Guide

DIY microphone: ASMR for nerds

3.9.2020

Translation: machine translated

Support: Natalie Hemengül, Simon Balissat, David Kübler

Building something myself is fulfilling. Failing at it goes against my ego. Inspired by YouTube videos, I build myself a binaural microphone. A story about the wrong cables, a glue debacle and a great willingness to help.

I drift off completely on YouTube. Binaural recordings of landscapes, city noises or the sound of the sea enchant me through the headphones. It sounds so real and spatial. You need a binaural microphone for this. But they are expensive. I want to build one and see what comes out of it. I'm particularly impressed by a video from Nomadic Ambience:

A binaural sound recording is a sound recording of sound signals with microphones that are intended to create a natural auditory impression with precise directional localisation when played back through headphones only. When recording in artificial head stereophony, an artificial head is often used. (Wikipedia)

The components

Housing: To simulate the human head, I use a 13 cm long, lockable plastic housing.
Universal clip-on foot, to mount the microphone on the accessory shoe.
Two lavaliere stereo microphones
Transparent silicone ears. Even after a long search, I couldn't find anything suitable in Switzerland. I had to switch to an Asian supplier. In hindsight, something like modelling clay would probably have done as well
Audio splitter (incorrect order)

Total cost excluding misorder: around 130 francs. For comparison: The professional binaural microphone Neumann KU100 costs 8333 francs.

First test

After unpacking the products, I put everything together. The lavalier microphones work. But the audio splitter does not. It combines the right and left signals onto one audio track. During playback, I hear both signals on both headphones. With Simon Balissat, I search digitec.ch for a suitable splitter. No luck. We dare to place a second order with a German supplier. The splitter arrives two weeks later, but doesn't work either. The signals are also combined with this plug and not played back separately. What a mess of cables.

Three 3.5mm audio splitters. The first two were bad buys. The third one works as desired.

Help from a professional

Audio expert Manuel from Rocket Science takes a closer look at my problem with the splitter. He gets to work and tinkers with the three-core cable. After various tests, however, we stop tinkering again. The pins of the microphone and the camera socket would have to be completely measured. He could use the measurements to make a suitable splitter for me. I keep this as a last option and go back to the office with the hope of finding a suitable splitter after all.

At last

Already a little annoyed, I write to editor Dominik Bärlocher. He searches the depths of the internet for a suitable splitter. He finds what he is looking for on an American website. The description of the adapter sounds pretty promising this time. But the scepticism remains. The thing arrives and, to my great delight, the binaural microphone works. The audio recordings from the left microphone are only played back on the left ear cup. Now it's time to assemble.

Assembly

I drill a hole in each side of the ABS housing and two more holes on the underside. The lavalier microphone will later come out of the side holes through the silicone earpiece. The centre hole is reserved for a clip-on foot. Now I attach the lavalier microphones in the housing to the splitter and pull the end piece out through the last hole on the underside. I look for a suitable glue to attach the silicone ears to the ABS housing. It's not even that easy. After several failed attempts, I seek advice in the model construction department of Schaufelberger's department store. The solution to my problem lies in the material. They recommend silicone glue. Sounds logical and it works. The ears hold. I close the housing with the four enclosed screws and the binaural microphone is ready.

Approximately 5mm holes were drilled on each side. Just big enough to insert the lavalier microphones.

The silicone ears were also drilled through and now attached with the correct adhesive.

Shots and conclusion

As a beginner, I stumbled across various obstacles during the project. But in the end, the binaural microphone worked. I really like the studio recordings of Natalie, Simon and David. I also perceive the spatial sound very well there. The microphone can also be used as an ASMR recording device.

In nature, I had a little more difficulty. Sounds that are further away are not optimally picked up by the microphone. What do you think?

A normal summer rain recorded in Vosges France.

A few city sounds from Bern. Here I have placed the Fujifilm X-T4 on a tripod.

First steps in the forest with the Fujifilm X-T4 and the binaural microphone. Unfortunately, you can still hear the motorway in the background. I didn't achieve the video and audio quality of Nomadic Ambience. I'm still pretty satisfied for a first attempt.

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Thomas Kunz

Photographer

thomas.kunz@digitecgalaxus.ch

As a photographer, human being and dad, I tell stories as close to life as possible. With all its corners, emotions and uniqueness.

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