Austin Microphones helps you Upgrade, Repair, and DIY your own mic from scratch, without having to buy a whole kit. Choose from Output Transformers, Foils, and our Ribbon Motor Kits for installing into a donor microphone body, upgrading your Austin Mic, or building one from scratch by following our plans and videos.

NOTE: If you can't choose a specific set of options from the menu, refresh the page --OR-- it's not an available option.

For example: All Ribbon Motor Kits come with foil, so when you choose a Ribbon Motor Kit you must also choose the foil you want. You can't leave it blank.

Ribbon Mic Upgrades and Parts

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Ribbon Motor Kit

Our AUSTIN Ribbon Motor Kit is all the parts you need if you already have a donor microphone body for your DIY microphone.

The Ribbon Motor Kit includes all the electronic parts in one package, a sheet of our 1.8u "Heavy" Foil, and our fully-illustrated plans and video tutorials to make and install the Ribbon Motor Kit into a Donor Body.
We stock the following transformers:

AUSTIN™ OTA-2 - A high-nickel core, dual-bobbin, humbucking ribbon microphone transformer, which is custom-wound especially for us, right here in the United States. Nobody uses a design like this, and they sound KILLER! Fat bottom punch, and excellent high-frequency output make the Austin™ OTA-2 great for recording electric and acoustic guitars, and bringing-out the warmth of studio vocals.

Cinemag 9887 - The USA-made Cinemag 9887 Ribbon Mic transformer delivers slightly brighter highs than our AUSTIN OTA-2, and is shielded in a Mu-Metal can for extra hum protection. It also has the longest wires of all the transformers, making it very easy to install in almost any microphone body. It sounds best when recording vocals, drums, and other full-range instruments like Piano and strings.

Lundahl LL2912 - The prestigious Lundahl 2912 Ribbon Microphone transformer is a web favorite for Microphone Mods & upgrades, and delivers a wide, flat frequency response. Smooth, natural bass and flattering highs - without the brittle edge of a condenser. It's also smaller than the Cinemag, so it can fit into tight spaces or small microphone bodies.
Choose from our standard, super-thin, sub-micron AUSTIN foil, or heavier 1.8-micron foil. Both of these aluminum foils are lighter than used in retail ribbon microphones, and deliver superior output and high-frequency response:

Austin "Lite" Foil is 0.8u - less than 1-micron thick! Approximately 10-12 ribbons can be cut from this sheet. It is super light, and responds significantly better to High-Frequency sounds than the 1.8-micron foil below, or standard 2-micron foil found in retail ribbon mics. The drawback is: It's harder to work with, and is less resistant to damage from plosive, very low frequency, high-energy sound sources like kick drums, hand claps, blowing into the mic, and "Popped P's".

Austin "Heavy" 1.8-micron foil is easier to handle, corrugate, and install, but the drawback is: You sacrifice some high-frequencies with a thicker foil. (Your mic will have a quicker HF roll-off.) Approximately 6-8 ribbons can be cut from this smaller sheet.

NOTE: Most brand-name retail ribbon Microphones use 2.2u foil, which is even heavier than our "Heavy" 1.8u foil. Chinese import ribbon mics regularly use 4.4u foil, which is more than twice as heavy as our heavy foil. No wonder import mics sound bad right out of the box!

Ribbon Mic Upgrades and Parts

Ribbon Motor Kit

Individual Transformers

Ribbon Foil Sheets