DIY Microphone Build

Today’s age of customization has brought about a huge do-it-yourself (DIY) culture, myself and many of my coworkers included. I have my hands on my guitars as much as my computer keyboard these days, and have dabbled in building effects pedals and pedal mods in pursuit of the perfect tone. Having gotten pretty close, I felt it was time to record that perfect tone; but if you’re on a budget like me, filling your home studio with top notch microphones is no easy task.

A decent Royer or AEA starts at around $800. So, fishing around on the web I came across AUSTIN Ribbon Microphones. At this particular time, Rick Wilkinson was teaching a class on building the microphones at CSUSM, so I thought I’d give it a try. I have to say that I had a blast and building a pro-quality microphone is not as hard as I thought when using the kit that Rick has put together. It was a fun project and fulfilled my need for an amazing ribbon mic for the studio.

–Deni Cook {Interaction Design Manager}