My Humble Step Forward I have a few questions,Dont Laugh

[thenovice]

Since i was younger i was always intrested in how things work,and electronics! I read a book on basic electronics and tinkered with kits that radio shack sold.

As I aged my Love for music became more apparent than anything else.

The other day i had this notion,this crazy idea that if maybe just maybe I was to build some of my own equipment I would not have to spend so much.[and hopefully i'd have fun doing it!]

Im curious if any of which im hoping for is possible,any help I would appreciate,and thank everyone and anyone who would be willing to help!
:thumb:

I want to build "Pre-Amps" and "Microphones" and have no idea where to begin,decent reading material .... links,etc,etc ....

I believe i see people are building SSL clones how could you compare these to other pre-amps?

Im a Semi-Pro musician .... writing and producing R&B,Hip-Hop and of course I plan to cater to the Pop culture,i believe I am Talented and a very capable young man... .... I just lack certain finances and if possible i'd rather put my blood sweat and tears [not to mention money] into hardwork on creating some usuable equipment which may be able to revival "pro" gear....

Im in stages of completing my new DAW system .....
and have been reading on various equipment to use as interface and a front-end......

motu vs. digi vs. rme .... though that is another topic of it's own.....

to finally get to the point of this topic is it possible for me to DIY create from scratch anything that could rival the following items:

MICROPHONES:
1).Neumann U87 Microphone
2).AKG C414 Microphone

PRE-AMPS:
1).Avalon VT 737 [pre-amp]
2).Focusrite "ISA" or "RED" series
3).SSL AWS900 [pre-amps]

thats what im intrested in at the moment,
please don't laugh if what Im asking sounds stupid or crazy....
please speak truth and let me know if what im shooting for isn't possible,or the cost would just defeat the purpose.....

regardless im still intrested in building something,something I'd be able to call my own....

at the moment I don't own a pre-amp btw....
but i do own a AT3035

thank you very much
sincerely the Novice

 

[Guest]

Hi and glad you have found us
I was exactly in the same position as you a few months ago..
You have come the right place - there are a lot of knowledgable, friendly, generous and most of all patient people here.
This is the way I started to find out things...

Make a large pot of coffee - create a sub directory on your hard drive - open up word and then do the following...
have a look at the Meta sticky thread at the top of the forum
Go to Kev's place and download every screen you can into a word document..
http://recording.org/users/kev/
Then of to Jakob's place to do the same - save the acrobat files into your hard drive and give them decent names
http://www.gyraf.dk/gy_pd/gyraf_diy.html

Then to the DIY Factory
www.diyfactory.com
And download them too..

Then what I did was go to the meta threads on this forum for each project and download them to my ever expanding word document

Then I got onto Farnell
www.farnell.com
And got them to send me a all their Free Component Catalogues (by pretending to be a business)
I then bought this book
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=31975&TabID=1&source=14&doy=17m11

And printed off all my documents - stuck them in a folder and for the next few months flicked through them in my spare time (i.e. on the toilet or in the bath - I have three children!!!)

Things then started to make sense (still don;t really understand relays though)
I then started to do some protoyping - etching small pieces of board - getting to grips with the soldering and metalwork on test pieces which I threw away
And then I choose my first project

I have finished a 48v phantom power supply (thanks to Bo Hansen for the schematic) which supplies about 15 mic preamps (yet to be built) - drew my own circuit based on a schematic - added an power on LED all by myself (it may not sound a lot to the experienced guys - but when it lit up I nearly sh*t myself with excitement - my wife however didn't quite understand my excitement)

With reference to your planned projects
You will be able to build:
A valve or FET based (German style) condenser mic (of the same lineage of the ones you mentioned - but probably better)

Preamps - check the factory for one of those English transformer based designs
The other English company in that list is on Kev's site (the one that is 1000 less than 10000)

There are a number of threads about which project to start with

Good Luck
Simon

 

[omeiko]

Hello!

I've made quite a few projects including the gyraf G7- microphone and a preamp project based on the f-rite i.s.a-430 pre section. The G7 mic I've build has the same capsule as the AKG C414-uls and all I can say it sounds beautiful. The isa pre is basically a half an eurocard with all the same parts as in the original. Very good sound too.

I think that you can save a lot of money by building it yourself. The G7 mic is electronically so simple that the body design takes most of the time if it matters. The capsule is something like 150- 200 euros, transformer is 50 euros and the rest of the components 100- 150 euros so compare it to the price of a brand new u87... Can it rival the higher price class microphones? Sure it can.

The i.s.a pre has few hard-to-get parts but I think it?s well worth the effort.
So the bottom line is the results can be world class and you can save thousands by building it yourself especially if you?re a poor bastard like me and if time doesn?t matter.

The i.s.a project can be found here http://www.diyfactory.com/projects/diy110/diy110.htm
The Gyraf microphone is here http://www.gyraf.dk/

Cheers and good luck,

okko

 

[thenovice]

[quote author="Viitalahde"]Welcome! :thumb:

[quote author="thenovice"]is it possible for me to DIY create from scratch anything that could rival the following items:[/quote]

Yes.

But why?

DIY is definately not a cheap way to go. Cloning some of your listed units would take a lot of effort, and for what? You could just buy them for a little more money you put on parts and without the hundreds of hours of reverse engineering, designing, building and trouble-shooting.
[/quote]

if this is true why are these guys kind of telling me the opposite?
or were you just refering to the pre-amps?

I appreciate the help,and Id sure enjoy links to more comparable equipment.

btw I made that folder on my drive and im underway!

 

[Scenaria]

I have to agree with it not being the cheapest rout to go... everyone gets into DIY for various reasons..

costs can be reduced compared to picking something up pre-made BUT the amount of money saved is usualy put into other areas... meters, scopes, irons... etc... and the most important part... dont forget about the time involved... the cool thing with the DIY rout isnt necessarily trying to do these things for cheap but rather putting your own twist on the preamp, compressor etc... your own chassis or selecting specific trannys...

make sure to get into this for the right reasons...

example.. last year I did a couple of 1176's.. I wanted mine to have the commercial look to them, this cost more than usual as the panels were about $100 each.. once they were done I think they ran about $725 per unit.. 1176's on ebay can be had for under $900.... and im not even taking into account the number of hours they took to build

 

[thenovice]

No, no, no the amount of time won't be a bother to me at all
trial and error on my part is ok,i'd get a good feeling of accomplishment as well...

not to mention how I would feel if i built something that sounded Great,the amount of pride in that would be .......

My motives like i said before ....

1).i used to tinker with electronics when i was younger,so I was already intrested....

2).To be able to build something with great sound for a cheaper price would benefiet me very well.....

3). pride....

I just want a Pre amp and a Mic that could hold they're own in a pro studio ..... nothing that would sound like junk,that would be a waste of time.....

Does anyone know how the SSL 9K's pre's sound?
I've heard all about the Infamous SSL but I've never actually heard one or got to compare it with any other pre-amps out there .....

that board is like $85,000 USD.

Another thing is how do you guys go about finding out what kind of parts are in each piece of equipment? is it just trial and error? or....

thank you,Im excited!

 

[Scenaria]

what are you wanting to use the mic pre for? vocals? guitars? drums?

your application will dictate to some degree what pre might be your best option..

 

[thenovice]

yup, vocals

everything vocals....

all beats and rhythms come from drum machines or keyboards....

 

[Mbira]

My advice is that if you are interested, pick one thing and start with that. To climb the mountain, you've got to take the first step. I think the Green pre is a great thing to build-it's not too expensive as there's no iron. Don't assume you'll save money building anything-I haven't saved any money, that's for sure! But if it's fun to do, that's what it's about.

Joel

 

[Scenaria]

once you get your feet wet... I think the G9 pre would be pretty cool to build... especially if your wanting something for vocals..

 

[thenovice]

thank you for the advice

is there any previews or sound comparisons for a G9 floating around so i can kinda here one?

maybe a audio sample with the g9
and the same one without it?

 

[thenovice]

link to the g9?

is that the preamp based on the focusrite?

if not which one is?

just got back from barnes and nobles ....

book on basic electronics - theory

 

[Scenaria]

http://www.recording.org/users/kev/G9_tube_micpre.htm

http://www.gyraf.dk/gy_pd/g9/g9pd.htm

 

[Gus]

I like to DIY because I can build the stuff the way I want. I find I am almost always changing something in stuff I buy. I guess it is because stuff is built to a price point.

I just finished building two channels of the green with some cap mods you know, it sounds good with a sm58. Nice little pres I have a mix of caps what I had and what I like.

Sometimes I diy just to diy even if it does not make sense money wise.

Most of the time I DIY because I can build something the way I want to.

Sometime the build surprises me The Square microphone sounds realy good I need to get it to a good studio with a good singer to make sure I am right.

 

[PRR]

> Neumann U87 Microphone
AKG C414 Microphone
Avalon VT 737
Focusrite "ISA" or "RED" series
SSL AWS900

Ya know... top-selling and good-sounding albums were recorded on MUCH "worse" gear than that. A U87 is a lovely mike, and seeing it may inspire the talent or you into better performance. But your 3035 is also a damm fine mike, better than many studio-mikes of just a few years ago, and will capture a good performance flawlessly and excitingly. And there is still nothing very horrible about using the $99 SM58 for vocals--- there is a reason why it has been THE vocal-mike for 30 years.

Likewise, there are $99 preamps that won't turn gold into crap, or necessarily be "worse" than the sexy-brand amps.

Use what you have, well, and it will work.

> maybe I was to build some of my own equipment I would not have to spend so much.

Maybe that was true, once. Nowadays asian factories turn out good to very-good gear for absurdly low prices. The $69 condensers are freaking amazing: a bit screechy, but still good sound and astonishing good value. The $400 mikes aren't bad either (though some of them may be $69 mikes sold at higher price).

So you can't build low-end to mid-line gear cheaper than Marshall, Berrnger and Mackie will sell it to you. And you really can't build top-end gear like the best Neumanns yourself, unless you get very obsessive, and frankly spend more time building than the result is worth. (400 hours messing with diaphragms and picking caps: you could flip hamburgers for 400 hours and have the cash for a Neumann.)

> i used to tinker with electronics when i was younger,so I was already intrested....
> pride....

If you still want to tinker, you have pride, which is important. There is a lot of fun beyond the solder-burns and smoke, if that's the kind of person you are. And you might end up with something not quite like any other box in the world. That won't make you famous, but it may be satisfying.

The Green preamp is reasonably complex but not an endless build, excellent neutral amp. That G9 has the tubes and maybe a warm glow, and maybe a sweet overtone, but more complex.

 

[thenovice]

can anybody give me a basic list of the tools i will need to begin?

something my bench should have?

and also I would appreciate the names and or links to the Suppliers you guys use.....

any In the US?

thanks so much,the help thus far has been great

 

[Mbira]

Please look in the meta-meta thread on the first page-you will find the answers to all those questions, and many more.

Good luck!

Joel

 

[thenovice]

I've been doing lots of reading and file saving ......

so far i have about 100mb of files saved but anyways,

i dont know if i skipped over something but......

for the various mics,preamps,and compressors most commonly done around here on the board....

do you have to make your own PCBs? or do you guys more commonly buy them......

really I wish there was more of some type of FAQ,i get lost in the meta's and end up getting a bunch of useful info,though it may not be what i was originally seeking

thnx

 

[thenovice]

The things im Intrested in Building:

Microphones:
Sony c800
G7 [u47]

Preamps:
DIY 110
G9
neve n72

Compressor:
SSL Clone

The most confusing part is when certain projects are refered to by model number? / or numbers .....

but I can get the PCB's for all of the above mentioned from the "black market"??

I know where to get the "Neve n72" [seventhcircle]

but is this what most people do is buy the PCBs
how many people actually make them?

thanks for your time.

 

[thenovice]

:sam: