Here’s how to make your own high quality DIY USB microphone for voiceovers and streaming

There are a lot of microphone options out there these days. Since stills cameras started being able to shoot video, and particularly so since the whole mirrorless thing took off properly, it seems like every company out there is making microphones now. Even DJI’s getting in on the game. Btu you’re still going to pay a not-insignificant amount if you want a decent one.

So, how can you get quality on the cheap? Well, you can build your own. In this video, Matthew Perks walks us through building our own microphone from scratch that produces some great quality sound. And you can even plug it straight into your computer’s USB audio ports for digital audio.

I’ve spoken about my love for digital USB audio signals from microphones recently – yesterday, in fact – when Rode announced their new AI-Micro USB audio interface for microphones that have a 3.5mm TRS or TRRS plug. It allows you to completely bypass the crappy preamps often found on sound cards and motherboards that cause hiss when plugging into an analogue audio input.

Matt’s design not only provides the benefit of a digital audio interface, but it also sounds great and looks pretty cool, too. He’s actually using a microphone capsule from a microphone that costs thirty times as much as just buying the capsule alone and adding in your own housing and electronics.

Even if you’re not interested in building one yourself, it’s a fascinating look at how microphones work and the design considerations that manufacturers have to put into their equipment in order to make it sound great.

Side note, is it just me, or does it look like one of those Bajoran solar-sail ships from ST:DS9?