Turning broken headphones into a weird and funny microphone

[Disarm D'arcy]

Hey DIYers of ILF,

I have this old pair of headphones lying around. The plastic piece that holds one of the speakers is broken which rendered them unusable. I've been thinking I could convert it to a funny sounding microphone. Do any of you have some ideas on this?

I think I should salvage the can to which the cable is attached and switch the jack to a mono one... Or even better an XLR jack. How would I wire that?

Thanks for your help

[skullservant]

Headphone wires are usually pretty difficult to mess with, unfortunately. It might be worth a shot, but it might also be more trouble than it's worth, at least in my experience.
Funny story, my first recordings years ago were all tracked mono using a microphone from 'Hey You Pikachu' on N64, plugged into my computer.

[noisekickfx]

AHeadphones can be used as a microphone. They're basically the same thing in reverse. For example try plugging headphones into your microphone jack in your computer. You'll probably have to scream to pick up any sound but it'll work.

What connection is on the headphones you're talking about? You may need to add a preamp/ boost circuit in between the phones and amp to boost the signal.

[Disarm D'arcy]

AHeadphones can be used as a microphone. They're basically the same thing in reverse. For example try plugging headphones into your microphone jack in your computer. You'll probably have to scream to pick up any sound but it'll work.

Thanks for your reply. I'm well aware of the fact that a speaker is basically a reverse mike and vice versa. I actually almost turned a speaker I had lying around a few years back into a subkick kind of thing but that was when my band split up and I realized I was never gonna record acoustic drums again (which turned to be true, I love drum machines...).
I've got the basic idea laid down, but I'm still figuring it how I'll make this practical. I'm gonna have to split the left and right side of the headphone as I want a mono microphone. I'm gonna have to replace the connection from a stereo mini jack (3,5mm) to an XLR or maybe mono jack (6,35mm). Well I guess I'm gonna tear it appart today, it'll give me a better idea. But I hope I'm not gonna make a mistake I might regret doing so. Worst case scenario, something that should have been trashed long ago will end up in the trash bin...
I'm thinking I could end up with a cool sounding microphone, something very muddy and murky - quite the opposite to the quality microphones I own.

[Paddyob]

Seems like a lot of work.

Replacing all parts but the ear piece?