoretically be modified to three wires, it's known as the Linkwitz mod. Thanks for the idea, I'll take that into serious consideration. My day job is keeping me from having fun with these.
es uno de los mejores videos que he visto sobre alimentacion phantom. saludos
27 kOhm resistor
Cool tutorial thank you sir.
JA ESTOU FAZENDO ESSA EXPERIENCIA AQUI EM CASA. OBRIGADO
Amigo você conseguiu fazer? Como ficou?
new supporter here Great ideas keep up
That was good stuff !😅
could you please describe your recording setup for this video? Mic, distance from it, acoustic treatment if it present, rough details on preprocessing?
It just sounds perfect, nice and deep.
Thank you kindly. It's recorded with the NU-100K, a new microphone I've designed and built, about 35 cm away, above my head so it's off camera. The space is my workshop in a fairly large studio room (120m2) with a high ceiling (7m). Using an old TC Finalizer for a light touch (a few dB) of real-time EQ, compression and limiting.
@@NordicAudioLabs oh yes! The TC Finalizer! Nice!
Nice :-)
...but: try a vice for holding the components you solder.
A (good quality heavy weight) vice holds everything in place from a 1/8" Jack to a complete 3U metal patchbay ;-)
Thanks, tried to use something that anyone could have available and also something that fit in the camera view nicely :-)
In vice you have to squeeze the components between the jaws, somethines quite strongly. Unless you have rubber pads, cushioning, it feels it is about to damage the stuff.
nice how to make tube pre amp even microphones
Voltage output 9.755 dc voltage 👍🏼
If you are saying that you are getting a DC voltage difference of 9.7V between pins 2 and 3 that could be correct.
Great video thankyou for making it, would this work in stereo adding 2 capsules in series?
what the resistor does in the circiut? I have 2 unbalanced xlr-xlr cables to use with dynamic mics, but when I plu them in a interface with phantom power activated the dynamic microphone sounds distorted. Can I use the resistor trick to solve it ?
Amazing, thanks ! Will this work with an LDC capsule ?
The circuit needs an electret capsule with a built-in FET. It would be a fun project to try to design the simplest circuit for an LDC, maybe some day I'll have time to attempt it.
@@NordicAudioLabs Thanks !
can this work with larges capsules? without transitors like that
This circute using 48v in mixer
oh...this is indeed simple
Your video is very informative.
I did an experiment myself.
The results are very satisfactory.
Your tips are very helpful.
thank you.
I have one question.
Does using this microphone harm the audio equipment?
I'm afraid the 48v will harm the device.
Should I not worry?
Thank you. The 48V voltage phantom power) is normally provided by the audio equipment (the microphone pre-amplifier), so I'm not sure I understand your question. This simple design is specifically intended for equipment with phantom power. You can also power a capsule by a lower voltage for other devices, such as a laptop, phone or computer soundcard.
@@NordicAudioLabs
I'm stupid for asking the question. I ask again.
Is an audio device safe if all three of the XLR terminals are short-circuited? Overheating or damaging parts?
I'm worried that I might accidentally break the audio device.
@@StrongAI The circuit is not shorting the phantom voltage, but even doing so will not harm or overheat anything because there are two 6.8k current limiting resistors feeding pins 2 & 3 with voltage.
I can't believe you took more than 23 minutes just to solder a resistor and a mic capsule... But worth watching. Thankyou
old vid but maybe youll answear and please do. is there a general rule for resistor value vs capsul size? or is the resister value you used good for any size capsul?
The best resistor value depends on the FET inside the capsule, so far I think all capsules I've tested worked. If you can, measure the voltage across the capsule and compare with the capsule datasheet.
Hello, is there a way to get a balanced signal out of an electret, or is there a simple way to invert the signal?
Simple as it is, this configuration actually provides a balanced signal, at least mostly. If you want a better balanced circuit with a lower output impedance there are many options.
Good
Hello, in my case, there was a noise, which I managed to solve by grounding the mesh (pin 1). Am I right?
Yes, providing a grounded mesh as shield around the mic is a good idea!
Thank You
for some drunk reason I bought ten bakers dozen electret mic capsules, nothing fancy, along with a couple dozen MEMS mic modules for ESP32 or Arduino use as well. Your lesson shoould get the former to use, finally. ;-)
PS now if I could figure-out what, why, and where I put this 172 game controller joysticks to use, other than and tactile art thing.
The difference between the electrets with and without FET inside or not? then two-pin or three? what is up with those choices, Maestro?
Something about where the power is hooked in?
take care
Great job. It could be presented a little faster. Hope to see more from you. Best wishes from India.
So basically that resistor does the same thing a 3.5mm to XLR adapter does, that converts 24 or 48V to plug in power that the mic needs? I believe so... The adapters are expensive and if a resistor like this can be used, that is great news. Or is there more electronics inside those adapters? I think they are called VXLR+.
Yes, that's what it does. It does not change the output impedance so more advanced circuits can be useful in some situations.
@@NordicAudioLabs That is great! Will have to try this out. Thank you very much for the reply!
Nice! I'm assuming this is an unbalanced microphone. If you add one single capacitor (typically 4.7 uF in the common P48 schematics) I think you would have a balanced microphone.
It's actually balanced even with that single resistor. Please see episode 2 for details on the schematic.
there is a downside to this circuit. The frequency response goes down to DC or as low as your preamp. I made two of them and found that they pick up things like drafts and doors closing in the same building. Anything tha causes a pressure wave will be picked up, and it shows up in the recording. You can filter it out if it diddnt clip the pramp, but onece door closing in the next room caused clipping on a recording with sane gain settings.
Correct, there is nothing limiting the low frequency response. Many times you will have a high pass filter in your microphone pre-amp though, sometimes even variable. Instead of complicating the circuit I'd be interested in coming up with a really good DIY wind shield for these small capsules, or perhaps it's been done already?
Do we need one to chasis?
Hello Dear Friend. Great tutorial. Which brand capsules are you using in here?
Great video, will you tell me if you can these be made into stereo and used with USB-C on a android smartphone? I would like to make a mic that looks like the Sony ECMLV1 and Olympus ME-51S but has the EM272 and USB-C connection where you can just plug it onto your phone and then record video with a nice enhanced mic for lots of ambient pickup, is this possible?
the quaility isn't bad for that tiny cheap capsule.It is outperforming the smartphone sound recording.
Have you measured the voltage at pin 2 and pin 3 ?
Yes I have, but will discuss the circuit and voltages in the next episode, thank you for your suggestion.
:D this is so funny to watch again! Thanks, what capsule did you finally put there? I did a couple of this kind with omni Primo EM172, but they are already sold out,,,
thank you. Why would there be a lot of ground hum when setting this up? I have so much ground hum using a Primo 283 capsule that has only a + and - connection, so no connection to chassis of mic element. Perhaps that needs to be made somehow?
Actually that sounded really good. What kind of soldering iron is that?
Weller WMRP
Thanks man ! I 've made it , but i have a problem , in the range of 50hz i have like a buzz sound and i don't know how to fix it
50Hz is mains hum. Try using a ground loop, they cheap and just work. You get the hum because different audio devices have 'different' grounds. Earth loop sorts it out.
What you probably need is shielding. Some form of metal case (could be a mesh) around the capsule, connected to ground (pin1).
Thanks for making the video....any thoughts on adding a capacitor?
how did the audio compensate from the one you were using when you switched? or were you using it all along?
Por favor, qual resistor vc usou?
Is it okay using 48V phantom power to the condensor?
or may be prefer using voltage devider I think
Question, I have a grounded and shielded cable [2 cable + 1 ground and a mesh shielding]. Where do I connect the ground/shielding? or do I not need to connect those parts?
Thank You~
Hello, will I have any problems if I turn on +48V phantom power via Zoom F6 with this technique? Does it work well?
It needs +48V to work
If we were using a 3 wire capsule, like an EM200, would the extra wire be connected to XLR pin 1?
Good question, topic for a follow up video. Unfortunately I'm too busy it seems.
Geat video ! Loved it Thanks
hi, can i also connect it to the mixer with pfanton r48v output?
I try it with the primo em272 but it sounds very noise! I don't know why?
Please tell about mono amplifier phantom
Hi! I did, but it didn't work. what could have gone wrong? thank you if you can help me. I'm Brazilian, I don't know if I wrote a message correctly.


Tradução em tempo real
This is unbalanced wiring pls can you send us balance wiring diagram.
Please see my second episode for a detailed explanation, it's actually not an unbalanced connection. There are many nice, more complicated and advanced circuits online, I might explore some of them in the future.
Iska circuit diagram batao
Klo pake omron h3y gmn bang?
It's work in phantom power 48V mixer?
From Indonesia
Yes, specifically!
@@NordicAudioLabs no needs capasitor?
@@ozlo5318 No.
Thank you. This looks like it might be a fun project. I’m curious as to whether you ever found a way to solve the noise problem.
There are ways to deal with the noise. I wanted to to an episode on what can be done, but no time yet.
Apakah aman untuk mixer phantom?
Nice..
So..the resistor just turn the 48v to 6v?
No, it drops the +48 voltage of one pin slightly so that the capsule sees a lower voltage across its pins.
Can this simple mic work in Audio Interface?
As long as it has phantom power, yes.
This mic looks so great and simple! But compared to other electret DIY tutorials I've watched, this seems too good... I'm assuming you have it connected to a sound board to filter and modulate the sound, right? Or you show it as it is?
I'm directly comparing it to the studio grade microphone I'm using for the voice-over, so it goes through the exact same processing (for TH-cam). But it's a good point to make a demo with only raw audio. Then again, the sound depends a lot on which capsule you use (see the follow up video).
Manda em português por FAVOR
You can watch our Studio Microphone Comparison Videos. Good day to everyone
just get to the point and edit the rubbish bits
It's strange how there was absolutely no audio quality difference between the two microphones! Even though your mic sounds fantastic and that is a $0.50 capsule. It's clear you faked the results.
And why would I want to fake anything? Wouldn't it be a bit odd since I'm manufacturing the mic I'm comparing to? :-)
sorry, but this job could had been done in 5 minutes - explaining included. again sorry. You are very sympatic and You have an amazing voice + sound but..
You are absolutely right, but so what? I'm only doing this for fun and pleasure :-) Personally I love watching slow videos, but you have the option to keep scrolling. Have a great day.