Tuning Mic Capsules?

[Simon B]

I was just wondering if people knew how to tune mic capsules. the reason being with the china syndrome hitting hard you can get some good products from china at reasonable price and if I knew how to tune capsules..... I would be able to buy a china made mic and then tune the capsule to how I like it....... I know there are microphones at the higher price scale with the decent capsules.... but tuning a mic would just make chasing sounds a little more interesting.......
an idea I had was to change the tube in a rode ntk, changing a bit of the circuity and trying to get the mic not to sound harsh and abrasive! and then tuning the capsule to a desired taste.......

with no knowledge of mic capsule my guess would be in reguards to a capacitor mic would either be that the capsule is a pressure gradient and like tuning a drum. and just putting different pressure on the capsule..... or more to do with capacitive reactance and impedant reactance and just changing different componts like resistors and caps...

any thoughts would be greatly apreciated

[mfdu]

just lost the last post, so i'll be brief this time. check http://www.prodigy-pro.com/forum/index.php
heaps of modding and building. i've seen discussions on mic modding, but have been keeping to building compressors, to start soon on pre's.

chris.

[rick]

tuning capsules is done at the time of installing the gold spluttered mylar,
its a one time tension deal
if it moves its out of whack
read : this is impossible to do with out the correct machinery and years of experience !

[Simon B]

well that finishes that idea then..... maybe I should build a custom simon amp........ thank you rick for your reply I really apreciate it

[Henry]

Most chinese capsules are useable. The real issue is the chinese electronics. I put a U67 capsule in a ADK GC1 and it sounded exactly the same - total crap!

Take the MXL 2001. Its a real crappy mic too that sells for $100. Dave Royer ripped out the electronics and put in his circuit for a tube mic. Theres a link at the Royer Ribbon mic site. There's nothing he doesn't know about mics and he puts his modded mic up with a U47 in performance.

Here's a link for a modded NT2

http://www.digital-synthologie.de/rode_ ... royer.html

I totally agree with him when he rubbishes the NT2, I had one and they sound awful, but with a good circuit you can make a great mic with an average capsule!

[JulienG]

I totally agree with him when he rubbishes the NT2, I had one and they sound awful, but with a good circuit you can make a great mic with an average capsule!

Personally I liked the NT2, sure it's no U47 but it was a pretty good mic at a cheap price, or maybe the pair we had (At the last studio I was at) were just a good fluke.