Ever since I recieved my Dell I9200 in February, I've wanted to install a microphone in it. I just want to be able to record silly things like everyone singing "Happy Birthday", or my 2 year old who is starting to say really funny things, and send it to family members as an email attachment.
It seems simple enough just to hardwire a mic to the internal connections on the mic input jack, and still have the jack function as it should by openening the circuit to the onboard mic when an external mic is plugged in. (If I do this, I wanna do it right.)
I've scavanged a mic from an old Gateway lappie. Much to my suprise, it's the smallest mic I've ever seen; just a simple cylinder about 5/32nds tall and 1/8th inch in diameter. I have wired it to a jack and it works well, just as it did when in the old laptop.
I have some questions, though.
Should I look for a larger diaphragm mic? Obviously this is just for talking into and doesn't have to be a super quality microphone, but will I have noticeably better sound or a wider range of recordable sound tones with a larger mic? (The usual size I see in this application are twice the diameter, and same height.)
Then there's the location question.
It seems to pick up very clearly from several feet away, but then again, it's not being audiably filtered through a tiny hole beneath a plastic cover.
I would prefer to mount it beneath the power button surround piece in case I screw it up and need to replace it. A simple hole drilled exactly over the microphone will be the only visible indication of it's existance. I think I'll countersink the hole ever so slightly.
But I don't want things like fan noise to interfere.
Would it? Are they (the mics) designed with things like external vibration in mind, or is it really a function of laptop designers ensuring the mic location is as far from things like fans as possible?
If there's the possibility that it won't pick up fan noise beneath it, I might do a "trial" installation where the mic is located near the air intake vent for the GPU (fan is usually off, and I run I9kfanGUI). That would be great- no drilling necessary to blemish my precious!
Tell me what you think.
It seems simple enough just to hardwire a mic to the internal connections on the mic input jack, and still have the jack function as it should by openening the circuit to the onboard mic when an external mic is plugged in. (If I do this, I wanna do it right.)
I've scavanged a mic from an old Gateway lappie. Much to my suprise, it's the smallest mic I've ever seen; just a simple cylinder about 5/32nds tall and 1/8th inch in diameter. I have wired it to a jack and it works well, just as it did when in the old laptop.
I have some questions, though.
Should I look for a larger diaphragm mic? Obviously this is just for talking into and doesn't have to be a super quality microphone, but will I have noticeably better sound or a wider range of recordable sound tones with a larger mic? (The usual size I see in this application are twice the diameter, and same height.)
Then there's the location question.
It seems to pick up very clearly from several feet away, but then again, it's not being audiably filtered through a tiny hole beneath a plastic cover.
I would prefer to mount it beneath the power button surround piece in case I screw it up and need to replace it. A simple hole drilled exactly over the microphone will be the only visible indication of it's existance. I think I'll countersink the hole ever so slightly.
But I don't want things like fan noise to interfere.
Would it? Are they (the mics) designed with things like external vibration in mind, or is it really a function of laptop designers ensuring the mic location is as far from things like fans as possible?
If there's the possibility that it won't pick up fan noise beneath it, I might do a "trial" installation where the mic is located near the air intake vent for the GPU (fan is usually off, and I run I9kfanGUI). That would be great- no drilling necessary to blemish my precious!
Tell me what you think.
