Microphones Build a low-fi mic from an old phone

[gafftaper]

I saw something online about using an old land line handset to build a low fi mic. A couple of times a year I'm asked to record a phone call or some sort of announcement that doesn't sound like it's from a high quality mic on a premium sound system.

So I went "garage sailing" a couple weeks ago and found an old 90's phone for $5.

The video I saw added a 1/4" phone plug to the handset. I decided to go a step further and recycle an old handheld wireless mic body.

Unfortunately I didn't think ahead and take pictures or video of the process but here's a video of how it turned out.

It was cheap easy and fun. Enjoy!

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[JonCarter]

I think you may b surprised by the quality you get out of the "phone mic." What you hear on the phone is the result of the combination of the carbon mic, system losses and the receiver. You might be better off with a normal mic and some creative equalization and filtering.

 

[TimMc]

I think you may b surprised by the quality you get out of the "phone mic." What you hear on the phone is the result of the combination of the carbon mic, system losses and the receiver. You might be better off with a normal mic and some creative equalization and filtering.

The carbon mic requires some voltage to work. The last 2500-looking desk phone I had used a dynamic mic element. All my other land line phones since then had an electret condenser element that needed bias voltage.

Gaff used the earpiece as his mic element. Mid-fi was achieved.

 

[Jay Ashworth]

Push your HPF up to 300Hz, and put in a LPF down to about 3kHz. Adjust as necessary.

Slightly easier than soldering.

[ Why yes, as a matter of fact, I *have* mixed Chess in the last 5 years, why do you ask? ]

 

[TimMc]

Push your HPF up to 300Hz, and put in a LPF down to about 3kHz. Adjust as necessary.

Slightly easier than soldering.

[ Why yes, as a matter of fact, I *have* mixed Chess in the last 5 years, why do you ask? ]

One Night In Bangkok .... some great lines in that song "you're talking to a tourist whose moves are purist; I get my kicks above the waistline, Sunshine."

 

[Jay Ashworth]

One Night In Bangkok .... some great lines in that song "you're talking to a tourist whose moves are purist; I get my kicks above the waistline, Sunshine."

The very same.

Since he was Mic 1 (input 9), I just set up input 8 for the effect, and assigned it the same input patch on the LS9; then I could just hit the two adjacent ON buttons to toggle the effect in and out.

 

[JonCarter]

"Dynamics & electrets in telephones!" (What will they think of next?)

 

[Van]

I saw something online about using an old land line handset to build a low fi mic. A couple of times a year I'm asked to record a phone call or some sort of announcement that doesn't sound like it's from a high quality mic on a premium sound system.

So I went "garage sailing" a couple weeks ago and found an old 90's phone for $5.

The video I saw added a 1/4" phone plug to the handset. I decided to go a step further and recycle an old handheld wireless mic body.

Unfortunately I didn't think ahead and take pictures or video of the process but here's a video of how it turned out.

It was cheap easy and fun. Enjoy!

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For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

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Nice project, Thanks for sharing!

 

[FMEng]

The carbon mic requires some voltage to work. The last 2500-looking desk phone I had used a dynamic mic element. All my other land line phones since then had an electret condenser element that needed bias voltage.

Gaff used the earpiece as his mic element. Mid-fi was achieved.

A dynamic mic in a classic style phone is blasphemy. Cortelco still sells the 2500 series, and the last time I bought one they still had a carbon mic.