This Cheap DIY Mic is Simple to Build and Sounds Really Good

[@SoundSleuth]

Thanks for the shout out here! And you pronounced "Ryckebusch" Correctly! I am super proud of the OPA Alice circuit. If you really want to hear how good it is, pair it with a full 34mm condenser capsule and a bias generator. On the other hand I've built many of what you just did here, the 2555B and a donor body and they are my go to for most things. Great video and channel.

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

Jules! Thank you so much! Means a lot coming from the man himself. Your OPA Alice is brilliant. I have a few Alice mics and they're all really very cool. Glad I nailed that pronunciation. One question: Another commenter asked if this mic could handle the high SPL of drums? I would think it should, right? I only do voice over so all I ever test on is voice.

[@SoundSleuth]

@@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff Yes! I use it on drums all the time. You need to pad the capsule with a 220pF capacitor, which is about 17dB. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oIink5x3q9x6e5Ysi=jFCMqgMuJclh232H

[@fearless_ambassador_ambo]

Would this donor body fit a 34mm electret capsule? I'm not sure what a bias generator is or how it would wire into the circuit, but I'm definitely interested in trying a first DIY mic build using your electrontics and what Mark has suggested here.

[@MusicalRiolu]

Hey, just wanna pop in to say "thank you" because i built these and im so so happy with the result. Your a real one

[@SoundSleuth]

@@MusicalRiolu Thanks! This is what makes it all worth it.

[@GeorgeTheTech]

It's startling how similar this mic sounds to the Soyuz... Very nifty project! Same capsule used by DIY Perks for his project a few years back.

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

Thanks George! Yeah, that DIY Perks mic was the one that looked like an old TV antenna. That was pretty cool. What just stands out to me about this very affordable capsule is how much clear presence there is. It’s time for me to reevaluate electret capsules, in general.

[@brianwills5707]

I found the ZRAMO mic on Amazon for $18 that has the same body but already has a 25mm capsule. I think the BM800's typically have smaller. So the ZRAMO saddle can easily be adapted to the JLI capsule. I haven't done an exhaustive A/B comparison of the ZRAMO and JLI capsules but I did a quick frequency response comparison and they are quite close. The AliceOPA board makes a big difference over the stock board. Much quieter. I made five of these mics to close mic my drum kit. Bare boards from Pcbway and parts from Digikey was about $16/board. Pcbway seems to offer to populate the board which might be a little cheaper. A 150pF film cap in parallel with the capsule pads about 10dB. I find 220pF to work a little better for toms with the gain range of a Tascam US-16x08 interface.

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

You could also always try the stock capsule first. I didn't realize it at first, but Zramo marketing copy there seems to claim their capsule is better than the standard POS that comes in similar BM-800 style mics.

[@---pp7tq]

​@@MarkYoshimotoNemcoffFrom what I found like a year ago or more, that ZRAMO mic has the same PCB as BM-800. It's bad, and makes the mic overly bright. It's better after replacing PCB.

[@badmiddens]

god I love this channel. that is all for now.

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

And I love this comment! Thank you! And most of all, thank you for all the times you've jumped in to participate in the conversation here with your thoughts and observations!

[@badmiddens]

@@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff good vibes all around!

[@TheRecordist]

Great beginner build!

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

Yeah it’s a great project for someone looking to get their feet wet with DIY.

[@iahorana]

This is a great sounding microphone ( the capsule isused in great microphones like some from CAD). . You can find the blank PCB s made by Jules Ryckebusch . I You make it yourself with this blank PCB , be sure to get the PCB extra clean and wash it very well after solder , especially around the chip , it can be noisy very quick , but if made it well , it s a better mic than many other much more expensive microphones .... There is also a HEx inverter board , combined with the OPA Alice , it can load 34 mm Capsule very well

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

Thank you for adding to the conversation. Great tips!

[@iahorana]

@@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff Kochilakoso !!!

[@hackinghifi4247]

Sounds great! How would you compare the value of that to the BaiFei mics you purchased?

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

For the most part, I look at the BFL mics as great donor platforms for DIY. But if you take the “in the same ballpark” side by side of this and the BFL 414 with the 25mm capsule, I think this one has a little more punch due to the chiseled headbasket acoustics.

[@zachariahisaiah1793]

New sub here and love your content. Can you do a video on a mod shoot-out? I think that it would be beneficial to us that are recording on a budget.

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

Thank you very much! Welcome aboard! Great idea. Let me put it on my list.

[@knarrs]

How about putting one of the tsc large diaphragm capsules in there?

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

Cool idea, however this mic does not have the dc-dc hex converter board (www.jlielectronics.com/diy-accessories/dc-dc-hex-inverter-pcb/) necessary to power a LD capsule, only the base Alice board capable of delivering 12 to an electret capsule like the one inside.

[@---pp7tq]

(when it's 404 just delete the last two letters from the link, it just counted ")" as a part of the link)

[@Reefgc]

Thank you for this video! I am curious to know how well it would handle high spl? I am tempted to try to build some mics for live drums. So it must handle 120db , probably more, Any change you could test it with a snare or a tom getting whacked? Thx for your content! regards

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

You're very welcome! Since I don't record music anymore, only VO, I don't know about drums, but, on paper, the dynamic range of the OPA Alice board is rated at 130db and the capsule 120db.

[@Reefgc]

@@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff Thanks for your response! I did see that spec listed for the capsule. But I am not not sure what it really means. Or rather, how gracious would a capsule handle 130/140 db peaks while its listed as max spl of 120. Some increased distortion is probably fine.. but very evident distortion is not. Would love to know :) your channel has been very inspiring!

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

@@Reefgc Well it turns out @SoundSleuth, Mr. Jules Ryckenbusch, the designer of the OPA Alice has a video about OPA Alice drum mics and has also commented in response to using them on drums below. And it seems like all signs point to yes! kzbin.info/www/bejne/oIink5x3q9x6e5Y

[@Reefgc]

@@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff Thats great! I might have to really consider building a few of these! Thx for the tips!

[@byegena]

Whats the best jli capsule?

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

Not sure which is the best, but I've tried a couple of their electret capsules and by far the 2555BXZ3-GP is my favorite. I do have a mic coming this week with an Alice circuit with hex converter and a TSC-1 capsule, which will appear on the channel at some point, so stay tuned if you're interested.

[@byegena]

@@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff alright I will be subscribing if I haven't yet.

[@gtvwill]

Feed a sine sweep into it and the soyboy from your speakers. Be interesting to see how they both stack up. Lol from a phone speaker they both sound identical.

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

It's funny, because of the work I do, mostly commercials, the phone speaker is my favorite reference given it's the most popular way people listen to their content. So, ultimately, how it sounds to the end-use consumer is the most important metric.

[@gtvwill]

@@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff 100%, I have friends who do a bunch of audio production. The best tool they can use when mastering their audio is having a variety of speakers and making sure it sounds good on all of them. A generic phone, a logitech boom bluetooth and some samsung or apple earbuds. These are the most common products your audio will be listened to and arguably are more important to check your mixes on than some high end monitors only owned by

[@bulwinkle]

If they sound the same through speakers maybe the speaker is the limiting factor.

[@gtvwill]

@@bulwinkle lol even on my ath m50x headphones they sound the same. No discernible difference. And those badboys are used all over the shop by producers and djs alike. 15hz through to 28khz range so more than any set of speakers you'll ever own. Most audio hardware especially on the "high" end is marketing gimmicks and "warmth" or "brightness" is just a fancy way of saying distortion/non-flat reproduction of audio.

[@MarkVO]

This DIY mic is an incredible value. Sounds good. Only issue is you shouldn't have switched to the Soyuz 🤣it completely shits on it.

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

I know, right? Despite how it sounds on me, I just wanted to make sure it was clear where it really ranks against a great mic.

[@stephendverner]

I am building this mic for myself. I am also building a SM7B clone from this video - kzbin.info/www/bejne/qpXXaXp5d7B4fs0si=O7UHMv9rG01zBUCJ. Plus I bought the Bai Fei Li C-414. Damn it Mark I am hooked!

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

Nice! Luckily, the only known cure for acute mic desire is more mics!

[@richcherwalk6349]

The Soyuz did not sound better, it was louder and brighter but definitely not better

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

You like what you like and there’s nothing wrong with that.

[@ThumbKill3r]

honestly the DIY one sounded better then the $2k one

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

Ok. Let me ask. What did you like better about the DIY mic?

[@ThumbKill3r]

@@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff couple things, The over all depth and "space" of your voice seemed more clear then the $2k one. Second is the $2k one seemed to have high frequency or clipping happening. Could be my setup.

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

Thank you for lending your ears.

[@GeorgeTheTech]

@@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff I thought the Soyuz was just a tad too "forward" in the mids, but that difference would be interpreted differently based on your hearing and your monitoring.

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

@@GeorgeTheTech You’re not wrong. Here, the Soyuz is going through a CAPI VP26 with a Rogue 5 op amp so the mids are punched up.