Carbon Microphones

[pinchemotherloaf]

I used to joke with Kelly about making a carbon microphone. Now I see it's here, made with 'Military grade carbon granule' Cost is $500.00
Carbonphone

 

[emrr]

I usually can get box fulls of old carbon mics at HAMFESTS for $10...

 

[abbey road d enfer]

Is it an early April's fool?
They came to great length to make their carbon mic worse than a typical telephone piece.
It seems the designer likes sh..ty sounds, considering how his magnetic mics sound.

 

[Ricardus]

This has been out for like a decade. It isn't exactly news.

 

[Whoops]

Like Ricardus said, Placid Audio is more than a decade old.

I have both the Copperphone and the Carbonphone, I really like them and they're pretty usefull Lo-Fi mics, good tools to have in the mic collection.
Although I didnt pay $500 for my mics, I paid less than half of that.

You can get the same type of sound for cheaper for sure, like using an old Telephone set, you can use both the speaker and the carbon capsule as mics, so each telephone set gives you 2 different lo-fi mics.
The Shure 104C is also a really cool carbon microphone for an affordable price.

But the Placid Audio ones look quite appealing and have already a stand mount

 

[TwentyTrees]

I have a similar thing made in the UK, called "Wasaphone" - cost me about £50 or so a few years back, and has earnt its spot in the mic locker for those lo-fi, ultra-band-limited sounds when that's what you're looking for. In those cases, musicians seemed to really enjoy singing and playing into it. I've also had success using it alongside a more normal studio mic, and blending in just a little of the Wasaphone at key moments for added mid-range bite.

 

[abbey road d enfer]

In those cases, musicians seemed to really enjoy singing and playing into it. I

Which tends to support the not uncommon belief that musicians are slightly unhinged...

 

[Khron]

Which tends to support the not uncommon belief that musicians are slightly unhinged...

Some might even argue, it comes with the territory (or the job)...

 

[abbey road d enfer]

Let's face it; none of us is completely sane. If we were, we would be doing something else.

 

[rogs]

Here's a slightly different take on a new 'carbon' microphone ..

Whether it's just an interesting experiment - of the start of a whole new genre of membrane construction, we shall see?......

 

[Ricardus]

Here's a slightly different take on a new 'carbon' microphone ..

Whether it's just an interesting experiment - of the start of a whole new genre of membrane construction, we shall see?......

I saw Sammy's post about this on FB the other day. Very cool looking mic.

 

[Whoops]

Which tends to support the not uncommon belief that musicians are slightly unhinged...

I know it's a joke.

But talking seriously there's nothing unhinged or wrong in liking different sounds.
Sometimes the Limited frequency response and natural distortion of a carbon microphone is exactly the vocal sound that fits a rock song.
That's used by many people in the past, Mike Patton and Scott Weiland used that a lot both Live and in records.
It's used also in Bluesy tunes vocals, it hads the character for a Blues rock track.

Besides vocals, carbon mics are also used a lot for Harmonica, and it fits well the instrument.
Listen to When the Levee Breaks by Led Zeppelin:


It's much better to have the flexibility of different options for sounds than less options.
I personally really like the contrast between Hi-Fi sounds and Lo-Fi sounds, it's actually part of my aesthetics for mixing and recording.

 

[abbey road d enfer]

Seems to me like a more productive alley than trying to revive a technology that became obsolete at about the same time as the oil lamp...
Now, considering graphene is about twice denser than Mylar™ and thickness is about 3 times that of usual diaphragms, I'm not sure they get the sensitivity right.
Graphene is a fascinating material, but I'm not sure can obsolete gold-sputtered Mylar. It may if production techniques allow thickness lower than about 3 microns.
I would think the main advantage, in the current state of research, is the durability and absence of degradation.

 

[PermO]

I can no longer find the video, but I once came acros a presentation from a science lab that produced a graphene mic capsule with incredible specs as it came to frequency responce and sensitivity, it was super expensive to make and it was supposed to be "the best microphone in the world"

The future will be amazing.

 

[Ricardus]

I can no longer find the video, but I once came acros a presentation from a science lab that produced a graphene mic capsule with incredible specs as it came to frequency responce and sensitivity, it was super expensive to make and it was supposed to be "the best microphone in the world"

The future will be amazing.

I don't think there's any doubt that Graphene will revolutionize just about every industry, once it's available in large enough quantities.

 

[amplexus]

Like Ricardus said, Placid Audio is more than a decade old.

I have both the Copperphone and the Carbonphone, I really like them and they're pretty usefull Lo-Fi mics, good tools to have in the mic collection.
Although I didnt pay $500 for my mics, I paid less than half of that.

You can get the same type of sound for cheaper for sure, like using an old Telephone set, you can use both the speaker and the carbon capsule as mics, so each telephone set gives you 2 different lo-fi mics.
The Shure 104C is also a really cool carbon microphone for an affordable price.

But the Placid Audio ones look quite appealing and have already a stand mount

I found an old Marconi made CB radio mic at an auto wrecker, slapped the smallest, shittiest audio transformer I could find at my local electronics shop ($2.50!) inside the case and removed the switch. Threw a surplus neutrik on the end and bam- THAT sound. My total spend was like... under $10?

I usually run it through a Hairball Bronze with the input cranked all the way up, sounds exactly like you want with no EQ needed. Plus it has a fun look for action shots for the 'gram as they say.

With so many places to salvage carbon mic elements for free or cheap, the idea of paying $500 for $5 worth of polished copper pipe from Home Depot and a capsule that, as Abbey has said is "a technology that became obsolete at about the same time as the oil lamp" is just mind blowing to me.

 

[Khron]

"A fool and his money are soon parted..."

Just look at all the audiophool stuff being peddled...

 

[Ricardus]

Somewhere around the house my brother used to have a D104 mic from his late 70's CB radio obsession. I plan to turn that into something for the studio. Maybe by building a Bo Hansen DI right into it.

 

[Whoops]

I found an old Marconi made CB radio mic at an auto wrecker, slapped the smallest, shittiest audio transformer I could find at my local electronics shop ($2.50!) inside the case and removed the switch. Threw a surplus neutrik on the end and bam- THAT sound. My total spend was like... under $10?

With so many places to salvage carbon mic elements for free or cheap, the idea of paying $500 for $5 worth of polished copper pipe from Home Depot and a capsule that, as Abbey has said is "a technology that became obsolete at about the same time as the oil lamp" is just mind blowing to me.

For sure your mic looks cool, and you are right, there's plenty of cheap ways to do the same type of Lo-Fi mic using DIY. Like a CB radio mic, an old telephone, a small speaker, etc

But not everyone is into DIY, and also for a Professional studio looks mean a lot,
so having a good looking and attractive microphone already made for $500 might be small for their budget.
And the Placid Audio mics are not only well made but also good looking and easy to use straight out of the box.

People also don't need any Large format SSL or Neve console in 2022 to mix, they're really expensive, make huge monthly electricity bills (console consumption + air conditioning), and required constant expensive maintenance, although big studios still have them and some people even have them at home.
There's market for products that although more expensive have an wow factor on the client and that's an important part of running a studio also, this conversation could go on and on...

 

[Whoops]

There's a really nice Carbon microphone that is much less expensive and that it's quite nice and recommend, until some years ago it was still being produced.
It's the Shure 104C, it has the traditional sound you expect from a Carbon microphone and pretty similar to the Copperphone, but much cheaper.



https://www.microphones.com/microphone.cfm?urlid=1185
https://www.avsupply.com/ITM/17081/104C.html