How To Make a DIY Ribbon Mic! 

OK, I can't believe I am the only person in the world who appreciates this video! I saw it 5 years ago, 3 years ago and then reviewed all ribbon mic videos on youtube during this year's vacation. I still think this video demonstrates the greatest attention to detail on construction. Well done! I hope to post one with ribbon tuning and resonant frequency. I will reference this excellent video as prior art!

Nice reveal at the end ;-). Great video.

I think you did an outstanding job demonstrating that ribbon mics are simple and components are relatively cheap, yet the sound is all about skill of the builder with attention to detail. Well done! Thanks you for doing this!

omg what a twist at the end haha ! love the vid

That is a nice sounding mic

Your planning and design are wonderfully impressive, as well as the video itself. I'm partway through building a similar mic and am so glad I ran into your video. I happened to do several bits the same, right down to the notches in the plexiglass but you've taken some of the scare out of laying in the ribbon. Now I'm ready to proceed. Many thanks.

you are a true artist; an art is a science with more than seven variables!!!!absolutely perfect!!!

Thank you Freddy for this detailed manufacturing explanation! I noticed an important part was not referred to - the glass of Labatts Blue. I dig your ingenious 'crinkler' for the ribbon - great! You touched on and fully explained all aspects of the project - but was surprised you didn't use an f.e.t. amp. Presumably with a 1:37 step-up Xfmr this isn't necessary - and neither is phantom power! I admire your craftmanship and your voice-over explanation. To mis-quote Oscar Wilde: "To make one ribbon mic is splendid - to make two looks like sheer Stereo" Many thanks for this video!!

This is really brilliant! Well done! And the video itself was perfect!

It's a downright beautiful and caring build! And your Twist At the end Makes the Video all the more worthwhile

I just knew when video was coming to an end that freddy recorded all the audio with it. man your designs are so smooth and clean. just love it! this video deserves a double like

That was probably the best thing iv'e seen all week.

What an incredible build and the plot twist at the end was amazing. Keep it up!

This is so cool! I love ribbon mics and yours sounds amazing. And this is just fun to watch!

Your a genius with your mind and hands ... and a giant with your generosity in sharing your talents

You are beyond clever! The design, skill in making and the quality of the explanation. AND you play guitar.

Fascinating build and a beautifully well-crafted mic. Nicely done. Excellent fit and finish and good warm tone. Didn't see a lot of electrical measurement, but I'd find it hard to believe this your first ribbon mic build and that you eyeballed it.

I am impressed with the sound quality of this mic! Good work!

didnt expect it to sound that good!

Man.! This is awesome.! The mic sounds very nice, with presence and bright, nice middles and very clear voice and not humming

One of the best tutes i've seen, for a sophisticated device. Well done!

Wow...I love the "O'Henry" ending. So cool. An amazing video by an obvious inventor of skill and promise.

Great ability you have there and a very natural sounding mic at the end of it. Sounds as nice as my se1's, well played sir! Subscribed.

Great DIY work! Nice job!

That was absolutely amazing. I imagine that the mic tensioning bit requires some trial and error for those not experienced making these. I doubt I could make one as good as yours, but I know I have some old broken mics that I may attempt experimenting with as this definitely looks like a very fun and doable project even for a beginner.

Nice instructional video. Concise and well done. Microphone sounds great.

Sweet job. I've modded cheap Nady RSM-1 and RSM-4 ribbon mics in a similar way and am very happy with the results.

Woooow, that's really amazing! Also it sounds really nice! Wonderful work!

I was listening to this on my DIY Ribbon tweeter

Woa, the twist at the end was great haha and I'm loving the Rush Sector box set in the background ;)

nice video, well done. I learned a lot about ribbon mics! Keep up the great work!

Yes! Me too...about a minute before, I thought "wouldn't it be cool if..." and then, knowing Freddy, figured that he'd do it that way. Awesome vid and great sound from the mic. Freddy, you keep telling people that you're no genius, but then prove yourself a liar by doing such amazing work all the time!

Awesome work! Sounds great too, thanks for sharing!

So beautiful! I love the sound! Amazing!

Hey Freddy, thank you very much on this fantastic instructional video! Very thorough. Happy new year to you Sir! Mark G

Awesome! This video had a better twist than MIB3.

Wow. That is superb! Great build.

sounds very good! I wonder how would it sound with different spacing and/or materials. Thanks for the video.

Making stuff is always cool.... and satisfying.

Great mic. And a surprise at the end too.

THE BEST GUITAR/AUDIO/MUSIC VIDEOS!!! thx fred

Thanks to everyone for the positive comments! I had a lot of fun with this project.

Great job man, and great tutorial. Amazing what you did with this home project.

Excellent editing and presentation. No dead time.

Great info and video., well done. Awesome job with the mic, sounds GREAT!

Had a feeling that the end would be as I suspected. Good work!

You are amazing and smart person with excellent engineer thinking, thanks! :)

Wow. The quality sounds great!

Great video. The sound quality is actually very, very nice. Nice rounded tone that's not too bass mid or high heavy. Do you recommend any particular videos that show how to make this in a little more detail? thanks.

Ha! I liked the little surprise at the end! I didn't expect the quality to be that good! Well made :)

What a twist!

Oh microphonesmith! You are my new hero. Excellent video

wow its bloomin' amazing sounding i'm very surprised at the outcome, well done brother!

Very cool ! All yours vids are a pleasure to watch. Greetings from France !

What a great sounding mic, and absolutely beautiful craftsmanship. Although this isn't really DIY - with the tools and skill you have, you might as well be a manufacturer lol.

LOl awesome vid i like the twist at the end. Sounds awesome

"I tuned the ribbon tension using a frequency generator. Resonance target = 30hz." Could you please explain that a bit more?

Awesome documentation!

Excellent presentation, fun to watch ! I made a ribbon mic. like this back in the early 1970s I used transistor radio output transformer, 3.2 ohms into 500 ohms, it worked great ! Bill P.

Sounds fantastic!!

I tuned the ribbon tension using a frequency generator. Resonance target = 30hz.

i used to thrilled when you said how it sound then you told me that the rest video use this as voice-over. Amazing!!!!

Dude! You’re the plot-twist king! Great video man!

this was a very high quality video! thank you for the hard working

Thank you for sharing this! Very explicit tutorial. I may try now after seeing the video. I was thinking about doing it a long time ago but I thought that it's going to be very hard. Now you made a BIG light in my hed :D.

You got yourself a new subscriber, sir. Great video!

Thanks. The mic pre was the only other thing in the chain before it hit the A/D conversion. And that was a tube mic pre that I built, I have a video of it here on my channel...the "VP8"

This was really awesome. :) Thanks for showing this. Dunno if I could make one (since I lack a lot of the tools that you used), but the first chance I get: I'm going to try. Cool video, cool outcome, just--cool!

Dude that was awesome. I would have never guessed

You are the coolest dude on the YT!

Keep em coming Freddy, especially the handcraft ones, and I'll keep watching em and thumbing them up! :-)

very good video....well made....great sound on the mic

Super job, man! I had a feeling you were going to say it was the mic you were using. Ha! Niiiice! Sounds very good. I should add that you voice over chops are really good as well.

Great mic! It was a lot of fun to build. This video was extremely helpful. Had to make a case from scratch and used jb weld on mine: very bad idea. The magnets pooled the metallic hardener and it let go after a about a month. So a few revisions to be made but it was great fun!

Nice build Fred!

this was amazing. sounds great for something that improvised :D

Graham, you are very kind with your comment. Thank you!

Freddy, you never fail to impress me with your videos. I truly enjoyed this one. You should be hired to build gadgets for the next 007 movie....

It's a ribbon mic. They require no power. But you do need a mic preamp with lots of clean gain because ribbons typically have a very low output.

wicked video mate, keep on rockin in the free world

Brilliant stuff man.

amazing job. Good work!

Wow, it sounds great!!

Great mic you build!

Fantastic mate ! I am going to try and build one.The reason is I had a really old RCA mic , the ribbon looked like silk ? I really want that tone again.The old rca got sold and then given to a pop star.

Excellent, nicely done!!

Thanks! You could try reranch spray cans. I use them sometimes and you can get totally pro results with them.

that sounds really good man.

that's an awesome surprise at the end!

Sounds very good too.

so cool... I'm guessing the quality of the materials and precise construction, reflects the quality of the sound... sounds Great...

Wow, love the reveal at the end lol You had me shook.

i got pretty excited when i saw this DIY project,then i saw the price tag for the parts and i almost had a heart attack,dude that is whicked!!!

Great vid! It sounds like the mic has a very natural and flat frequency response.

Oh man, that´s very, very good indeed. I only recently bought a pair of ribbon mics for my studio ( sE X1R) and got the best sound ever on my guitar amps (Fender HotRod Deluxe and Vox AC30) If I´d known you were making them I would have ordered them from you, hahaha! God Bless

Sounds great!

I got the same build plans called AUSTIN Ribbon Microphone from rick wilkinson (rickshawrecords at yahoo) years ago. It's a fun build with some challenges. Namely, your own breath when working with the aluminum leaf. I had to pull my shirt up over my nose for that step until I had the motor safely installed in the housing. Pop filters ar critical to keep from blowing out the ribbon. Back then, donor bodies were harder to come by, so the plans described the entire build including the body made from brass pipe, cap and brass mesh. Fastening the motor needed brass screws to stop the risk of having the screw pulled into the motor during assembly by those strong magnets. Also other ferrus metals in the body may affect the magnetic field and possibly color the sound. Nice build.

hahah i knew that the mic was used before you said it. great project, great results!

This is so awesome! Been watching your vids for a while now and am always blown away by your seeminly endless talents! Lol. I have a question about painting guitars (maybe irrelevant to this particular vid but alas) I'm actually trying to build a replica of Alex's red strat from the Distant Early Warning vid. Got the floyd and everything. I was wondering what the best type of paint to use? (relatively cheap and easy way being a poor college student) Thanks and keep up the amazing work!

amazing job! Congrats man