Cheese grater and washing machine

[squirmelia]

I attended a Field Recording class and made a contact mic:



I tried using it on various things: putting it inside a cheese grater I stroked with a feather, on a frying pan, on a balloon, on a washing machine.

Here's a recording I made of a cheese grater and a washing machine:
https://soundcloud.com/user-592158466/cheesegrater-washing-machine

I also bought an EMF listening device, but haven't used it yet.

Comments

[shermarama]

I'm trying to back-form how that's made from looking at it :D Looks like a round piezo sensor on the bottom, but is that a kind of Oreo made of felt and silicone on top? Is that for damping / interface purposes?

Also, excellent twangy noises as a result!

[squirmelia]

Thank you!

Yep, it's a piezo soldered to a mono cable, then felt discs glued on, and it's pretty messy with lots of hot glue. :) Instructions here: https://zachpoff.com/resources/building-contact-mics/

[shermarama]

Ooh, okay, that makes a lot of sense - the glue and felt are pretty much doing the job of handle and strain relief? I have a bunch of piezo pick-ups attached to my mesh-head drum kit, acting as remote triggers for a sound module, but they are a bit of a bugger to handle and not break the wires off - something like this might really help.