microphone (vocals) question

[micha]

I'm not sure, wether this would belong into tech forum, but since it's not guitar related at all I'll post it here.

my question is; can I use the mic of an old telephone as a microphone for singing? or do I have to change its resistance or something?
couple of days ago, I saw a concert in television and there, one guy was singing into a phone.
you all should know that, it's a pretty cool effect IMO. sounds like crap compared to a real mic, but it can really add to the atmosfear in certain situations...

my point is; it's my singers birthday on sunday , and since I'm a cheap bastard who ran out of money, I'm thinking about slaying one of my old phones, adding an XLR plug to it and making it adaptable to a mic-stand.
I'm pretty sure she'll like it, since she's an evanescence-fan and AFAIK they use a similar effect every now and then...

what do you think? will it work or will it end up in a horrible result and wasted energie?

thanks for your input///micha

[Erez]

It would be a nice gift and I think its a very creative idea! but not a microphone! this will never do the job for singing.. been there, done that.. that mic just doesnt fit

[jackson1]

My .2 cents: the "telephone" sound is primarily created by applying equalization and heavy compression to the signal (makes it more intelligible and saves bandwidth) and that happens either inside the telephone net or possibly inside the telephone electronics. Possibly both. NOT in the microphone capsule itself.
Also, the telephone gets power from the net (~48V/~50mA here in DK anyway) and by NOT giving it power, it might not work as expected.

The television show you saw, was probably just using an effect using playback. Not a real phone.

Try it, but i don't think it'll be of any use.

[micha]

not really what I wanted to hear, but thanks anyway!!
I thought the mic was just that bad, that this sound is produced that way...
48V? doesn't phantom power offer 48 volts?
maybe I'll try out a mock-up and see if it works...
but I can't hurt my power-mixer that way, can I?

thanks for your help!

[Ace]

I've seen bands sing whole shows through old telephones. It sounds like total shit, but if that's the sound you're looking for, go fo it. It also sounds like a real creative gift and I'm sure she'll like it.

[micha]

I've been talking to one of my profs in university yesterday about my plans, and he told me this phone-sound comes mainly from low quality parts and shitty amplification.
and that's what he told me would the best way to go.
I think I'm about to build a bypassable-unit (stomp-pedal) which just lets the frequencies from 3-6kHz pass, and cuts the rest off. a transistor right behind to amplify everything back to level and I should be done.

I wanted to do a footswitch for our powermixer anyway, since it's effects are footswitchable and it's got a tap-function for delay and such, and it seems like I'm just gonna add another knob for a "shitty-sound-function".

let's see if it works out!! thanks for your thoughts guys!