How to Build a Sub Kick // Low Frequency Speaker Microphone | LearnAudioEngineering.com

[@LearnAudioEngineering]

forgot to mention... I used the green wire to connect the ground to the chassis of the speaker.

[@rock7stu]

So I tried this using your specs. I used a mega cheap 8" driver that I picked up from amazon for 14 euros (about $15.50); including cable it was about 19 euros ($21). I think it was a speaker designed for a subwoofer. I also used the same value resistors with the unbalanced circuit. It worked perfectly - the attenuation (along with the 20dB pad on the desk) cleared up any distortion when the sub was used about 2 inches off the kick membrane. It delivers a lovely thud alongside the beta 52 we were using just outside the membrane. Huge huge thanks! You've earned a subscriber!

[@LearnAudioEngineering]

Love this! glad to hear it worked out for you, thanks for letting me know :D

[@paulanderson79]

You'll get a far better result if you mount the driver in an enclosure. In the open the low frequencies are incident on both sides of the cone almost equally, thus there will be a lot of phase cancellation. Polarity and absolute phase aren't important but the relationship between the traditional kick mic and the sub is. Reverse the polarity of either one if the outputs are counteracting each other.

[@MajorGRecording]

How about using a contact (piezo) microphone on the kick?

[@SilentNote]

This is the VIDEO I was looking for !!! An HONEST opinion, and this VIDEO has EVEN SHOWN at a SIMPLE RECORDING that the DIY SPEAKER MIC / DIY SUBKICK might need an INLNE ATTENUATOR, and the end part of this VIDEO was nice, because we can what SPEAKER SIZE do at a RECORDING situation !!! I appreciate all YOUR WORK here making this video !!! THANKS A LOT !!!

[@LearnAudioEngineering]

Glad to Help, Silent :)

[@gavinboyd5312]

Fun nickname for DIY audio gear; improvised explosive device (IED). That's what I'll call my homemade gear from now on LFMAO 😂🎇🧨

[@erikbockemeier432]

I am thinking about trying something similar, but my plan is to epoxy a drum skin directly to the speaker membrane or coil assembly, so that it effectively becomes a diaphragm for a microphone, but might need to find a way to turn down the gain so to speak when it comes to recording the output.

[@No_Transitory]

Definitely sounded better... I even think the 6 did just as well as the 8.. I wonder if using car audio speakers might give different results? Of course not the huge magnet sized ones that would actually require lots of power.. but the paper cone 6.5” or 8’s for the mids. I wonder what’s the highest rms rating you can use with the xlr cable before blowing up the port.

[@pierpa_76pierpaolo]

Okay at 2:59. But is this "pattern" for 4 or how much ohm speakers? A standard solution, uhm but I would like to know something more specific and technical. Isn't it better to put a step-up transformer? I'll stand by. Thank you very much.

[@Flamethatburns]

Since the speaker is being used as a microphone, the diaphragm will be pushing in when recording, so to be in phase, wire the positive of the speaker to pin 3 of the xlr plug, and the negative of the speaker to pin 2 of the xlr plug. (Either polarity would work and you would have to have the hearing of Superman to tell the difference.)

[@leeknivek]

It’s an ac current in isolation, there’s nothing for it to be in phase with, either way would work fine. The phase only really matters on combining multiple speakers together, individual mics are going to pick up their own signal regardless of polarity.

[@chuckthebull]

BERRRILLIANT! i forgot about this trick...once in the studio we stuck a 16inch Ampex woofer on the kit ..it was pretty epic sounding.. ..oh cant wait for the plate reverb...we built one years ago it worked great actually...cheers!

[@MrHhkrohn]

I've got a subwoofer from an sony audio system that I could use. Is it ok too use you think ?

[@studid55]

Dang, just realized that I have a 12 inch subwoofer sitting in the shop! I doubt it would work but maybe if I put it directly in front of the port hole in the kick that that might be enough air to at least barely move it!?

[@MrSharky104]

Thanks for clearing up about this method of recording.

[@the_other_dude]

Clear and concise. Informative. Easily subbed. Going to binge on your videos now. Thanks!

[@bentristram9840]

Im considering makeing one. is there a limit to the size of the cone i can use. at the moment ive got a 16 inch cone on hand, and im wondering if it will be a bit excessive

[@mingolewis]

very cool thank you, lost my Yamaha sub kick but when I realized it was just a speaker with the polarity reversed ! good job brother ....

[@davidmcmeeken1920]

If your speaker is 8 ohm. R1 should be 1 ohm and R2 = 8 ohm BUT across the input to the amp NOT ACROSS THE SPEAKER. You will then have a matched 19 dB attenuator.

[@urielterry]

Hello form Mexico... I have a question, please! I see a 10" subwoofer in Ebay and it has the same values about NS10 sub... the difference is the WATTS.... The NS10 is for 120 W. and the e bay sub is for 750W, i don't know if im confused... Can ebay sub works? does the Watts matters? the cost is 50 dlls. In the case of it can works.... Can i use the same attenuator you built? Thanks man

[@unclestarwarssatchmo9848]

Could this be used on a bass amp too or is the range just too low for bass guitar?

[@sanyomukadam38]

What's the Watts of the resistors?

[@GustaVe_CR]

Have you tested using the actual sound of a piezo pickup on a bass drum? I tried searching for it on youtube, but all the results I got were of piezos used for digital triggers...

[@jaxdvr]

Ty so much! Couple QQs please sir. What do you do with the 3rd copper wire on the XLR cable, assume connect it to the negative post or ground it to the side of the speaker? (sorry I'm a newb.) Also my mixer has a pad button, can I use that instead of buying or making the attenuator? Also last question since it appeared that 8 inch worked better would a 10 or 12 inch be even better? Thanks so much, hopefully you won't mind the questions. I definitely liked and subscribed to your channel. You have great skills!

[@WapTek123]

1:55 NO! speaker polarity is only used if they are pairs used in a stereo configuration , it does not matter

[@andreasgriwatz7694]

Hey. Many thanks for this video. It was very helpful to build an sub-kick mic per speaker. Regards, Andreas

[@cucumimi2001]

Hey. Question: do you use the phantom power on sub kick?

[@Dani3e]

You don’t, you’re turning the speaker into a dynamic microphone that doesn’t need phantom power.

[@Seadogstudio]

Can you just tape guitar strings or bass string to a part of a bass drum head and use guitar or bass pickup to pick it up?

[@LearnAudioEngineering]

only one way to find out

[@danielsaenz4003]

Hi. Can you give a little more detail on how you made your attenuator using the alligator clips? Does it have to do with the wire rolled around itsself? Thanks!!

[@LearnAudioEngineering]

Hey Daniel, The attenuator is just a couple of resistors. here's the schematic I used: forum.allaboutcircuits.com/threads/subkick-microphone-attenuator.69715/

[@gregorybecker5134]

Question about the attenuator. I’m building my own subkick and used your example diagram for the attenuator. Not knowing anything about resistors I took a guess and used 1/4 watt 1% resistors. I used 470 ohm resistor in line with pin 2 which ran to the negative terminal of the speaker. Then at the speaker I bridged pins 2 and 3 with 100 ohm resistor. Multi meter gave me a reading of 476 ohms when it was all wired up. Went to test it out and it is still way to hot and clipping at my mixer. Am I missing something and or using the wrong resistors? Thanks.

[@gregorybecker5134]

Also I’m using an 8ohm 10 inch speaker. It’s an aluminum cone speaker from an old bass cabinet project.

[@peterbull3955]

Also, Shouldn't we use the male end of the cable for plugging into a cable to lead to an input?

[@LearnAudioEngineering]

The mic (sub kick) has the male end, so we use the female end to connect to the mic. That way the other (male) side of the cable can connect to the mic pre.

[@bugs5644]

who is that backround music???? gotta know!!

[@LearnAudioEngineering]

The tune is Ascension to the Brozone by the Trio from Chicago. Recorded by me at MacEwan University in Edmonton. here's a link to their album: open.spotify.com/album/0d1aleuRVxxInJpJgYhPGY?highlight=spotify:track:5PWgeJahtHKvqNIL6MqbUH

[@davehilljr.coaching]

Great video, thanks for making it.

[@LearnAudioEngineering]

Most appreciated! glad to help, thanks for the comment :D

[@michaeltaylors2456]

I saw this technique on the bass kick at Kings of Leon show last year .

[@LearnAudioEngineering]

thats awesome, I bet it works great live as well!

[@Thestripper1]

Wouldnt it be more awesome if you removed the coil from the speaker and glued it to the kick drum skin itself? You would of course have to rig the magnet part up with something free standing in the right location. But the whole idea behind this would be to use the drum itself as the cone. Much more direct that way and you would get the direct movement of the skin on the recording.

[@elimakowski1469]

Solid Info bro! Good to know..May I suggest a piece on patch bays and routing options, normalization, half normalized, assembly etc?

[@LearnAudioEngineering]

thanks for the suggestion! Thats not the first time I've been asked to do something about patchbays.. Glad you enjoyed the video

[@marcelovalenzuela5174]

graba con una grabadora de cassettes; conecta una bocina con un conector 3.5mm mono en la entrada de mic,, una grabadora buena es la radioshack ctr 121 o grabadoras panasonic ( RQ 2102

[@danielpool2039]

What kind of kick are you using? I was planning on putting together a kit one piece at a time. All of the kicks I've found have tom mounting hardware and the extra holes for that hardware in the shell.

[@LearnAudioEngineering]

Sonar VINTAGE series - I believe this one was 24" x 14" Great Kit! recorded a Sonar pro series this summer and it had the mounting hardware you speak of as well. Must be a rarity. I'd love to build a kit like that someday. best of luck to you, and thanks for watching!

[@shahafshavit1114]

Hey, what did you connect pin 1 (Ground) to?

[@LearnAudioEngineering]

It was connected to the chassis of the speaker, IIRC it was a pain to stick on there.

[@shahafshavit1114]

@@LearnAudioEngineering Thank you for your comment!! Love the channel, Subscribed!

[@shughes77]

Hoping I can get this answered here. I cut off the female end of an XLR, reversed polarities and soldered the wires to my sub speaker. When I plug into my audio interface, even with input gain all the way down, the signal being sent is clipping. No way I can put it as close as you have them in this video. What am I missing here? Doesn't seem to be working here. 4 ohm sub speaker if that matters. I'm also getting some static/crackling when recording with it (from like a foot away.) Any help would be appreciated! Awesome video!

[@LearnAudioEngineering]

When researching this project, attenuation seemed to be the biggest hurdle. The signal coming off the speaker is quite hot and will need to be padded in order to work with your average mixer/interface. I built a little attenuator following a recipe online. You could also try a bigger speaker with more resistance 8" speaker @ 8Ohms is what I used IIRC.

[@LearnAudioEngineering]

Here's the link to the Schematic I used: forum.allaboutcircuits.com/threads/subkick-microphone-attenuator.69715/

[@jsnwlbrn98]

This is the greatest KZbin channel ever!!!!

[@LearnAudioEngineering]

thanks dude, that means a lot :D

[@maxbattista9791]

Gonna do this but not even going to take the speaker out the little amp bc it's already in its own lil stand ya dig

[@josuesanchez9390]

Thanks for this think!!! You upgrade my sessions in my Studio 😀👌

[@pierpa_76pierpaolo]

Interesting "book." But at that price ($17.99) I would like the paper version. :) So that I can refer to it anytime, anywhere without necessarily having to use a computer. Thank you.

[@LuisDiazDrums]

wow, why didn't i knew your channel before? idk, but this is gold, ty *suscribes*

[@LearnAudioEngineering]

Glad to have you here!

[@poroto67]

thanks for the vid, man! One question. Do you need an attenuator if your pre has a 20 db pad? Im thinking of building one of those bad boys. Thanks!

[@shahafshavit1114]

Nope. The pad on the interface will do. You should use an attenuator in any case your preamp don't have a pad.

[@johnviera3884]

at 1:52 listen carefully. finally someone gets it correct.

[@LearnAudioEngineering]

😉🤘

[@adarshgupta8491]

I can use 48v phantom power

[@MrCacciLLo]

You can, but why? The speaker will be basically a Dynamic moving coil microphone

[@MerlinErdogmus]

2:54 Friggin' subbed. Laughed my ass of while learning something.

[@SergeyChupyrin]

Thank you very much! Hello from Russia! )

[@LearnAudioEngineering]

glad you enjoyed, Sergey!

[@BarrySPeas]

Surely the composition of the driver being used is far more important then it's size? I know it's quite rare to get a smaller driver designed for good bass response, but a 15 inch fender guitar speaker from the 60s is going to have nowhere near the xmax of a well designed 6 inch sub. Can't imagine there's many 4 inch speakers that can put out deep bass, but larger doesn't intrinsically mean more bass. Cool video though, I've got a cool mic for top end & mids on a bass cab for some home recording, and the DI sounds like shit. Before the preamp it's got no bottom end or character, and post it's got some really nasty top end overdrive that can't be EQed out as a last resort. Might try this with a practice amp to see if I can get some more. What do you do with the earth wire on the XLR by the way? *Nevermind, missed your pinned post!*

[@LearnAudioEngineering]

yeah I'm sure you can order better ones for pretty cheap The 4" one was awful, I tried for a laugh. I'd like to make a 10-12" version. I've heard the bigger sizer can cause it to resonate more easily and can get messy. And the Earth goes on the speaker chassis, clip is the best way to go as the solder won't stick to it. Glad you enjoyed, thanks for the comment!

[@timbrown57]

@@LearnAudioEngineering Drill and tap a small hole in the frame and put a bolt into the frame for a screw on terminal..

[@FJ-fajri31]

THANKS.. VERY BEST

[@LearnAudioEngineering]

much love friend!

[@therealjackfisher]

Cool and it definetely worked.

[@ikigai47]

Super cool! 😀

[@adarshgupta8491]

But the wristle is coming tooo much

[@mytehnicsolution1365]

Why not piezo

[@ampdaptive9988]

wire a matching transformer it will sound great

[@impossiblewhopper1691]

I have the same screwdriver!

[@justinjayankura8676]

Love it!

[@steenbreker60]

Not all speaker brands have the same polarity

[@richperilli160]

polarity here has nothing do do wit,,,anything except if one terminal is more shielded...then pick that as - if there is any non xlr component.

[@AudioSecrets]

Amazing...!!

[@timbrown57]

#1. The Kick was tuned too high. #2. Get a little project box and wire a 100K Pot between a pair of XLR Male and Female Panel jacks in the box. That way you have an adjustable knob to attenuate the speaker. Essentially, it is like a "pre-gain" passive volume knob. You can't just use "any old speaker" for this. You need a speaker driver that is highly compliant. A cone with a stiff suspension is not going to pick up as well as a compliant one. Which is why you need a stereo type of speaker, and not a musical instrument speaker. I personally wouldn't even bother with anything smaller than a 12" driver. If you are looking to add some low end thump, go for something that can actually pick up the thump. The place to look for driver's is Part's Express online. Also MCM. Kick drum tuning. Fill the drum halfway with a folded up king-sized comforter, and drop the pitch of the batter head down to wrinkles at the edges. In rock music, you want the drum to deliver that solid foundation - your kick example was weak as hell sounding, because it was tuned way too high. You want the kick to pound people's guts in. If you do what I'm telling you, it adds all those infrasonic effect that you are looking for... like when a large truck drives by and you may not necessarily hear it outside, but you can "feel" the sensation, that is what you get by dropping the drum pitch down to the range I am talking about. If you want "boom", use a small room reverb to add that, and put a few ms pre-delay on it to make sure it doesn't "smear" the kick sound. Same with the snare.

[@LearnAudioEngineering]

Great pointers on tuning! I'll look into building a pre gain knob

[@alex_the.mallett]

Tim Brown for my 20x18 kick, I tune the batter head maybe half a turn past finger tight, just to get some tension from it, then I leave the reso head finger tight with wrinkles, then I just threw maybe a twin size blanket inside. It’s one of those DDrum starter kits with the original heads on it, and it sounds pretty good IMO, good enough to pass in most live situations

[@svincentr]

I have that same green multi bit screwdriver. Lol

[@peterbull3955]

build a plate!!

[@LearnAudioEngineering]

;)

[@revjerry23]

Yamaha Subkick was about $400

[@mflance7197]

Hell yeah

[@PestifeR]

Shout-out to all the chums who watch this on their phone and can't hear jack shit in the subkick-only comparison part, like me

[@upya3813]

wtfishappening! 2 x channels that just kikt my geeblies in a row!! hellfreeknyeh

[@abecoulter8550]

So no DI!

[@TempoDrift1480]

Those nice drums and thats how they are tuned??? That was the worst sounding bass drum out here.

[@silkroad1201]

I'm not a person of culture, I'm just broke

[@LearnAudioEngineering]

fair

[@eliaspagnani2827]

Boss shit

[@BuzzJones]

Bad Ass

[@revampeddubstep2232]

Female what!?

[@LearnAudioEngineering]

hi! what are you unsure of?

[@freecitymoneyphoenixknowdg3252]

none beat the mic i make

[@Carlos-D57]

¿Porque le dice "tontos" a quienes gastan $300 en intentar mejorar su sonido. Es usted muy soberbio, y evidentemente por su edad no tiene años de experiencia. Sea más humilde, exponga sus ideas sin ofender.... NO LIKE

[@alanduncan1980]

Turn a speaker into a mic. Oh, wait...it sounds like shit! You're going to need an attenuator now. Title of the video should be can you turn a speaker into a mic? Yes, but it's a lot of fucking work and way more trouble than it's worth, so maybe don't watch this if you're not an electrician.