Shure SM57 no-transformer mod
Tuesday, September 20th, 2011Peterson from DIY Recording Equipment and SoundHow sent me this video explaining how to remove the transformer from an SM57 to improve the sound.
Archive for the ‘DIY’ Category
Guitar Tone Capacitors Compared
Wednesday, August 17th, 2011Ryan Canestro linked me to these cool videos from Planetz.com where John Cooper wires up and compares a variety of capacitors in his electric guitar. The capacitor value and material can make a big difference in the sound and it’s one of those mods that only costs a few dollars. Definitely worth trying! I know I will.
Here’s the link to the blogpost: Crazy Tone Thing
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Fixing Small Studio Acoustics Problems
Monday, August 15th, 2011This weekend I moved my home studio from one room to another. From a nearly 200 square foot living room to a 100 square foot bedroom. It’s been a long time since I’ve thought about room acoustics and because this is a common situation for home studios, I thought I’d share my experience.
This article will help you understand and overcome the challenges of a dedicated studio in a small room. It will be most helpful to those with symmetrical rooms (no weird angles) and to those that don’t need all the usual bedroom stuff, at the very least it will be a starting point to making the best of the situation.
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| Corner bass trap and broadband absorbers plus foam above. |
The Problems
Small rooms are more likely to have acoustic problems than larger ones, primarily flutter echo, room modes and early reflections that are too short. In my room, I knew there was a very bad flutter echo problem and room modes may be a problem but were predictable. The room is symmetrical which was an advantage the old room didn’t have. The measurements are approximately 11ft long x 9ft wide x 8ft tall. There is a door and a closet on the back wall and 6 x 4 window on the front wall.
Headphone comfort mod
Saturday, March 12th, 2011One thing that always bothered me about my Shure SRH440 headphones any many others is that the earpads aren’t thick enough to keep my ears from touching the hard plastic surrounding the speaker. I know I don’t have abnormally large ears that stick out but my ears get really sore after only a few minutes of wearing them. Yesterday I came across this forum post that addressed the same issue for different headphones. One of the comments suggested a simple mod that involves inserting some thick wire under the ear pads to make them thicker. I gave it a shot and was pleasantly surprised at how well it solved the problem. Minimal effort, excellent results.
[Click to enlarge photos]
The first photo shows the earpads of the SRH440 before the mod. These have a circumaural design (around the ears) but the padding isn’t thick enough to keep from squishing your ears.
For this mod you’ll need a couple short pieces of wire/cable. I used a broken guitar cable. You’ll need two 10″ pieces.
Insert the cable under and around the earpad. Trim the cable if too long.
As you can see the padding is now raised giving you much more ear room.
I highly recommend taking a few minutes to try this on your headphones. You’ll like it.
Thanks for checking reading!
DIY Recording Gear – Pop Filters
Sunday, July 1st, 2007What is a Pop Filter or Screen? It is used to reduce plosives the B and P sounds that will make a popping sound on the microphone and just sound horrible. They are usually made of thin netting like pantyhose or more recently a thin sheet of metal, attached a few inches in front of a microphone.
My pop filter looks like crap. I made it myself for a dollar and it works, but it doesn’t look as elegant as a professional pop filter. I just can’t bring myself to pay $20-45 for something I can easily make for a few dollars.
It does work, however it is not durable, sturdy, or good looking. But it cost me a $1 to make. The main issue with DIY screens is that mounting them never works as well as a store bought one.
Here are two examples of well made DIY pop screens.
I think I need to make a $5 pop filter next.
