darren adcock
- Sep 26, 2016
- 463
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2016
- Messages
- 463
Hey all.
Today I was trying to help an artist with an installation. They want to amplify water dripping on metal objects, I tested today attaching piezo discs on to them (water proofed) with simply putting a 100nf capacitor across it's contacts then running them around 15 meters each to a mixing desk then into speakers.
The results were ok, but not exactly great quality.
-Firstly we had to push the mixer to it's max as the signals were too quite. Is building pre-amps the right way to solve this?
-Secondly there was a typical ground hum that was audible. Is this from the length of the leads? A combination of the length of leads and having to turn the mixer all the way up? My immediate thought was to have the initial piezo disc and lead run short to a pre-amp then run a longer cable from there to the mixer.
-Thirdly we managed to tune into a local radio station! :-D
Any thoughts on what might be best here? We could use shotgun mic's but the discreetness of piezo discs is a preferred aesthetic.
Thanks in advance
Darren
Today I was trying to help an artist with an installation. They want to amplify water dripping on metal objects, I tested today attaching piezo discs on to them (water proofed) with simply putting a 100nf capacitor across it's contacts then running them around 15 meters each to a mixing desk then into speakers.
The results were ok, but not exactly great quality.
-Firstly we had to push the mixer to it's max as the signals were too quite. Is building pre-amps the right way to solve this?
-Secondly there was a typical ground hum that was audible. Is this from the length of the leads? A combination of the length of leads and having to turn the mixer all the way up? My immediate thought was to have the initial piezo disc and lead run short to a pre-amp then run a longer cable from there to the mixer.
-Thirdly we managed to tune into a local radio station! :-D
Any thoughts on what might be best here? We could use shotgun mic's but the discreetness of piezo discs is a preferred aesthetic.
Thanks in advance
Darren