Your DIY Project - 2007

[glide 1]

Hi all,

It would be nice to know what DIY projects everyone plans to do for the comming year. I'm really a newb to DIY but have learned a LOT from my first project making the G1176. I look forward to next year with new and more challenging projects........definitly got the bug!!

My personnal project for next year is "The Strip".

A basic design (i hope) that will be a single channel box consisting of a mic pre, high pass filter, high and low shelving eq's (passive?), and lastly a compressor. I plan to use DIY boards available here exclusively.

The reason for building 1 is because i do the occasional FOH/live gig (freelance) ones or twice a month and it is very refreshing to be able to work outside of the studio once in a while. However, we are not always presented with the ideal equipment and setups on a given day, and equipment/setups change from show to show. So having a "magic" box like this will probably bail me out of trouble one day.

I would use it mainly for vocals bacause a good vocal sound is the most challenging for me to achieve in live shows. I'm hoping this channel strip will help me get better quality vocal sounds not only for live work but also double as a quick go-to-box for vioce over, demo type stuff recording in the studio.


*mic pre - a few come to mind, fabio's api, JLM Baby Animal, G9, etc..

*filter - this i am not sure of yet and i would have to research.

*eq - i'm thinking a simple, passive, high and low shelving for this. I would imagine a high gain pre amp would be needed here.

*compressor - G1176. I have built these and i think they are wonderful..


All comments and advice are welcome, especially on the filter and eq sections, aswell as how to integrate all the components in 1 box with 1 PSU. Also, what specific components (projects) you recommend other than the 1's i listed above that is simpler and more cost effective but combined, will give me a decent sounding box. Thank you all in advance.


Prodigy has been my home on the net for the past year and i would just like to express my gartitude and heartfull thanks to everyone for all the help you have given. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a DIY'ing hell of a year next year!!!


glide 1

 

[peterc]

I have a few API 500 style projects on the go. Will post more once the protos are done....

Taos amp mic pre (Alan Kimmel mu-stage cct) as well.

Peter

 

[tommypiper]

My DIY...

Leaky shower above drips water through the floor onto my mics and workbench. Back wall lets rain in, water runs down inside basement past my workbench. Washer leaks, runs water across floor near my workbench. Toilet sticks, overflows, water on bathroom floor seeps through cracks and drips onto my mics and workbench in basement. Mice have found a way in somewhere and left droppings near my Neve parts near my workbench. My homemade transformers are rusting on my workbench, maybe the mice peed on them. My kids have snuck in and blown into my ribbon mics, pretending to be singing, one ribbon at least is shot. Upstairs closet where I store some mics is molding, half my clothes had to be thrown away with mold, one AKG is dead. (I hope to replace it with a tube mod.) All true, unfortunately. My DIY is swimming upstream. And my GSSL still doesn't work. I give up!

May everyone have a safe, warm and dry-as-possible holiday.

 

[glide 1]

[quote author="peterc"]I have a few API 500 style projects on the go. Will post more once the protos are done....

Taos amp mic pre (Alan Kimmel mu-stage cct) as well.

Peter[/quote]

Hi Peter looking forward to your API (eq's?).

A little OT, would you know if Downtown Studios is still around? I remember a Peter Pearlson, who was 1 of the in house engineers there back in the early 90's. He recorded, mixed, and co produced our album. I also remember they had a huge Harrison desk in 1 of their rooms.

Regards,

glide 1

 

[glide 1]

All true, unfortunately. My DIY is swimming upstream. And my GSSL still doesn't work. I give up!

I hope you have better luck/ fortunes next year. I'll be building the Gssl too. Happy Holidays...

 

[LazyOne]

first finishing my tube mic pre
then probabaly an eq or comp (also with tubes)
and finally theres a vocoder project waiting.
and some tube amps.....

 

[walter]

My DIY project. Clean the workbench. It would be great if I could finish the DIY projects that have been sitting for way too long.

 

[Guest]

My DIY project for 2007 is to find partners, suppliers, and start manufacturing stuff I've designed and tested... First of all, hybrid class A mic and power amps, then may be condensor mics, or just kits to modify existing ones.

 

[beatpoet]

Mastering 16 Channel line mixer with at least 4-band selectable frequency EQs, with a minimum of 4 submix busses and 2 aux. I have 16 channels of top end mic pre that will be dockable if I want to crate the beast around as a single mixer.

Mastering EQ (Pultec? Passive? Modded Alesis?)

Mastering compressor (SSL?)

- All dockable to a single mixer unit

 

[Scodiddly]

The "East German tank telephone Bluetooth handset" thing I mentioned here somewhat recently - parts showed up a few days ago, and hopefully after the holidays I'll be able to work on it.

 

[Nele]

- LA2A
- 4 neve 1272
- 4 Forsell Compressors (2 discrete opamps, 2 transformers)
- NYD Passive EQ
- NYD MILA
- 1 Green Mic Preamp
- Midibox

maybe:
- G7 mics
- Pultec
- 1176

just need a little time and cash... :green:

 

[AnalogPackrat]

All the stuff I didn't get to this year :razz:

-Rack up the 2x Fabio 1272's I got working
-Finish up 2x WHAT compressors (boards stuffed)
-Build NYD EQ including hand wound inductors
-Build another pair of 1272's using BA283 (thanks, Grant!) and Carnhill iron
-Rack pair of ADM 3-band EQs bought on BM

I probably won't even get that far, but then there's...

-AC4 amp
-NYD one bottle pre
-CJ one bottle pre
-V72 pre
-etc.

and a bunch of synth DIY stuff that's been languishing in boxes for about a decade!

A P

 

[tablebeast]

I was just making a list the other day all tube stuff by the way:

Stuff to Restore:
Newcomb E2 2 ch. Mic Pre/Mixer
Newcomb H4 3 ch. Mic Pre/Mixer - FINISHED! 12/24/06
RCA 4 ch. Mic Pre/Mixer
Stromberg Carlson AV-38 4 ch. Mic Pre/Mixer - FINISHED! 12/26/06
Newcomb H-50B 50w Power Amp

Stuff to Mod:
B & W Distortion meter converted into Federal AM 864/U Style Limiter
Military Decibel meter converted in Mic Pre
Vomax meter into 2x NYDave "for rafa" one-bottle 6SN7 based Mic Pres
RCA Student Amp into dual mono Vari-mu Compressor
2x Akai M7 monoblocks into ioaudio EF86 Mic Pres
2x Akai M7 Monoblocks into Altec 438ish Mic Pre/VariMu Compressors
2x Joemeek JM47 converted to 5840 based royer tube mics
HP 450A Amplifier converted to Mic Pre
Bogen CHA-20 Amp converted for Guitar
Knight 6L6G/6SC7 based 35w PA Amp converted for Guitar
McGohan 35w PA Amp converted to Marshall Plexi circuit with 5881's

Stuff to build from scratch:
Firefly 1.5W '12AU7 as power section' micro amp
Eric Barbour ModularTube Synth modules in 3x tektronix tube plug ins
More Barbour synth modules in an old gigantic 6U military tube modulation meter
Various guitar cabinets
Some tube and ribbon mics
...

 

[gevermil]

[quote author="beatpoet"]Mastering 16 Channel line mixer with at least 4-band selectable frequency EQs, with a minimum of 4 submix busses and 2 aux. I have 16 channels of top end mic pre that will be dockable if I want to crate the beast around as a single mixer.

Mastering EQ (Pultec? Passive? Modded Alesis?)

Mastering compressor (SSL?)

- All dockable to a single mixer unit[/quote]


Wow - ID LIKE THAT

 

[glide 1]

[quote author="gevermil"][quote author="beatpoet"]Mastering 16 Channel line mixer with at least 4-band selectable frequency EQs, with a minimum of 4 submix busses and 2 aux. I have 16 channels of top end mic pre that will be dockable if I want to crate the beast around as a single mixer.

Mastering EQ (Pultec? Passive? Modded Alesis?)

Mastering compressor (SSL?)

- All dockable to a single mixer unit[/quote]


Wow - ID LIKE THAT[/quote]

I 2nd that - drool :thumb:

 

[glide 1]

Hi all,

Thats a lot of interesting stuff mentioned, some of which i could only dream of building.....in time - someday.

Here's a few others that i'm interested in:

*night pro eq with air
* JLM - matt talked about a pultec (or sontec?) type eq for mastering that was supposed to be an easy build. maybe compressor kits from them too i hope.
*API 525 compressor
*pres pres and more pres..

 

[astrovic]

My projects mainly revolve around finshing the things I have on the go at the moment - a dual channel G1176, a GSSL and one channel of Baby Animal. The main effort will be in getting the front panels looking good.

I'm also planning a Hamptone Opto Comp, which will be my first attempt at making my own PCB's.

After that, it'll be soldering irons down for a while and time to address some structural issues in my room - like the water leak behind the desk, the totally unnecessary sink in the corner, the harsh fluoro lighting and building some traps to try and get some control on the large levels of bottom end mud that accumulate.

Looking forward to 2007 - should be a corker! :thumb: 2008 will hopefully be a journey into the world of tube gear.

 

[neriks]

I will try to complete the analogue mixing console I'm currently building using my own interpretation of the Neve 1073 circuitry.

 

[[silent:arts]]

finishing my dual GSSL (started 2005 :?)
finishing my dual Pultec Style EQ (started mid 2006 :?)
racking up my Brent Averill API 312 Card and some Neumann modules (waiting for cases)
have some some working Baumann 312s waiting for their case
waiting for two 1081 board sets
have all parts for a dual LA2A laying arround
a sontec would be fine
still want to build a TG12413 :shock:
oh, and I have a new band project
we will see what will be done next year ... :green: :roll:

 

[crazytooguy]

- finishing my hotrodded G9 mic pre
- breadboarding various mic pre topologies to see if I can discern audible differences in designs
- passive summing box
- monitor control unit
and several guitars in the shop that I've neglected for awhile. Oh, and fixing the exhaust leak in my old Volvo sedan...

Did you say 2007 or 2007-2017?? Never enough time...