Carbon Microphones

[Tubetec]

I have a Grampian GC3 , its a dynamic capsule but has more of a carbon mic sound with a little more sizzle in the top end .

I have to agree 500 bucks for a lenght of copper tube with a crap mic stuck in it is a con .
You could probably make up something that sounds just as bad from scrap for nothing .

 

[Ricardus]

Someone please remind me what the original point of this thread was??

 

[Tubetec]

Ease up a small bit Ric , its not a dictatorship here after all , my point was theres plenty of old mics around for little money that can give your sound a more lo-fi vibe .

 

[Ricardus]

Ease up a small bit Ric , its not a dictatorship here after all , my point was theres plenty of old mics around for little money that can give your sound a more lo-fi vibe .

If you're replying to me I don't know what you mean.

I just honestly don't know what the point of the original post was, way back in the beginning. Particularly since the original poster hasn't commented since.

I'm all for lo-fi sounds.

 

[Whoops]

The way I see it is that the first post was a “critique” on the price of the mic and the use by Placid áudio of the term “military” whatever when referring to a carbon capsule that we know sounds crappy/LoFi anyway, military grade or not

 

[Tubetec]

Reading back the first post , I guess theres a touch of cynicism , although context and tone can be missed in simple text and the eye of the beholder lends further interpretation/possible loss in translation etc.

Agreed in the end anyway , Lo-fi mics provide great sonic contrast , a vocal that sounds like its come across the air waves by AM from several hundred miles can lend a nice ethereal quality .

 

[abbey road d enfer]

a vocal that sounds like its come across the air waves by AM from several hundred miles can lend a nice ethereal quality .

The first time I heard Good luck charm by Elvis, it was on Radio Luxemburg on 208 meters MW. The phasing effect was wonderful. I was very disappointed when I found there was no phasing on the 45.

 

[Tubetec]

Sometimes even a crustiest live recording doesnt manage to kill a good vibration .

 

[amplexus]

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...

Obviously not everyone can be expected to DIY on a large scale- but we're talking about 10 minutes of basic soldering skills. I don't mean to be a gatekeeper, but if one is running a commercial studio and either can't do or don't have someone on staff who can do the basic soldering involved to make a cheap subkick or carbon button lo fi mic, I think somewhere along the way they've missed something critical.

As someone who owns and operates a commercial studio, and has for a number of years I'm certainly familiar with the concept of "client appeal"- but I think that trend has been declining as a major concern in the last decade or so for a variety of reasons (which could be a post entirely on its own), especially in the smaller indie facilities. My experience with almost any artist these days is they care a LOT less about the brand name on the gear (or even on the studio door), and a lot MORE about gear that gets the job done. This may of course, be a VERY regional experience. Around here our music community very much slants towards a grassroots, indie sort of vibe. In my own personal experience artists outside of the upper echelon of the budget range respond to 'vibe' and some amount of DIY authenticity more than a brand name- as long as the result is there obviously. I am also one of those studios with a large(ish) format console, and a good share of brand name gear so obviously I'm not averse to owning and using spendy, brand name tools.

I also personally feel that when you're after a lo-fi sound, having a bit of gear that looks the part feeds into the experience of using it. If i had an artist doing a lo fi yelling bit for a punk track and I have the choice between a shiny bit of polished pipe looking all fancy in a nice shockmount, and handing them a beat up old CB mic that they can grab and cup and emote with like they're on stage, I'm personally going with the latter. So far everyone has loved it. Perhaps they would also love a shiny copper pipe, but at the end of they day, they're happy with the vibe and the sound, and I get the result I want for 1/50th the price... Personally i think these things NEED to be not fancy to be true to the spirit of it all

(All of the above said with the least confrontational tone possible. Just sharing persepctives/experiences.)

 

[Ricardus]

It would be fun to take the carbon element from a D104 mic and mount it on a larger cylinder, and make it kinda look like a Bottle mic.

I bet if you went to a Hamfest you could find various D104 and assorted other CB/Ham radio mic parts to do this with.

You could even make the larger cylinder out of copper as a kind of shout-out.

 

[Whoops]

Obviously not everyone can be expected to DIY on a large scale- but we're talking about 10 minutes of basic soldering skills.

No way,
there's no way in 10 minutes you make something similar to the Carbon Phone, and that's what's being discussed, it's a carbon capsule connected to an electronic circuit, assembled very well inside a copper tube, with 2 copper end caps one with air openings and the other with a chassis XLR connector, and already fitted with an adjustable mic stand mount. You can't build this in 10 minutes, maybe not even in 1 day, and there's still all the part sourcing that takes a lot of time also. In the end the Copper Phone has a very unique look that is quite appealing for a Lo Fi mic.

Your 10 minutes means to connect and already sourced carbon capsule to an XLR connector only (no enclosure, no mount for the capsule, no electronic circuit,no mic stand mount) thats not similar to the Copper Phone product.

Point is, $500 is a small amount of money for a professional studio to have a visually appealing microphone that works straight out of the box, instead of spending a lot of time sourcing all the parts, ordering, designing how they fit together, doing all the metal work, studying and building the electronic circuit and assembling everything...

 

[Tubetec]

I have a couple of other examples of the Grampian mics , omni so not quite as up close, personal and breathy as the directional GC3 ,but a similar tone , for me the curve of a low fi mic delivered without delay beats any kind of daw based digital eq processing hands down .

To be honest Whoops I'd be imbarressed to pull out a piece of shit like that and have people think I paid 500 for it , A short lenght of scrap 1 inch copper pipe ,a couple of brass pipe fittings , maybe a few bong gauzes as a windscreen and a flying lead with an XLR at the other end , once you had the basic design nailed down I think putting something together in 10 minutes is easily possible . Maybe an extra 10 minutes to polish up the case

 

[Whoops]

You will not build something like the Carbon Phone in 10 minutes maybe not even 1 day.
This is getting into non-sense territory so I will just move on

 

[amplexus]

The copperphone has no electronics in it... I'm not sure where you're getting that from. It's a carbon element in a copper pipe, inside another copper pipe. It required no "studying and designing the electronic circuit" or anything particularly taxing. It's interesting that the single part of my post you responded to you took well out of context, but whatever... I maintain that in less than an afternoon I could build a nearly comparable product starting with nothing but a trip to a thrift store and home depot. I'd even bet you $500 on it.
What's nonsense in my mind is paying $500USD for maybe $20 worth of parts at the top end to get a device that sounds like crap on purpose but looks like it shouldn't.
I scvanged a CB mike: enclosure, mount, capsule, hell even the cable all free and in one find; already assembled. Go find a rotary phone in a thrift shop- mount, capsule, enlosure, even a convenient handle! And you've got the same effect, for nearly no effort or money. (And in my opinion a whole lot more satisfying)

My overarching point here is that there are cheaper, more authentic ways to achieve the exact same result, for fractions of the cost, and in a way that, quite frankly, every artist I've ever worked with would find at least as 'engaging' if not more. This product is and always has been a solution in search of a problem, designed to separate hipster engineers and studios with more money than sense from their cash.

I honestly find the objections over this to be particularly odd. Given that this is probably the largest DIY audio forum around, that anyone is arguing fervently in favour if purchasing an overpriced, pre-made product that is intended to imitate what was probably one of the earlier no-budget DIY 'effects' out there, alongside a Sub Kick, is a bit wild to me.

 

[abbey road d enfer]

. Go find a rotary phone in a thrift shop- mount, capsule, enlosure, even a convenient handle! And you've got the same effect, for nearly no effort or money.

Well, you'll need some effort to power the carbon mic element.

 

[abbey road d enfer]

Carbonphone has a carbon element.
Copperphone has a dynamic element.

 

[Ricardus]

If nothing else, this thread has inspired me to try and build some mics like this.

 

[Whoops]

I maintain that in less than an afternoon I could build a nearly comparable product starting with nothing but a trip to a thrift store and home depot. I'd even bet you $500 on it.
What's nonsense in my mind is paying $500USD for maybe $20 worth of parts

I have no doubt that in one afternoon for $20 worth of parts you could build a really ugly and sketchy microphone, without any stand mount solution (you could always use gaffa tape to solve that and go well with the sketchiness) , that will probably sound Lo-Fi enough for the application but that will have no resemblance to the CarbonPhone.

There's also another thing I like about the CarbonPhone, it's connected through a Tone Box, that has 5 positions for 5 different sounds which it's pretty cool, it's like having 5 different Lo-Fi mics. You can choose the sound that better fits the tune.

 

[pinchemotherloaf]

Someone please remind me what the original point of this thread was??

I was pointing out that this was a *joke* I made 20 years ago about making 'pro' carbon microphones while making LDC capsules. It was laughed off as a ridiculous idea. Now it's being done seriously.

 

[Ricardus]

I was pointing out that this was a *joke* I made 20 years ago about making 'pro' carbon microphones while making LDC capsules. It was laughed off as a ridiculous idea. Now it's being done seriously.

Wait til you see the carbon Bottle Mic I'm working on!