ok
i decided to build a plate reverb a little while
ago and i was restricted [for various reasons] to
the few things i had and what i could find at lowes
or home depot. i also didn’t have very much
room to store it, so it had to have a small footprint
and be as portable as possible. so this is what i
came up with.
the only sheet metal i could find
was 2' by 3'. i had hoped for 4' by 3' but i couldn't
find any. i had also planned on making a wooden
frame because of cost, its also easy to work with
and i had all the tools i would need to do it,
but then i found precut steel rod that was L shaped
at 3'and 4' lengths so i measured everything out
and these ended up being perfect. i was worried
about buckling and cracking the wood frame anyway,
so i went with the metal. this also gave me a very
narrow profile. i ended up cutting the corners
at 45 degree angles like a picture frame so i could
get a little more strength out of them. this ended
up sucking pretty hard as all i had was a dremel
with the fiberglass cutting wheels. this and drilling
are the only things that someone in an apartment
need to worry about. its loud and messy. i had
a back deck so i did it out there. im not going
to be working with steel anymore unless i have
the proper tools.
anyway... so turn-buckles are used
in the corners. they are in the 4" range when
fully tightened i guess. these are what you use to
adjust the decay and a little bit of the color. [put
a drop of oil on the threads and work them around
a bit before you start, to keep your fingers from
lighting up].
there are 3 different sizes of L brackets
used. one on the plates corners to make sure they
don't just tear off [another poster did this on theirs
as well]. the L brackets on the frame are there to
hold the shape and give a corner structure to hold
the turnbuckles. there is also one on the outside
edges of the frame to keep it from twisting which
it really wants to do. if they were not there it
would destroy itself as you tighten everything up.
so don't forget them. matching all the holes for
the frame brackets sucked. trying to pre drill everything
didn't really work out that well and i had to re-drill
some holes a little after some of the assembly was
done because the steel isn't exactly the same size
and thickness. oh and i used lock nuts on all the
frame bolts. you know like the nuts used on the trucks
for skateboards, with the little white plastic/nylon
lining inside, to help keep everything tight.
you'll notice that there are springs
used with the turnbuckles too. these came out of
an old hideaway bed my mom trashed a while back and
i scavenged them out for something just like this.
they are there for two reasons. one is that the turn
buckles were too short, the other is that they actually
help add a little decay and color to the final product.
next came the driver. i used the vidsonix
ghost because it was what motivated me to build this
in the first place. this thing is great and has a
great frequency range so i took off the plastic wall
adapter [which itself adds a sound] and just drilled
one hole 6 inches in from the edge, used a couple
of washers to make up the difference in the bolt
length and it went right in. i then took a pair of
old acoustic pickup/contact mics i had used in the
past as drum triggers and some scrap metal brackets.
then shaped the brackets just a little bit smaller
then they needed to be so the mics were tight against
the sheet and attached them with bolts also 6 inches
from the edge opposite the driver. now i can remove
the mics by sliding them out and use them on something
else if i need them or even put something else in
their place.
mono in - stereo out. im currently
using a shitty old home stereo amplifier to push
the ghost, and pres from whatever is handy for the
mics. youll notice some line noise in the samples.
its pretty bad actually. im looking for a nice small
cheap clean amp, but this works for testing. im not
working on anything serious at the moment. id suggest
putting an eq inline before and maybe after, but
you probably do this anyway.
im personally not into huge, long verbs
with what i do. im more into creating other rooms
and odd textures so having this be on the shorter
side works well for me. if i need it longer i can
add something underneath it. at 4' by 3' this thing
is as close to portable as plates get. i just stuff
it in against the wall of my closet and it disappears.
im am convinced though, that i can build one smaller,
mono, incorporating springs more into the design
and have it fit in something like a keyboard or rifle
case and then have a truly portable plate/spring.
i might be able to get it under $100 too. ive been
toying around with handmade contact mics a little
as well.
for experimental purposes this thing
will scream and vibrate like nothing else, and because
there is no paper cone, you can do things that would
destroy other devices. but im probably the only one
doing that sort of things around here. right? im
always looking for new distortions. |
