A good source for the aluminum foil is silver leaf from a craft store. It’s .6 micron thin, so it’s incredibly fragile. I found I could fold it in half to make 1.2 micron and it was easier to work with it. I cut it with the paper around it to make it easier. Then I corrugated it with the paper around it in a paint tube squeezer I got from the same craft store. This method makes good ribbons consistently. They sound great.
This was a really good design, and sounds great -- here we have 'dollar stores' that sell everything for one dollar... You can get an aluminum water bottle, for the mic body, a food strainer or 'splatter lid', for the grill mesh, and probably a few other parts on your list for only a few dollars.
It was nice watching you make your DIY ribbon mic but when you guys actually used the mic and came on singing Girl From Ipanema, it blew me away! I was totally entertained. So cool!
A very small amount of turpentine, citrus solvents, or paint thinner will easily remove the remaining gummy stickiness from any foil wrapper if you're having this issue. Thanks for this tutorial :)
I think the author got the microphone wiring backwards! The coil with just a FEW turns must be connected to the ribbon in the microphone, not the much larger coil. Also, after reading a lot about these 'ribbon' microphones, (also called a 'velocity' microphone) I found that using 'gum wrapper' foil, or any other foil that thin is simply not necessary. This makes the microphone extremely fragile, and easily damaged. If this were dropped on the floor, that 'gum wrapper' foil would be ruined requiring it to be repaired. Just use normal aluminum foil, because it will vibrate with sound just as good (or better!) than a gum wrapper without being so easily damaged! Hope this helps.
Hi, I took the skillshare class and asked a question but seems you’re not checking that these days. In it you mentioned that you had experimented with different magnet size, ribbon width and wire turns o transformer. You demo’d some of your mics but it would be helpful so I don’t have to make a slew of them to know how these variables affected the tone and what you considered the optimal for each. Cheers
This is the first time I've seen anyone reference the need for a third wire that bypasses the transformer, or the number of turns you actually need on the hand-wound transformer. I haven't rewound my transformer yet, but the third wire and changing from chocolate wrappers that don't hold corrugations to the foil from a Popeye's chicken sandwich solved the biggest problems I was having - thank you! Now, to get rid of the ground loop hum when my laptop is plugged in :\
Hey guy! I'm from São Paulo, Brazil, congrats you the awsome microfone, and too for the great tutorial about to make him! And continue to do good videos like that! :)
Hey great job :-) however, if you eed, you can find alu foils of 1.8 micron that you need :-) Nice DIY! I would strongly disuggest to connect the pin 1 of the XLR. Leave it just to connect to the case. Not to any of the Xformer coils or any thing. Indeed in case you accidentally activate a Phantom, with the pin 1 connected as you shown on the diagram, you risk to blow up the ribbon. While it's very useful to connect it at the mic body, so the ground will provide screening from hums and so on ;-)
Nice video, thanks for sharing your experience with us. I've seen that if you twist the wires both from XLR connector to transformer and from transformer to the motor (the aluminum and magnets) will help to reduce noise from radio frequency and statics. Despite that, your mic have a great performance and a rich sound. The bottom end was a bit muddy but the high end was nice and not too bright, so i could hear the sibilance of your guys voice nicely without any piercing transient. And the song choice was awesome. Saudações do Brasil :) Abraços!
Very cool! Looks cool! Mount the mesh it`s a final step of the assembling? What`s holding the mesh in mic body? P.S. The allumium bottle is the creative idea. I like it.
A little advice..At 4:15 connecting the pin one to 3 effectively cancels out its hum bucking ability it unbalances the line. There is no benefit for connecting them together and can actually cause noise SO a better way is the pin one is a ground and should go only to all metal case parts and the transformer to pins 2 and 3 only... I have 25 years of recording studio wiring and repair experience and building all sort of electronics so i knda know what i'm talking about here ... But other than that your videos are great and your mics sound real good bravo! ... would love to know what preamp you are using as well Cheers!
@@jellevanmourik8250 Indeed. phatom uses the ground as it's negative polarity and the two pins as both dc 48volts using typically 68k resistors ridding on pin 2 and 3.... but It can still happen if conditions are just right but it will reduce that chance of that for sure. Thanks for that addition...cheers!
@@chuckthebull does that mean that you should leave the pin one not connected to anything. I'm confused cause i'm not really experienced in sort of this things.
Brazilian here👋 always wanted to make a ribbon microphone. And when I find a good video, you still play Garota De Ipanema incredibly well. Congratulations. I will use these tips to build my own microphone just a question. Could you tell me the measurements of the magnets and the thickness and length of the copper wires used?
Clever using gum foil. I have a few questions if you don't mind. What did you use for the iron core? I can't think of common household items for that purpose. Did you have any other ideas for foil other than gum (to avoid the paper removal)? With parts this common, this would be a great school product for more to learn about ribbon mics. Very cool!
Thank you! it´s hard to find very thin aluminum sheets without a layer of plastic or paper, some cigarettes boxes have aluminum but with paper too, and for a school project gum is more appropriate, if you let it soaking it will peel easy, the iron core is a ferrite iron core frame an electronic shop!
hello! first of all congratulations! transformer cores have any name or code? Primero que nada, felicitaciones! Los núcleos de los transformadores tienen algún código para identificarlos? Excelente video y proyecto! Espero tu respuesta! Saludos!🙌🏾
Fantástico sonido, comparable a cualquier micro comercial. Yo lo he querido replicar, pero con los imanes de un disco duro viejo. La cinta corrugada suspendida entre los neodimios produce sonido, pero al insertar el transformador no pasa nada. No sé qué estoy haciendo mal, pues me parece que he seguido tus pasos al pie de la letra...
hola, estoy pensando en hacerlo con los imanes del disco duro, tenes algun contacto podriamos intercambiar conocimientos! me interesaria ver tu proyecto tmb.
@@espanholparainiciantes6044 Estaré en este video puedes ver de donde saque la hoja de aluminio, próximamente estaré publicando un tutorial completo en skillshare , saludos
Hi. This is amazing! I have some questions. 1.gum foil is thinner than food foil? 2. what material you use for transformer ring and it size (in video you say 2x2 cm) 3. Thikness of wire and numbers of turns. (For me very diffucult understand on hearring) Thank you alot
Hi, 1. yes gum foil is thinner, the thinner the foil is the better it captures the sound 2. It's an iron core ring for transformers you can find on an electronic components shop, it's 2cm x 2cm 3. The wire thikness is 0.25mm (copper) 500 turns
@@MrDendy88 The primary coil of the transformer can be made of thicker copper wire. You can even choose a power supply wire that is larger than 1 mm thicker, as long as it can pass through the transformer, it can be any size. Because the secondary coil has too many turns, only small diameter copper wire can be selected. The aluminum foil for candy packaging is thinner than the aluminum foil used for kitchen food. The former may be 6 microns, and the latter is over 10 microns. Neither of these two thicknesses is a good choice for microphones. Most people recommend 2.5 microns.
Hello friend ... Very cool your ribbon mic!! Could you help me with the specifications of the transformer? for example: what size of nucleus and how many laps in the primary and secondary? Thank you!! Ps: Im from Brazil ... your português is very good! O love Girl from ipanema Tom Jobim is a master of the music.
Thank you! please check the skillshare link, I explain everything you need there, wires, core and turns, and if you have more questions during the building process I will answer there, cheers!
The physical size of the magnets affects the frequency response, and there is a formula to figure out the effects (you can find it on the internet, if you research the topic). Basically, the sound coming to the front of the ribbon also proceeds around the magnets, to the back side of the ribbon, and the longer that path is (according to the size of the magnets), the different frequencies will be cancelled out (due to phase effects). In short, the larger the magnets are, the longer that path is, and the more high frequency roll-off the mic will have. I think your suggestion of 100x10x10mm will sound fine, but you should either research the physics, or simply do experiments with different sized magnets (as magnets are quite inexpensive nowadays). I think 100x10x10mm is within the range of typical magnet sizes used in ribbon mics.
HI! phantom power will destroy the ribbon, with an audio interface is enough to run it! I'll explain the transformer makin in an upcoming video, thanks
Are you a genius? This is absolutely incredible. And then the song, holy moly amazing!
Thank you
A good source for the aluminum foil is silver leaf from a craft store. It’s .6 micron thin, so it’s incredibly fragile. I found I could fold it in half to make 1.2 micron and it was easier to work with it. I cut it with the paper around it to make it easier. Then I corrugated it with the paper around it in a paint tube squeezer I got from the same craft store. This method makes good ribbons consistently. They sound great.
thank you I'll try it! ¿how do you keep the folded ribbon close?
vickie! good to learn that you're making mike's
Meteu uma bossa nova ainda! Parabéns 👏👏👏👏
eu num esperava ver brasil aqui, i wasn't expecting to see brazil in here, love it!
Delightful vintage creamy sound. Noise floor is definitely there, but in a such musical way. Perfect mic for the Song.
singing a music with portuguese letter with spanish accent haha soo funny and pleasant ^ ^
Both the microphone building and the song performance are amazing. And building a ribbon mic from scratch ! Congrats mate. Cheers from Canada.
thank you! cheers!!
This was a really good design, and sounds great -- here we have 'dollar stores' that sell everything for one dollar... You can get an aluminum water bottle, for the mic body, a food strainer or 'splatter lid', for the grill mesh, and probably a few other parts on your list for only a few dollars.
Thanks for this video! Beautiful microphone!
Fascinating and love the performance at the end, it sounds great.
THE BEST MICROPHONE
Thanks for this inspirational tutorial! I will definently try to build one for myself.
Cheers!
Simply fascinating, both the ribbon microphone and also the ipanema girl, thank you very much it seemed like a tribute.
I'm fascinated by your creativity. Such great use of materials!
Thank you!!
This is awesome! Impressive build, and it definitely does capture that retro feeling in the vocals :)
Thank you!
Amazing, thanks a lot! And all materials are readily available! Frequency seems to be nice (warm but not muddy).
terrific! you all sound great! thanks for sharing this!
Thank you!
Amazing craftmanship and great results! Very warm, excellent microphone!
Thanks!
Very cool build!
Ainda canta música brasileira! 😁👏👏👏👏
This is amazing my guy. Deserves more likes/views. What an interesting vibe microphone to have around too
Thank you 🙂
What a beautiful video from two beautiful people!
Thank you so much!! :)
Romantic, fine and sweet duo!
Thank you!
I happened upon your channel by chance and was really fascinated by your creativity in building this ribbon microphone ... congratulations indeed!
Thank you!
It was nice watching you make your DIY ribbon mic but when you guys actually used the mic and came on singing Girl From Ipanema, it blew me away! I was totally entertained. So cool!
Thank you!!
Wow! Very inspiring. Sounds nice. Good job.👍🏼
Thank you!!
Garota de ipanema ...parabens ...bom saber que nossa musica é adimirada fora...vim pela eletronica e gostei da musica
wow very nice project
thank you!
BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!! 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼❤️ clever. I was researching ribbon mics.
Thanks!
Nice. The mic looks great. I would use a steel bottle and motor frame and 2.5 micron foil.
A very small amount of turpentine, citrus solvents, or paint thinner will easily remove the remaining gummy stickiness from any foil wrapper if you're having this issue. Thanks for this tutorial :)
Maravilha! Parabéns pelo projeto do microfone! Ficou muito bom! Abraços do Rio de Janeiro/Brasil!!!!!
Obrigado!!
I think the author got the microphone wiring backwards! The coil with just a FEW turns must be connected to the ribbon in the microphone, not the much larger coil. Also, after reading a lot about these 'ribbon' microphones, (also called a 'velocity' microphone) I found that using 'gum wrapper' foil, or any other foil that thin is simply not necessary. This makes the microphone extremely fragile, and easily damaged. If this were dropped on the floor, that 'gum wrapper' foil would be ruined requiring it to be repaired. Just use normal aluminum foil, because it will vibrate with sound just as good (or better!) than a gum wrapper without being so easily damaged! Hope this helps.
Incredible man! So nice to meet you today.
Thanks man! great to meet you too, lets plan to make some mics
muito bom!!! parabens por "garota de ipanema"
Awesome! 👍
What a genius
Wow... that recording at the end sounds amazing good. It gives the feel of a stereo sound while it's a mono recording. A nice open and warm sound.
thank you, I appreciate it so much!
@@eleanorgiovanni to be sure: the sound I'm hearing is mono without any effects?
@@jerrykooyman one mic for the guitar one for the vocals, no fx
This is incredible!
thank you! check the class with detailed information in the skillshare link below the video!
Hi, I took the skillshare class and asked a question but seems you’re not checking that these days. In it you mentioned that you had experimented with different magnet size, ribbon width and wire turns o transformer. You demo’d some of your mics but it would be helpful so I don’t have to make a slew of them to know how these variables affected the tone and what you considered the optimal for each. Cheers
Omg this was so lovely
Thank you!!
Impressive! Nice work with found materials! On sourcing the foil in the future, check out Geistnote. Nice sound!
Thanks for making this video. Very inventive.
Thanks for watching!
This is the first time I've seen anyone reference the need for a third wire that bypasses the transformer, or the number of turns you actually need on the hand-wound transformer. I haven't rewound my transformer yet, but the third wire and changing from chocolate wrappers that don't hold corrugations to the foil from a Popeye's chicken sandwich solved the biggest problems I was having - thank you!
Now, to get rid of the ground loop hum when my laptop is plugged in :\
thank you! check the class with detailed information in the skillshare link below the video!
I’m late to the party Giovanni. You’re a clever son of a gun man!!! I loved it!
It is huge, but except that mic is very good.
Good good good
Hey guy! I'm from São Paulo, Brazil, congrats you the awsome microfone, and too for the great tutorial about to make him!
And continue to do good videos like that! :)
Thank you Eduardo!
Hey great job :-) however, if you eed, you can find alu foils of 1.8 micron that you need :-) Nice DIY! I would strongly disuggest to connect the pin 1 of the XLR. Leave it just to connect to the case. Not to any of the Xformer coils or any thing. Indeed in case you accidentally activate a Phantom, with the pin 1 connected as you shown on the diagram, you risk to blow up the ribbon.
While it's very useful to connect it at the mic body, so the ground will provide screening from hums and so on ;-)
Thank you!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I'm glad it was helpful!
that was clean sound.. great,
quality worth the effort and creativity, not only the price..
Thank you!
I like your style❣️
Thank you
Super!
So good to hear our most famous song.
Garota de ipanema is very popular since like forever.
Are u from Italy?
👏👏👏👏👏👏
Wonderful work, congrats ! And pretty nice recording (my brazilian opinion :) ) !
Thank you so much!! :)
Espetacular
Neat!
Nice video, thanks for sharing your experience with us. I've seen that if you twist the wires both from XLR connector to transformer and from transformer to the motor (the aluminum and magnets) will help to reduce noise from radio frequency and statics. Despite that, your mic have a great performance and a rich sound. The bottom end was a bit muddy but the high end was nice and not too bright, so i could hear the sibilance of your guys voice nicely without any piercing transient. And the song choice was awesome. Saudações do Brasil :) Abraços!
Thank you so much! obrigado!
lovely!
Thank you!
Excellent...
thank you
Cool video man really cool
Thank you!
Pat.C I love her songs.
Very interesting!👍🏻
Thank you!
Sounds very good ;-)
thank you!
Thanks
Very cool! Looks cool!
Mount the mesh it`s a final step of the assembling?
What`s holding the mesh in mic body?
P.S. The allumium bottle is the creative idea. I like it.
OK I’m impressed.....
Professor Jeff Galey, The Jeff Galey School Of Music....🎓🎵🎹❤️🎸🎶🎻🎼🎓
Thank you!!
man i love you
you saved my life
I´m glad to hear this video have been helpful, cheers!
“Tony Stark built this in a cave! With a box of scraps!”
Geniale!!!
Thank you!
Very cool! But, in my opinion, you needed to use dual set of microphones for recording
woooow
what size are the magnets and strength?
Very nice performance :-) One of my favorite songs.
I'll try to build one for my son.
thank you! check the class with detailed information in the skillshare link below the video!
A little advice..At 4:15 connecting the pin one to 3 effectively cancels out its hum bucking ability it unbalances the line. There is no benefit for connecting them together and can actually cause noise SO a better way is the pin one is a ground and should go only to all metal case parts and the transformer to pins 2 and 3 only... I have 25 years of recording studio wiring and repair experience and building all sort of electronics so i knda know what i'm talking about here ... But other than that your videos are great and your mics sound real good bravo! ... would love to know what preamp you are using as well Cheers!
Awesome! thank you so much for your advice I´ll try it! for the recording I use a focusrite Scarlett 2i2
@@eleanorgiovanni By the way I did a little samba dance listening to you guys sing so nice while in my shop working on my mics. smooth!
Decoupling the ground wire from the coil will also save your ribbon if you were to "accidentally" enable Phantom Power.
@@jellevanmourik8250 Indeed. phatom uses the ground as it's negative polarity and the two pins as both dc 48volts using typically 68k resistors ridding on pin 2 and 3.... but It can still happen if conditions are just right but it will reduce that chance of that for sure.
Thanks for that addition...cheers!
@@chuckthebull does that mean that you should leave the pin one not connected to anything. I'm confused cause i'm not really experienced in sort of this things.
Brazilian here👋 always wanted to make a ribbon microphone. And when I find a good video, you still play Garota De Ipanema incredibly well. Congratulations. I will use these tips to build my own microphone
just a question. Could you tell me the measurements of the magnets and the thickness and length of the copper wires used?
Thanks, please search in the comments few people ask and I´d answer there, good luck on your building cheers!
Clever using gum foil. I have a few questions if you don't mind. What did you use for the iron core? I can't think of common household items for that purpose. Did you have any other ideas for foil other than gum (to avoid the paper removal)? With parts this common, this would be a great school product for more to learn about ribbon mics. Very cool!
Thank you! it´s hard to find very thin aluminum sheets without a layer of plastic or paper, some cigarettes boxes have aluminum but with paper too, and for a school project gum is more appropriate, if you let it soaking it will peel easy, the iron core is a ferrite iron core frame an electronic shop!
Perfecto
Thank you!
@eleanor & giovanni, I'm so impressed with this project. Would you write down details of this diy ribbon microphone. I want to make it. Thanks.
thank you! check the class with detailed information in the skillshare link below the video!
💯❤
Is the guitar getting picked up from the DIY Ribbon mic.
Recording reminds me of the band Little Joy.
yes! I love Little joy and Rodrigo Amarante´s music, and they use ribbon mics
Parabéns 🎉🎊🍾 você é muito inteligente 🧠 🇧🇷
Obrigado!
@@eleanorgiovanni Mais um brasileiro aqui para reforçar o elogio! E obrigado pela homenagem no final do vídeo!
hi i from brazil and leave my like in this video for you play tom jobim, nice job :)
Thank you!
♥
hello! first of all congratulations! transformer cores have any name or code?
Primero que nada, felicitaciones! Los núcleos de los transformadores tienen algún código para identificarlos? Excelente video y proyecto! Espero tu respuesta! Saludos!🙌🏾
Amazing project!! Would cigarettes pack aluminum foil work good as well?
Tank you! yes it will work too
Tom Jobim: Garota de Ipanema! nice song!
Thank you!
What about using Gold Leaf?
It could be good to try
Fantástico sonido, comparable a cualquier micro comercial. Yo lo he querido replicar, pero con los imanes de un disco duro viejo. La cinta corrugada suspendida entre los neodimios produce sonido, pero al insertar el transformador no pasa nada. No sé qué estoy haciendo mal, pues me parece que he seguido tus pasos al pie de la letra...
hola, estoy pensando en hacerlo con los imanes del disco duro, tenes algun contacto podriamos intercambiar conocimientos! me interesaria ver tu proyecto tmb.
es posible que los imanes de un disco duro no esten generando la suficiente cantidad de señal eléctrica
@@eleanorgiovanni es posible usar un transformador que convierte 220 v para 6 v? Donde conseguiste la hoja de aluminio?
@@espanholparainiciantes6044 Estaré en este video puedes ver de donde saque la hoja de aluminio, próximamente estaré publicando un tutorial completo en skillshare , saludos
Hi. This is amazing! I have some questions.
1.gum foil is thinner than food foil?
2. what material you use for transformer ring and it size (in video you say 2x2 cm)
3. Thikness of wire and numbers of turns. (For me very diffucult understand on hearring)
Thank you alot
Hi, 1. yes gum foil is thinner, the thinner the foil is the better it captures the sound
2. It's an iron core ring for transformers you can find on an electronic components shop, it's 2cm x 2cm
3. The wire thikness is 0.25mm (copper) 500 turns
Thanks. And what is the thickness of the thick wire? 0.75 mm? Or for 16 turns you use same wire?
@@MrDendy88 The primary coil of the transformer can be made of thicker copper wire.
You can even choose a power supply wire that is larger than 1 mm thicker, as long as it can pass through the transformer, it can be any size. Because the secondary coil has too many turns, only small diameter copper wire can be selected.
The aluminum foil for candy packaging is thinner than the aluminum foil used for kitchen food. The former may be 6 microns, and the latter is over 10 microns. Neither of these two thicknesses is a good choice for microphones. Most people recommend 2.5 microns.
Awesome !!! Why does the vocal sound so far compared to the guitar when you are so close to it?
theres two mics, the one closer to the guitar doesn't have case, cheers!
@@eleanorgiovanni thank you/ Do you have a video with a vocal testing only?
@@CyrilleBoucanogh voice and uke czcams.com/video/DaVY7conDT8/video.html
Do you make your own shirts?
não creio que ele ta cantando garota de ipanemaaaaaaa, que tudo gente kkkkkkkk
Hello friend ... Very cool your ribbon mic!!
Could you help me with the specifications of the transformer? for example: what size of nucleus and how many laps in the primary and secondary?
Thank you!!
Ps: Im from Brazil ... your português is very good!
O love Girl from ipanema
Tom Jobim is a master of the music.
Thank you! please check the skillshare link, I explain everything you need there, wires, core and turns, and if you have more questions during the building process I will answer there, cheers!
I do hear some electronic noise in the background,as seen common on all of the diy ribbon mic, how do i get rid of that?
It´s due the handmade transformer and the low output, something you can try are some plugins as x noise from waves
why is there 3 wires comming from the ribon itself? isn't the ribbon just 2 pins?
Hello, can you provide a tool list? I want to know what kind of tools are needed. Thanks
thank you! check the class with detailed information in the skillshare link below the video!
can larger magnets be used? 100x10x10mm Will the performance be good?
The physical size of the magnets affects the frequency response, and there is a formula to figure out the effects (you can find it on the internet, if you research the topic).
Basically, the sound coming to the front of the ribbon also proceeds around the magnets, to the back side of the ribbon, and the longer that path is (according to the size of the magnets), the different frequencies will be cancelled out (due to phase effects). In short, the larger the magnets are, the longer that path is, and the more high frequency roll-off the mic will have.
I think your suggestion of 100x10x10mm will sound fine, but you should either research the physics, or simply do experiments with different sized magnets (as magnets are quite inexpensive nowadays).
I think 100x10x10mm is within the range of typical magnet sizes used in ribbon mics.
Sir, How to run this mic? ( It need fantom power or it need audio interface). How did you wind this transformer ? Guide me please.
HI! phantom power will destroy the ribbon, with an audio interface is enough to run it! I'll explain the transformer makin in an upcoming video, thanks
@@eleanorgiovanni yeah, I'm confused in the transformer part. I am a begginer in this type of stuff so i don't really how to make the transformer
Does this mic require phantom power or can you just plug it right in?
Phantom power can destroy the ribbon
Pô... garota de ipanema ? hehehe