To create a simple homemade microphone you need only a bunch of common electronic elements and a solder. Today I will present, how this microphone can be built at home.
Below is a sample track recorded by this microphone.
We will use electret microphone, it's cheap and popular but it can't be plugged directly - it requires a simple circuit, that is presented below. R1 polarizes the microphone, C1 removes noise from power source, C2 isolates sound card from constant current in the circuit.
List of elements:
- R1, 10k
- C1, 220u, 25V
- C2, 100n
- M, electret microphone
Usually microphones are connected to other devices (for example into the computer) by using a jack plug, the same plug is used headphones, so we can obtain it from old, broken headphones. I presented this also in "Constructing a homemade speaker" article. Below is shown how to correctly connect this cable to our microphone circuit.
The microphone can be obtained from an old recorder, mp3 player or similar device. Rest of the elements can be also obtained this way.
That's all, I hope that it will be useful for you!
thank you so much. it worked for me but could you tell me what would happen if r1 is decreased or increased ?
ReplyDeleteR1 gives current for condenser mic.if remove it,it will not work.if increase value of R1,condenser mic get lower voltage than before.therefore,sensitivity of mic become low.
DeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteif its resistance will be to high, then microphone will not be fully polarized and the sound will be to low. It's a simple circuit and values of elements may be changed in wide range.
kind regards,
Robert Gawron
thank you robert!!
ReplyDeleteC1, 220u, 25V
ReplyDeleteC2, 100n
For these capacitors (I assume they are capacitors) is it a 220 microfarad capacitor and a 100 nano capicitor?
Hi Scott,
Deleteyes, you're right.
regards,
Robert Gawron
@scott
ReplyDeleteYeah.. u r correct we are using Capacitor and resistor in circuit.. so basically its an RC circuit.
What happens if I change the resistor with a 5k or 10k potentiometer?
ReplyDeleteIn this case I can adjust the mic volume, or I am wrong?
I apologyze for my bad language ;)
It's me again.
ReplyDeleteLook at this schematic
http://i41.tinypic.com/2qizp86.png
I have added a potentiometer in series to the original resistor, I think it's a better way to adjust the volume.
The resistor value can never be smaller than R1, only bigger.
On my last post I have forgotten to thank you, sorry
Hi,
DeleteR1 is used to polarize the microphone, changing its value shouldn't change significantly the amplitude of the signal. I think that what you're searching is "microphone amplifier circuit" - you can find a lot of them in Google Images and combine one of them with the circuit presented here.
kind regards,
Robert Gawron
This is the best one I found!
ReplyDeleteThanks, very useful.
ReplyDeleteThank you. After I built this, the sound quality took my by surprise.
ReplyDeletewow, simple and power full,,thanks for your share mic, ilke this
ReplyDeletehmm should give a try ,hope this doesn't produce a big hum!
ReplyDeleteready to give it a try
ReplyDeleteHi! Why the voltage rating is precisely 25 volts? Would 220uF10V capacitor suffice? Very nice guide btw!
ReplyDeleteHi,
DeleteThe voltage is around 5V DC, so 10V cap willl do the job too.
Bob
Bob
Could you please give more info about the resistor, capacitor things? The local shopkeeper doesn't know much. It would be great help if you gimme the pictures and details of each of the 3 components. Thank You. :") <3
ReplyDeleteValues are in the post, they can be any THT (not SMD for simplicity) low voltage ones.
DeleteAnyone?
ReplyDeletei need to play, how to make a Cord less Microphone, can You Do This?
ReplyDelete