KVR Audio

arkmabat · Post by **arkmabat** » Wed May 20, 2015 3:59 am

deastman wrote:To record the sound of a spaceship engine, I recommend a close-mic'd SM-57, and then a stereo pair of U87's for ambience.

haha

BertKoor · Post by **BertKoor** » Wed May 20, 2015 9:37 am

I've always toyed with the idea to record my water cooker with a contact mic. Great deep rumbling when that kettle is nearly boiling! But alas, I don't have a contact mic

(well, maybe I do, somewhere... but never got round doing this recording)

LPF filtered pink noise is also great, add some distortion to make it appear to have been very very loud (overdriven during the recording)

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Wed May 20, 2015 10:49 am

BertKoor wrote: But alas, I don't have a contact mic

Make yer own. Less than a $1 each in parts. Piezo mic element -> wire -> jack plug, and hook up to a Hi-Z input for best impedance matching.

thecontrolcentre · Post by **thecontrolcentre** » Wed May 20, 2015 10:59 am

My spaceships engine doesn't make any noise

BertKoor · Post by **BertKoor** » Wed May 20, 2015 11:03 am

whyterabbyt wrote:Less than a $1 each in parts.

When produced in bulk maybe. Where I buy my parts the piezo element is €1.60, shielded cable €0.70 per meter and a plastic (yuk) 1/4" TS plug is €1.20 (proper metal Neutrik jacks are €4.75) Totals to €2.80 since I have some mic cable lying around somewhere (quite near to a nearly-forgotten contact mic

) Still doesn't break the bank though indeed. I'm just not motivated enough...

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Wed May 20, 2015 11:55 am

BertKoor wrote:
whyterabbyt wrote:Less than a $1 each in parts.
When produced in bulk maybe. Where I buy my parts the piezo element is €1.60, shielded cable €0.70 per meter and a plastic (yuk) 1/4" TS plug is €1.20 (proper metal Neutrik jacks are €4.75) Totals to €2.80 since I have some mic cable lying around somewhere (quite near to a nearly-forgotten contact mic ) Still doesn't break the bank though indeed. I'm just not motivated enough...

You're buying your piezos in the wrong place, then

Over here you'd only pay that much at somewhere like Maplins. 35p from Rapid.

http://www.rapidonline.com/audio-visual ... mm-35-0288

(Adding £1 for a metal-bodied Rean (which is at least a Neutrik sub-brand) jack does indeed make it more than $1, ie just under 2EUR, but a 30p plastic jack(*) would work, so, with some spare wire it can actually be done for 65p ie under $1. Not that the $1 figure was meant utterly literally, though it kinda is.

(*) https://www.esr.co.uk/electronics/connectors-635.htm

arkmabat · Post by **arkmabat** » Wed May 20, 2015 2:46 pm

It would be nice to get one. The slinky lazergun sounds are pretty cool recorded with a contact microphone too...

deastman · Post by **deastman** » Wed May 20, 2015 2:57 pm

Would a contact mic work going straight into, say, a Zoom H4N? Or would it require some sort of preamp first?

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Wed May 20, 2015 4:14 pm

deastman wrote:Would a contact mic work going straight into, say, a Zoom H4N? Or would it require some sort of preamp first?

Yup, straight in is fine, its an H4N I use with mine. Fit the contact mics with 1/4" jacks and use the combo sockets on the H4N.

You could fit also it with a 3.5mm jack and use it on the mic socket on the underneath, but its probably best not to. If you use the 1/4" sockets unbalanced, they're Hi-Z instrument inputs and match the high impedance of piezos.

arkmabat · Post by **arkmabat** » Fri May 22, 2015 5:54 am

Thanks for the info.

DJ Warmonger · Post by **DJ Warmonger** » Fri May 22, 2015 1:15 pm

Low pitch-modulated pulse close to tape-stop effect?

Or better yet, granular pitch warp over synth sample

DHijin · Post by **DHijin** » Sat May 23, 2015 2:51 pm

In this link above on the ATM side after downloading, you can get sounds of spaceships.

May be you are interested

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 7#p6138627

elnn · Post by **elnn** » Sun May 24, 2015 12:52 pm

whyterabbyt wrote:
deastman wrote:Would a contact mic work going straight into, say, a Zoom H4N? Or would it require some sort of preamp first?
Yup, straight in is fine, its an H4N I use with mine. Fit the contact mics with 1/4" jacks and use the combo sockets on the H4N.

You could fit also it with a 3.5mm jack and use it on the mic socket on the underneath, but its probably best not to. If you use the 1/4" sockets unbalanced, they're Hi-Z instrument inputs and match the high impedance of piezos.

How's the low frequency response? I've read somewhere that homemades kind of cut at 200 Hz

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Sun May 24, 2015 1:12 pm

elnn wrote:
whyterabbyt wrote:
deastman wrote:Would a contact mic work going straight into, say, a Zoom H4N? Or would it require some sort of preamp first?
Yup, straight in is fine, its an H4N I use with mine. Fit the contact mics with 1/4" jacks and use the combo sockets on the H4N.

You could fit also it with a 3.5mm jack and use it on the mic socket on the underneath, but its probably best not to. If you use the 1/4" sockets unbalanced, they're Hi-Z instrument inputs and match the high impedance of piezos.
How's the low frequency response? I've read somewhere that homemades kind of cut at 200 Hz

That would be what I was talking about with Hi-Z inputs and impedance matching... read the Tim Prebble article I linked to. If you dont have a recorder or soundcard device with Hi-Z inputs, try and get hold of a Hosa MIT-129, or make up the FET circuit Tim links to, they're all ways of improving the bass response.

How to synthesize a spaceship engine sound