Project!
Something to set behind your huge Kosmo stack in that space between the wall and your cases. I once used a smaller setup that was suspended on a door. Enjoy!
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wow nice and yeah i am gonna build one now for sure
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Me too! I wonder what materials other than steel would work; glass, tin, plywood even. I may even try this out on a hollow door.
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I’ve seen a few of these builds over the last few years but this one sounds the best I think. I calculated the cost at around 100 EUR (roughly half of it for the steel plate), which is about the cost of a second-hand multi effects unit where you’d get a decent algorithm reverb. Not bad.
How much???
Keep your eye out for scrap opportunities.
Next time you see white goods (fridges, dryers, temporary road signs etc) abandoned at the kerb that’s when all those who mocked me for the grinders and tin snips in my everyday cary must suffer!!
Baking trays, door kick plates, garage doors, hub caps, the old floor from a classic mini perhaps?
Adjust your driver circuit and gain to suit the materials and size you have.
I will never buy when I can up cycle.
Go make some noise!
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While this sounds very tempting, the sound you will get from such smaller junk material is likely to be… junk. The nice sound you get from this particular plate is precisely because the plate is made of steel (and not aluminium or any other metal), because it has these dimensions (to get a long reverb) and thickness (to allow the plate to vibrate). I had previously seen a few other videos that attempted plate reverbs using found materials (IKEA coffee tables and what not) and I was not impressed. I thought the “tinny” sound was not worth the effort, so spending ~ EUR 50 for large sheet of steel optimized to get that sound does not sound like a big expense to me.
The only part I could see myself saving some money is the frame, for which instead of buying the needed ~ EUR 30 worth of planks, I could use pallet wood. But then again, I will need to join together a few of those to get to the 2+m length, and pulling the nails out of pallets is a massive PITA. So I might as well pay for nicer lumber, especially if this massive contraption is going to live in my living room.
Of course, everyone is entitled to try a different approach, but while I am known to be cheap on many other DIY materials, I am certain that if I attempt to build this one, I will definitely buy the piece of steel as specified in the video!
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Junk sounds can be useful. There is a great deal you can do to process cheap and small materials. When I have built tin resonator guitars I spend most of the build hammering tension into the outer surface of the metal dish much like in cymbal construction.
Sure a big sheet of steel will increase your acoustic palette but so would adding dents, bowls, ridges, clay or felt mutes and springs to any sized sheet and that’s before you choose where to place your driver and pick-up transducer.
An old studio in Belfast had an ancient two man wood saw hanging from the ceiling and it sounded great in a similar driver/transducer set-up.
A 19 year old Mike Oldfield used the old enameled bath in his home for both reverb and an acoustic chamber for his snare drum.
A studio in Hong Kong had an old square water tank, complete with water and floating sheets on the surface for weird sound design.
Sure there are any number of new and older sound processor hunks, I own a number of them, but when you talk to most professional producers the one thing they all want is that signature sound palette that is theirs and like no one else’s. With some producers it’s a life’s work.
In Edinburgh I knew prof. Murray Campbell and he was obsessed with materials and their response to impact, rubbing and ringing; his anechoic chamber in the university was always a fun place. (He also wrote for odd ensembles like an arrangement of Beatles songs for a tuba quartet)
I’m wandering! Apologies.
As you were. Enjoy!
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I just heard back from the metal cutting and supply shop: EUR 24.80 (VAT included) for a 1x2m 1mm cold press steel plate. I am known to collect random junk, but at this price, I see no point.
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