DIY Cheap Microphone Pop Filter

When you are an aspiring musician you don't have a lot of money to buy expensive equipment and you have to record the best sounding demo with cheap recording tools. When I realized that popping is a common problem when recording vocals on any kind of mic, and when I saw that a good pop filter was about 50 bucks in my country I decided to make one myself

Step 1: Materials First!

Because this is a DIY friendly instructable, the materials shouldn't be hard to get. Eitherway, they are pretty inexpensive or maybe you can have this laying around on your house.

Materials:

- Scrap MDF (a 30cm x 30cm piece should do the trick)

- Pair of nylon stockings (a new pair)

- A hose clamp (for secure placement on your mic stand).

- Electrical tape (always needed).

- The outer plastic part of a cable (for the gooseneck, if it's black even better).

- Pliers.

- A wire hanger.

Comments

[noingwhat]

Pretty cool, it almost looks pro. One piece of advice though, it appears that you put on multiple layers of the stocking. I cut mine in half so that there is only one layer of fabric over the mic, and it still works pretty well, but there is no noticeable volume difference.

[thomasstec]

Hi, I don't want to be rude or smart but let me tell you that you dont need a pop filter to a dynamic mic like this one. Have you ever seen a singer on a live gig using a pop filter? Have you ever seen recording singer NOT using pop filter while singing to a CONDENSER mic or a RIBBON mic in a studio? Besides these Shures have foam lining inside the srew cap and this serves the same purpose as a pop filter. I like your pop filter though. One of the well made I've seen.

[Jamtaktics]

Ummm, I use a shure PG27 Digital mic and I stil get pops all the times?! And as far as live, Im sure it doesnt really matter about pops that much while live, unless their recording it...when I do live shows I get pops all the time, no one seems to care, and again, its a condenser mic

[d_malakian_69]

BTW, this mic is the only one I have at the moment for recording purposes, I don't use it for live performances. Second, this mic when recording does pop when pronouncing P or B's. So, try to be nice next time on all your comment not just the bottom end, and try to have the full information before assuming stuff. Thanks.

[tofrugal]

Well put.

[onlinemastering]

These type of pop shields are very good and tend to eliminate pops much better than the foam types which are not as effective. Great little project for someone in need of cleaner vocal sounds (editing pops out sucks)

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[a splosion]

First of all thanks for the great instructable! I blended your ideas with ideas from http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-very-cheap-homemade-pop-filter/ and added some of my own. Instead of using inner tube, I just rapped my coat hanger in electrical tape. I also used some screen that I had on hand rather than the nylon stockings (or pantyhose). Plus it works great. I've vastly reduced the plosives! Thanks!

[d_malakian_69]

Really cool man! That's the idea, that everyone comes up with their own stuff, well done! :)

[varun.coolmax]

This is a neat trick to get  clear recording and will surely be trying it out using my GF's stockings.... I hope i don't sound out of place but is there a way i can convert my mono microphone ( i recently bought to record some guitar tunes) into a stereo microphone... i can buy a Y adaptor but can i instead change something inside the microphone to make it stereo

[mechanicmike]

1 mic is all you need for a guitar, if you want stereo you need two mics, one placed by the 9th fret and one by the pickup area/ whole. the sound being stereo is not gonna be much of a difference. you will still have awesome stereo playback from both speakers even with only 1 mic.

[varun.coolmax]

 Quote " getting stereo playback from both speakers even with only 1 mic"  will work only if the microphone itself is a stereo microphone... what i had before was a unidirectional mono microphone... and when i played my recorded songs.. sound comes only from the left speaker... hence mono = one channel (in my case the left channel)

[mechanicmike]

I have a Mono mic (MXL V63M) with only one diaphragm but all my recording are recorded in stereo and sound great. 

[varun.coolmax]

 no worries now ppl.... just bought a Sony ECM DS70p stereo condenser off ebay... got it for a steal $4 ... i checked it up on amazon and its worth some
$50.. recording quality is great... its a mini microphone but i have an extension cord and i've made a stand which looks like an actual microphone...now i am thinking i'll just somehow remove the mic from the previous uni directional microphone case and insert this new one...

[mechanicmike]

You may have gotten a fake mic. There are so many on ebay for $5.00 including shipping. Here is a video of one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfDuIFk5A8w and another http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPTXEhnm9rs&NR=1&feature=fvwp....Take a look.

[speakandspell]

Strictly handheld is the style I go; never rock the mic with the pantyhose. Like others said, this is a cut above the other diy solutions I've seen.

[mtx1000d]

i strap on my ear goggles and I'm ready to go, and yo, this is one's going out to omario.

[bustedit]

is that what they're talking about? the mic w the pantyhose?? i think it's "...is the style i choose", it ryhmes with "hoose" nice instructable. good way to save some $$

[d_malakian_69]

Thanks! it's all about what gets you more comfortable when recording also.

[kc_255]

about how thick is the MDF?

[d_malakian_69]

About 5 mm thick this one, but you can get thicker MDF boards

[futeng]

Can you post a before and after?

[d_malakian_69]

What do you mean? :P

[futeng]

A sound clip without the filter and one with the filter.

[d_malakian_69]

Oh ok..I will don't worry LOL

[thomasstec]

Sorry, did not mean to offend you or upset. You are right. I don't know that mic and so i don't know what works for you. Anyway, I like your pop filter, looks really well made.

[d_malakian_69]

I'm not offended, next time just don't be like that. LOL, I'm glad you liked it!

[pventura]

Excuse my ignorance, but what is MDF?

[MojoFreem]

Medium Density Fiberboard. It's similar to particle board and chip board, but a bit more durable. Any home improvement store should carry it.

[d_malakian_69]

Yeah, it's like a really thick compressed cardboard, but really easy to cut and form.

[Fenwick]

I know someone who used a wire coat hanger, and a pair of nylon stockings like you did, and that worked pretty well, too. But yours definitely looks much nicer.

[d_malakian_69]

Thanks! don't forget to reate plz.

[Ikearat]

Please forgive the stupid question... I have seen these things in images of people using microphones in recording studios and assumed they were to prevent the user from spitting on the equipment. My question is, what is "popping" ?

[jmyler]

When you make "B's" or "P's" and the sudden burst of air makes the microphone "pop" If you said the word "pop" into a microphone that was really sensitive it would be the perfect way of describing it.

[guitarman63mm]

trypeewee isn't exactly right. Pop filters are mainly used to reduce plosives, such as the 'puh' sound in 'Peter'. However, this is a result of the fast-moving air, like he said. I've seen the improvised pop filters for a while now, but yours is the best looking one so far. I personally picked up a gold-coloured one a while back to match my condenser, if I remember it was only about $15.

[d_malakian_69]

Thanks! Well here they are quite expensive, because they are imported, not made here. So you got some brands like Shure or Samson, only those two. Eitherway you can save a couple of bucks :)

[trypeewee]

Actually this devices are intend to prevent the air coming out of your mouth to go straight to the microphone. You can do the experiment yourself with any cheap mic, such as those on headsets. If you blow directly into your mic you'll hear a pop-kinda sound, which is very unpleasant. The thing is, it is very hard to prevent the speaker from blowing into the mic, as there are lots of words and sounds that can't be made otherwise. Example PIck, FAint, etc. Also, try recording your whistle melody ;)

[d_malakian_69]

Also, the thing is if you don't use a pop filter, then the popping sound can damage your mic in the future, it's because it makes it clip and overload so it can damage the equipment.

[DELETED_GuardianFox]

(removed by author or community request)

[d_malakian_69]

Well that's a taste and utility matter, so maybe those work for them better than a professional one.

[DELETED_GuardianFox]

(removed by author or community request)