D.I.Y.

Contact Mic
We’re going to use some fairly cheap, easy to buy components to build a DIY contact
microphone/hydrophone which can be used to explore the hidden sonic potential of vibrating
surfaces, wire fences, suspension bridges, aquarium’s or in place of the conventional internal
pick-up of an acoustic guitar or other instrument.

To do this we will use:

1 x Piezo Transducer
1.5m two core screened microphone cable
1 x XLR audio plug
Some Heatshrink
A Felt Furniture Pad
Some Plastidip

....and will put them together with:

A Soldering Iron and Solder

A pair of Wire Cutters
A pair of Plyers

with the assistance of:

Blutack and “Helping Hands”

Step #1
Building the Contact Mic is quite quick, but can’t be rushed. My unofficial Step#1 is “get a cup of
tea and put Radio 4 on” - more practically:

1. Cut a suitable length of cable. I’d suggest something just over a meter - too long and it will
become unwieldy, too short and you’ll find it never quite reaches where you want to put it.

2. Strip off the outer insulation, being careful not to cut into the coating of the cable inside. Then
strip the ends of each separate cable down to bare wire. This will attach to our Piezo Transducer
disc.

3. Next, do the same to the other end, but this will attach to the XLR plug. Leave around 5mm
of bare stripped wire, and 15mm of cable with the insulation still on.
Step #4
Cut three pieces of heatshrink.

We will need one larger diameter, which will become a sleeve that will go over the main cable and
contain the wires from the Piezo.

We will need two of the smaller diameter to slip over the connections we will make between the
black and red leads from the Piezo and our instrument cable.

5. Next, we’re going to solder

the stripped wire from the first
end of the instrument cable to
the Piezo disc. Before we make
the actual connection, we’re
going to “tin” the ends of the
cable, leaving a little solder on
each. This will make them create
a good bond with the leads from
the Piezo disc.

Once you’ve done that, you can prepare to solder, by first putting the larger piece of heatshrink
over the instrument cable, and the two smaller diameter pieces of heatshrink over each of the
leads from the Piezo. Once we’ve made our solder joint, we’ll pull these down over them and
shrink it to make a nice isolated and protected joint.
Step #6
Using the “Helping Hand” Assembly aid (or the circuit-benders friend - a blob of Blutack), secure
the two ends of wire, so they are slightly overlapping. Apply the soldering iron to heat the wires,
then after a few seconds, feed in some solder to create enough for a joint that will contain both
wires.

Hopefully, your end result will be a bit neater than mine (above), but you should now have a
robust connection between the two wires.

7. Slip the heatshrink over the two inner cables and apply heat from a lighter or soldering iron
to shrink them tight around your joint. Next, slip the larger diameter piece of heatshrink over both
cables right up to the edge of the Piezo, and keep a good 3 - 4 cm on the main instrument cable.
Apply heat to shrink this tight.
Step #8
OK, we’re on the home straight now. Stay focused, don’t rush and start soldering the jack plug
end without first threading the screw housing and cable insulator onto the end while it’s still bare
wires.

9. Push the ends of each of the

inner core cables through the holes in
the two lugs on the jack plug.
Solder them by applying heat to the
metal of the lug, as this is what the
solder will bond to, this is what needs
to be heated to make the joint flow.

Once you’ve done that, use a pair of

plyers to clamp the cable retainer to
the instrument cable and screw the
housing on to the end of the jack plug.
the other Step #8
You can optionally solder an XLR connector on the plug end of the cable. XLR is most often used
as a professional microphone connection. So if used, our contact mic will be more compatible
with high spec equipment. Same points apply as with the 1/4” jack. We’re going to use Neutrik
XLR plugs, so be sure to thread the boot and sleeve onto your cable before soldering.

9. Pins on an XLR are number 1, 2, 3.

PIN 1. Shield (if connected to a ground at the other end

- ours aren’t)

PIN 2. Hot. The RED signal cable from centre of the piezo.

PIN 3. Cold. The BLACK signal cable from the surround of

the piezo.

Each of the pins on the rear of the

plug assembly have recessed cups
to take the cable.

Apply a small amount of solder to

them, introduce your tinned cable
and apply heat with the soldering
iron whilst feeding a small amoint
of solder on to the joint to create a
bond.
Step #10
Apply the Felt furniture pads to the ceramic side of the Piezo disc. When we use the contact mics
later, we might clamp them to surfaces, so this will provide a little padding to protect the vital
ceramic surface. Some people also recommend adding a thin wooden disc under the metal side
of the Piezo to add weight and also mellow the tone of the recorded audio by absorbing some of
the high frequencies.

The pad can be further held in place with one or two turns or electrical tape before going into the
Plasti-Dip. The felt pad can absorb the dip and become heavy while drying, so this stops it falling
off before the dip becomes set.

11. The final step is to coat the Piezo disc end in

Plastidip - a liquid plastic product which will insulate
the contact mic from moisture and all kinds of
abrasion, weather and chemical agents. You can then
explore the sound of the underwater world

WARNING: Plastidip is noxious stuff, dip your contact

mic in a room that you don’t have to be in for at least
8 hours, make sure it’s well venitlated.

After 30 minutes, you can apply a second coat, then

it should be hardened enough for use within 6 hours.
Leaving overnight is the best option, if you can.

These notes © 2011 Martin Franklin

web: www.hypermedia.me / email: martin@codetrip.net /
twitter: @_martinfranklin
parts
Piezo Transducer (35mm dia) from h.m.comp on eBay

From Rapid Electronics (www.rapidonline.co.uk):

Neutrik XLR plug part no: 20-2050
Heatshrink 9.5mm part no: 03-2356
Heatshrink 3.2mm part no: 03-2342

From Studiospares (www.studiospares.com):

Klotz microphone cable part code: 544061

From Plastidip.co.uk
Plastidip Aerosol Spray 311g
or
Plastidip Junior Can 214ml