DIY lapel microphone. How to make a lavalier stereo microphone with your own hands
Many people have old headphones or headsets. Is it possible to make a full-fledged microphone out of them? Yes - and it's easier than you think.
Normal connection
If you have headphones without a built-in microphone, then they can also be used to record sound. The quality, of course, will not be very close to the studio quality, but this will be quite enough for negotiations.
To use headphones to record sound on your computer, you just need to ... just plug them into the microphone jack. Why does it work? The fact is that both headphones and microphones have a vibration diaphragm, which converts electrical signal to sound and vice versa. If you use a microphone, the diaphragm sends a converted audio signal from it to the computer (through the built-in amplifier and mixer). And when you use headphones, the process goes in the opposite direction - from the computer to the diaphragm, which converts the electrical signal into sound. And how exactly to use the connected device, decides the connector.
Any headphones are suitable for this method: earbuds, earplugs, even full-size overheads.
As a rule, it is enough just to plug the headphones into the microphone jack. But sometimes you need additional setting(during its process, we will also check the performance of the headphones):
Video: connecting headphones to a PC or laptop
Lavalier microphone from the headset for the phone
If you have an old headset from your phone, you can remove unnecessary headphones from it, leaving only the microphone. This method will require:
- headphones with a headset;
- basic soldering skills;
- soldering iron;
- solder;
- a cord with a mini-jack (1.8 mm plug) from unnecessary headphones without a headset;
- twist-off metal nose of the handle;
- glue gun;
- piece of black foam.
We describe the process:
- Open the "box" in which the device is stored. This can be done with a penknife - carefully insert the blade into the joint of the box and tilt to open it.
Be careful not to damage the microphone inside
- Remove the box. The microphone in the headset is a small black circle. It will be connected to the rest of the structure with two wires. Solder them.
These wires are thin so desoldering is quick.
- Now take out the mini-jack cord.
Any cord from some old headphones will do here.
- It will have three wires coming out (if necessary, strip the ends a little so that the bare wires stick out 5–6 cm).
- Prepare the body - the spout from the handle.
The screw-down metal nose of the handle is well suited for the microphone from the headset
- Pass the wire through the narrow part of the spout. If the winding of the wire does not fit into the nose, expand it a little with a file, sandpaper or a knife.
No bare wires sticking out
- You will have three bare wires - green (left channel), red (right channel) and one or two bare wires (ground). Tin wires with insulation half a centimeter.
- Let's start soldering. Twist the red wire with ground (if you have two grounds, then with both). Connect it to any of the two microphone pins and solder. Then connect the green wire to the remaining pin. Make sure that bare wires do not touch each other.
- Insert the device into the case, stretching the wire, and secure it with a glue gun.
- Cut out a characteristic overlay from black foam rubber. This is necessary not only for beauty, but also for noise suppression.
Foam pad for noise reduction
If desired, you can also attach a clothespin to the cord to attach the resulting microphone to the shirt.
Video: how to make a lavalier microphone
Making a microphone out of headphones is not only realistic, but also quite simple. Even if they do not have a headset, even a child can use them to record sound.
It's no secret that lately people often shoot copyright videos and upload them to popular video hosting sites, such as YouTube. Often these videos are not properly edited, and the most necessary equipment is not used during their shooting, as a result of which the video is lame in picture and sound quality. In this material, we will not learn video editing, but we will consider Possible Solution problems with the voice acting of videos, as we will make a lavalier microphone for the camera.
First, we suggest devoting a few minutes to watching the video
We will need:
- a microphone from an old mobile headset;
- cable from an old headset;
- soldering iron;
- cap from glue;
- food foil;
- clothespin from the headset;
- cable from regular headphones;
- glue gun;
- scissors;
- tweezers.
Let's start with the wire from the old headset, because the first thing to do is deal with the wires. It consists of five wires, 4 of which are not shielded. The middle white wire is covered with gold wires.
If we compare the wire from the headset with the wire from conventional headphones, then the second one has only three wires, none of which is shielded. One of these wires is basic, and the second and third are responsible for the right and left channels. The headset wire has as many as 6 wires - left and right channels, button control and shielded for a microphone. When creating a microphone, we will connect these wires. Let's get started.
The first step is to solder the wires to the microphone. We connect the wires of the channels on the wire from ordinary headphones, that is, red and blue.
We put the wire from the headset into the cap and solder it on the microphone.
We shield the microphone with food foil to avoid the appearance of noise. To do this, simply wind a piece of foil around the microphone.
We fix the cap with a glue gun to fix the microphone in one position.
We solder the wire from the headset with the wire from ordinary headphones.
Our microphone is ready. It remains to add a piece of sponge to it, which will act as a noise filter. Cut off a piece of sponge and scissors give it a round shape.
With tweezers we make a recess on the sponge so that it is possible to install it on the microphone.
Everyone who wanted to shoot a video on the street or two or three steps away from the camera noticed that the recorded sound turned out to be too weak in terms of volume, and also had most of the unpleasant noises, such as wind and other extraneous sounds. I also encountered such a problem when it became necessary to record a video where in the frame I would be standing a few meters from the camera. The solution was to take a microphone from some unnecessary device and make an amplifier for it to record sound remotely from the camera, and then synchronize it with the video track.
In order to make a lavalier microphone with an amplifier, we need:
* MAX 9812 amplifier board purchased from aliexpress
* Charge controller board for 18650 type batteries, also purchased from overseas
* A couple of wires
* Soldering iron with flux and solder
* Battery 3.7 volts and 195 milliamps
* Small plastic case, dimensions 4 by 3cm
* Microphone capsule
* Three 3.5mm plugs, one with 4 pins
* Two audio jacks for 3.5 mm plugs
* Hot glue
* Two-position switch, preferably smaller
Here are all the components you will need for assembly. lavalier microphone with amplifier.
We are smoothly moving on to the step-by-step production of my homemade product, but before that I advise you to watch the video material that I shot specifically in order to make it clearer how to do it.
Step one.
First of all, it is necessary to free the amplifier board, which came to me from China, from components we do not need, namely, the electromic microphone itself, which will come in handy later, but not on this board. You also need to remove the contacts connecting the amplifier board to the arduino module, since it was originally conceived for this.
Step two.
After the amplifier board is freed from the components we do not need on it, you can solder wires to it. Armed with a soldering iron, it is advisable to use low-power soldering irons in order to prevent overheating of the board and the main microcircuit, we solder the power wires to the tracks marked VCC + and GND -, that is, to plus and minus, respectively.
Now we solder the switch into the gap with the positive contact, which will, if necessary, de-energize our circuit.
Step three.
Now let's do Charger for this craft. I bought it on the aliexpress website, namely the charge circuit for 18650 type batteries. We solder the battery that I pulled out of the obviously non-working player, its voltage is 3.7 volts, and the capacity is 195 milliamps, which will be quite enough for such an undemanding circuit. We solder the plus of the battery to the B+ pin, and the minus to the B- pin. Power from the amplifier will be supplied from the OUT + and OUT - contacts, that is, plus and minus, respectively.
This charging scheme also provides for discharge control and does not allow the battery to completely discharge, which is very good.
Step four.
Checking our assembled circuit, working condition the amplifier is accompanied by a light bulb indication, in this case it is a red LED, it must later be brought out in order to know whether the amplifier is turned on or not. The amplifier also needs an input and an output.
First, I installed the sockets in the case itself with hot glue into the pre-drilled holes. By input, I mean a jack with the ability to connect a microphone, and by output, a jack with an output amplified sound from the lavalier microphone itself, which goes directly into the recording device.
Therefore, on this stage I took exactly two jacks for a 3.5 mm plug and soldered a contact going to the microphone to one of them, and connected the other plug with a wire to the sound output of the amplifier. Minuses nests pre-connected together.
Step five.
Now you need to place all the components in the case or, in other words, tamp. I also cut the entrance under the charging socket with a clerical knife, if necessary, recharge. On the side of the charge module, I made small holes near the charge indicator lights and filled it with hot glue, since it transmits light well. When charging, the red LED lights up, and when the battery is fully charged, blue. We close the lid of our small box, in advance I made a hole in it in order to see the amplifier LED, by the way, it is also now visible through transparent hot melt adhesive.
I also signed with a soldering iron where the input is located, and where the sound output is, IN and OUT, respectively.
And next to the switch I melted ON and OFF , which I then changed to an even more compact one, since the previous one still could not be placed.
Plastic was melted along the edges for reliability, as a result, the case holds well, but this did not affect the aesthetic component very well, but oh well, anyway, this device will be hidden in your pocket most of the time.
How to make an electret lavalier microphone for a laptop yourself?
A story with pictures about how to make a clip-on microphone for a computer, laptop or voice recorder.
I needed an external microphone for my laptop, but with a $10 mic that didn't work, I figured it would be easier to make one myself. In addition, I feel great satisfaction from the operation of self-made devices. https://website/
The most interesting videos on Youtube
About the "inoperability" I will explain. In the microphone I bought, instead of a shielded cable, there was a regular two-wire round cable. Of course, with such a cable, the microphone was completely inoperative, since the background from interference was commensurate with the signal level.
A few words about electret microphones.
Currently, electret microphones have almost completely replaced microphones of other designs. This is due to the fact that at a relatively low price, they have a flat frequency response, low weight and high reliability. When it comes to miniature microphones, then they simply have no equal.
- Insulator.
- A metal ring, but which is stretched with a film.
- The base, it is also one of the microphone plates.
- Film, it is another microphone plate.
- Microphone outputs.
An electret microphone is a capacitor, one of the plates of which is made of a very thin polyethylene film, which is stretched over a ring. A polyethylene film is irradiated with an electron beam penetrating to a shallow depth, which creates a space charge that can persist for a long time.
This type of dielectric is called an electret, which is why the microphone was called - "Electret". https://website/
A very thin layer of metal is also deposited onto the film, which is used as one of the electrodes. The other electrode is a metal cylinder, the flat surface of which is located on short distance from film.
Film vibrations caused by acoustic waves create electricity between electrodes. Since this current is extremely small, and the output impedance of such a microphone can reach gigaohms, it is extremely difficult to transmit the signal generated by the microphone through the wires without significant distortion. Therefore, to match the high resistance of the microphone with a relatively low input impedance of the amplifier, a matching stage is used, made on a unipolar (field-effect) transistor, which is structurally located in the microphone capsule housing.
Mic is an electret microphone.
VT1 - field effect transistor.
R2 is the microphone supply ballast resistor.
C1 is an isolation capacitor.
Capsule body (shown in the diagram) dotted line) is made of metal, which shields the microphone and the matching stage from external electric fields.
capsule electret microphone usually called a device in the case of which not only the electret microphone itself is located, but also a matching cascade on field effect transistor.
As can be seen from the diagram, power is required to power the matching stage. This power is supplied to the input of the microphone amplifier directly from the circuit of this very amplifier.
To find out if a particular microphone amplifier is suitable for connecting an electret microphone, just connect a multimeter to the input jack. If you intend 2-3 Volts, then the amplifier can be paired with an electret microphone. Majority microphone amplifiers used in built-in and standalone computer audio cards is designed to work with electret microphones.
What do you need to make a microphone?
1. Electret microphone capsule. You can, of course, buy it on the radio market for 20-30 cents, but even better, pull it out of some broken Chinese radio or the same telephone set, which has been lying in the pantry for a long time. Usually, an electret microphone capsule with a diameter of 10 mm is installed there. The larger the capsule diameter, the wider the range low frequencies which makes the voice softer and more natural.
2. A piece of thin shielded wire. thin wire I suggest choosing for purely aesthetic reasons. Finding it is more difficult than a medium or thick wire, but we are making a miniature microphone.
3. Plug type Jack (Jack) 3.5mm.
4. Syringe for two grams.
5. Small paper clip for attaching the microphone to clothing.
6. A piece of thick foam rubber for making a windproof cap.
Let's start making a microphone.
We cut off a part of the syringe body, from the side of the needle attachment, somewhere near the 1 gram mark, using a knife with interchangeable blades.
We remove the marking from the surface of the syringe body with acetone.
We process the cut edge with fine sandpaper.
The microphone housing can be made even shorter, but then it will be uncomfortable to hold in your hand if necessary, and the windshield will not hold well. In addition, the extra space in the microphone body allows for a simple yet effective knotted cord.
We put a shielded cable into the hole for the needle and tie it in a knot.
Solder the microphone capsule so that the braid of the shielded wire connects to the body.
We insert the microphone capsule into the body and snap the place on the body that once served for attaching the needle into the foot of the clerical clip.
1 - "Hot" wire.
2 - Cable braid.
On the other side of the cable, solder the plug. Pinout (pinout), as in the picture. It is not difficult to see that the left and right channels are connected together.
Well, finally, we make a windproof cap (nozzle) from foam rubber.
Cut off a suitable piece of foam rubber with a sharp knife.
We cut out a cylindrical recess with some sharply sharpened tube.
For such work, I use sections from broken telescopic antennas. These sections are thin-walled brass tubes that are easy to sharpen with a sharp scalpel by rotating the tip of the latter along the inner surface of the tube.
We cut off everything superfluous to get something similar to a sphere.
Here's what happened.
And here's how you can use it.
If you have tried to record video or broadcast live on social networks using a standard headset for a smartphone, then you probably know that the wind treacherously blows out the microphone and sometimes the sound quality leaves much to be desired.
How to fix the situation?
We will deal with the wind a little later, but now let's talk about one more important nuance. They probably paid attention to how journalists or bloggers broadcasting live are in the frame with headphones inserted into their ears. Do you think they are told something during the broadcast? Of course not. They do this to take advantage of the microphone that is built into the headset.
Mikhail Ronkainen | Traveled travel blog | YouTube
Headphones during live broadcast not needed, you need a microphone. What can be done? You can carefully remove the headphones under the T-shirt (in the case of Misha), leaving only the headset module with the microphone outside. How it looks, I will show a little later.
What about the wind?
If you are indoors, you will not have problems with the wind, but on the street, especially near the sea, blowing from the wind will very badly ruin your broadcast audio track. The most annoying thing is that even later, in the post-processing of the sound, you will not completely get rid of these nasty noises.
The easiest and cheapest way to use a fur windscreen for a buttonhole. You can also try a foam windscreen, but it will constantly fly off and will not provide the proper level of protection from the wind. remember, the longer the pile of wind protection, the better it dampens gusts of wind.
The best option would be a fur windshield for a buttonhole, which I found on the Onlinetrade website. Please note that the cost is 740 rubles. indicated for a set of 3 pcs.
This windscreen can be safely used with a regular headset, for example, Iphone. The microphone on the iPhone headset is located on the side of the volume up button, so we put it on this side and fix it with an elastic band with a button:
After installing the windscreen, simply hide the headphones under your clothes.
Here's a little hack. Now you are not afraid of the wind and the headphones will not be visible in the frame, which are not needed at all during a live broadcast in in social networks. In addition to broadcasts, you can also record any video and audio on your smartphone.