There are a number of designs posted on the web that use a single FET in either a common source or source follower configuration. When I connected it to a 12 foot guitar cable I got a lot of buzzing. These are from the USSR / PLA era days of yore. It might be more cost effective to purchase an inexpensive pre-made device. A throat microphone, also called a laryngophone, is a type of contact microphone that absorbs vibrations directly from the wearer's throat by way of single or dual sensors worn against the neck. Carefully strip around a half inch of the plastic or rubber cable housing from one end using a sharp hobby knife or an adjustable wire stripper. None of the conductors should be connected to each other, and you would need considerably more circuitry to achieve it. Thanks, wow, how many did you make? Also ... this suggested element can tend to be a bit noisy since it picks up roughly everything. Great 'ible. mic'ing the surface of a workbench while building things on it as part of Glenn Kotche's "Wild Sound"), we've just lived with the personality of the timbre we get as is. I have been reading about the types of cable to use. The first one is a single transistor simple microphone circuit, very simple to hook up using an electret microphone or MIC and an audio amplifier. When you dip, lower the mic slowly (take a few seconds) and then remove slowly. I have been having ground noise issues on another piezo I had lying around that already had a cable on it. That way the would be fighting the resistance of the other one. The pickups we designed were 3D point-source pickups (sorry I can't say more, but an NDA was part of the gig!). The element is omni-directional and will pickup sound from every angle which makes it ideal for use as a throat mic. Tactical movements, breathing, swallowing, ball hits, etc. In order to ensure the hottest point on any stringed instrument that was being sampled, I developed an empirically derived formula which stood the rigours of many tests. (Strip just enough to be able to make connections to the jack.) Some flux; even though most soldering wire is coated in a bit of flux using soldering flux means you get better connections on some metals which seem to repel solder otherwise. Throat Mics Microphone … If there is filler, snip it off (be careful not to cut the wires!). I would have about 18 inches of cable going from the piezo (on a collar on the neck) and then that would go into a longer cable with a female 1/4 inch to an effects box. The transducer was placed either on the surface by the use of a non-degrading non-solvent based wax developed to allow placement on valuable old concert violins, violas, cellos and contra-basses from the masters, that Stradivari, Amati and Guanari made, and designed to keep the owners of these rare instruments happy that we were not adversely affecting the finish on these irreplaceable instruments. Also, would hot glue work in place of solder? Not sure if this is actually how they work, or whether I've done something wrong? Strip off a length of cable housing that's the same as the diameter of the piezo, a little more than an inch. (You know how annoying it is when the cord on your phone charger wears out at the joint! It is powered by a small battery pack and can easily be plugged into your wireless transmitter/receiver. Have you actually tried this with a simple (unbalanced) cable like a guitar cable? The piezo inside is small (around 2 … 27mm diameter piezo bender, also known as a "buzzer element", such, 8" length of 2-lead, shielded balanced microphone cable, such as Mogami W2582, 1/4" inline female mono jack (sometime called TS or "tip-shield"), such as Rean/Neutrik NYS2202P. In a typical mic cable, one of the insulated conductor wires is either blue or red and the other is clear. It can also be used on land! will also be transmitted. While there at FRAP, I installed hundreds of units in acoustic guitars as well as many other stringed instruments and other vibrating surfaces. 5 years ago. It is powered by a small battery pack and can easily be plugged into your wireless transmitter/receiver. It protects the signal connections from shorting to the grounded shield housing, It adds mechanical strength to the connection, It reinforces the place where the cable enters the jack, to keep it from breaking from too much flexing. Hi, so I had a go at making this for a uni project. Donald Bell. The small size allowed for precision mounting in the hot zone, a point on a vibrating surface that was the freest of anomalies caused by resonant nulls and provided the purest analogue of the sound being reproduced. Ideal for one to one conversations or small groups, it's small and discreet. The element is omni-directional and will pickup sound from every angle which makes it ideal for use as a throat mic. As a DIY'r cost usually is not the most important factor when producing a product like the one you are requesting. Shrink on a short length of 1/4" diameter heat shrink tubing (around 3/8") over the cut end of the cable housing. Shield and ground together or trim shield on both ends? You're done! I use these for broadcast quality radio interviews and have had very good success. In parallel and in phase they would add to each other. Those were small enough that they required special handling in the form of a very high input impedance preamplifier (above 20 MegOhms, if memory serves) as well as extremely low impedance microphone cable (on the order of 9pF/ft) in order to keep the high frequencies from rolling off as well as keeping handling noise to a minimum. Hang the mic by the jack, remove drips with a paper towel, and let dry for a few hours. Well, this is certainly longer than the brief comment I intended to make, but I thought it might be of interest to other experiments in piezo technology to know some of the history, including that of the first production units to use that technology for musical instruments. input on something like a computer speaker (the computer speaker has a built in amp) with the other end soldered to the piezo? At its most basic, the throat mic consists of either one or two coin-sized transponders mounted on a strap, a wired connection to a radio or phone, and earphones. kontaktmikro.de. It is possible to duplicate the same item using components for roughly the same cost as purchasing an inexpensive unit as well as the time invested in R&D, building a proper circuit and, of course, you will need some basic soldering skills as well as ability to duplicate an electronic schematic. Since we've been using our contact mics as part of some pretty unconventional percussion instruments (e.g. Replacement foam microphone … It is powered by a small battery pack and can easily be plugged into your wireless transmitter/receiver. I've been planning to so some experiments with some of these and post some results. Melt a small blob of solder near the perimeter of the metal ground disk. You could, likely, build a very pro setup for under $75 (us) maybe less. 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