D.I.Y Mics and Battery Box

I built these mics and battery box using the information found at the MicDIYers Homepage and there is also a MicDIYers Yahoo group.

All of the parts that I used were bought from Radio Shack. The suggested microphone capsules by MicDIYers are the Panasonic WM-60AT  or WM-60AY with modification. They are the same capsules used by Sound Professionals  and Core Sound. Alot of the information from the MicDIYers Yahoo group was provided by Chris Carfagno from Sound Professionals and Len Moskowitz from Core Sound and a bunch of other really smart people and sound geeks. I used some simular omnidirectionl electret elements from Radio Shack without the modification. You can buy the Panasonics and the  polypropalene capacitors for the battary box from Digi-Key. I think there is a minimum of 25 to purchase. One of these days I'll order some from them and attempt the modification. Anyone want to go in on an order, send me an email

If you attempt to build your own, I take no responsibility if you blow up your recorder or yourself.

This is my first pair I put together. I bought a pair of earbud headphones from a dollar store and gutted them out.
The microphone elements I bought from Radio Shack already has the leads soldered to the mics. I soldered the leads to the cut wires from the earbuds. I used hot glue to cover the solder connections to keep them from touching.
 
 

I then stuffed the mic and leads into the gutted earbuds and used hot glue to fill in the spaces. I helps to always have a cold beer nearby!
 
 

I trimmed up the extra hot glue.
 
 

I bought some alligator clips from Radio Shack. Scratched up the metal surface a bit and super glued them to the back of the earbuds. Don't forget which one is left and right.
 
 

Don't loose the little foam thingies. You will use them to cover the mics and provide a little windscreen.
 
 

And viola your done. They are hardly noticed clipped on the back of the brim. Later I covered up the elements with tape and spray painted them black.
 
 

This is my second effort. This time I removed the leads that were soldered to the mics. I used a cable that I cut from a old pair of headphones that were laying around. I carefully soldered the cable to the mics. You don't need solder to do this. There are two solder pads already on the mics where the leads once were. Do not overhead the mics with the soldering iron, you could damage the electret element inside. For the mic housing, I used section of a BIC pen. I had to hollow out the ends a little bit with a drill so that the mics will fit snug inside.
 
 

A front view with the mics seated into their housing.
 
 

Both mics.
 
 

I filled up the back of the housing with hot glue. Then I used heat shrink over the housing and the cable to seal it up and to keep the cable from getting damaged.
 
 

Another view of the finished product.
 
 

I found some Panasonic WM-55 unidirectional mics at a local electronics store. I asked if they could order the WM-60 but they said they weren't buying from Panasonic anymore :(  They are slightly larger but I don't have a need for unidirectional mics.
 
 

An open view of the battery box after I put it together. All parts where bought from Radio Shack. I have some more pictures somewhere of putting this together. I'll try to find them when I return to Tulsa.
 
 

Another open view of the battary box with the 9v battary installed. I don't really like the way I put this one together so I'm gonna build another one soon, this time using the polypropalene capacitors. Does anyone want to go in on a Digi-Key order for some caps and mic elements?
 
 

Another view with the cover on and the mics connected. You will plug the battary box into the line in on your recorder. Do not connect to mic in. I used some velcro tape for this mic set. I sewed the other side of the tape to the sholders of my Skinny Puppy t-shirt. I don't like this setup. I'll probably loose the velcro tape and figure a way to mount some alligator clips to these.
 
 

This is a view of the Panasonic WM-55 cardioid mic elements that I found at an electronics store. Notice the holes in the back. I'm guessing that is what makes these mics unidirectional. If you cover the holes up will they be omnis? I guess I'll give this a try sometime and see how they sound. I'm also gessing that these could be modified too if you cut the three traces that you see connecting the top solder pad to the mic shell and then running a trace from the bottom pad to the shell then reversing the polarity and increasing their frequency response.