Homemade Jecklin disk

A few weeks ago I built a Jecklin disk with the help of my father. We always enjoy building things together, but hadn’t had a chance to do so in some time. As far as I know this was his first time building a piece of field recording kit, and it was my first Jecklin.

The Jecklin disk is a simple but effective way to create sound baffling between two small omnidirectional microphones, emulating the effect of the human head between two ears.

Jecklin disk

AB pair

Here’s a simultaneous side-by-side comparison of the Ears In Space Jecklin vs. an AB pair of omni mics (no baffle, mics about 3 feet apart on a Plexiglas rod). Recorded in the back yard behind a small screen house. Both arrays used pairs of Clippy EM272 connected to Sony PCM-M10 recorders. Some movements of birds across the stereo field are clear with the Jecklin recording, but hard to hear with the AB pair.