[audiomagnate]

The Korg mic didn't work for me until I used a pencil to couple the case back to the mic. I use a Behringer Xenxys 502 mic mixer ($40 on Amazon) into my desktop's mic/line input. The Korg is much noisier than the mics I use for music and voice recording, but the high and low EQ filters on the Behringer allow it to work. I have 13 watches and this rig works on all of them, although sometimes the degree field comes and goes. Sometimes it takes a an adjustment of the mic position and or level controls to get a "green signal," but this setup works and it's pretty cheap.​

 

[audiomagnate]

The Korg and other cheap mics are what's called "unbalanced" (two wire) while professional recording technicians use balanced (three wire) cables and connectors. Balanced setups are much lower in noise. The mics that come with time graphing machines are also balanced, but more expensive and more difficult to connect to your computer. In short, the answer is no you can't rewire a cheap unbalanced mix to balanced, but simple tone controls like on my little Behringer mixer/mic preamp can reduce the noise enough to make the program work. Probably the best solution is to simply spend a little more and buy a balanced mic intended for the purpose for $69. You will still need to buy a preamp to interface this balanced mic with your computer. Now we're up around $100 for the mic and the preamp/mixer, which is close to the cost of a complete machine, but I prefer the software to the box.

 

[audiomagnate]

That's a phono preamp not a mic preamp. Phono preamps use the RIAA curve to reduce record noise. I know you've modified it, but a proper mic preamp would help a lot, especially in the hum department, as that device is boosting the signal in hum area (60 to 120HZ), and cutting where a watch makes most of its sound, up in the treble region. My setup is a little noisy, but perfectly usable for videos, especially with the EQ (tone controls) applied.

EDIT: OMG I listened to your recordings, that is WAY too much hum!!!! You need to swap that thing out for a proper mic preamp and use it to play records. Get a microphone preamp
that takes an unbalanced input like the Behringer XENYX 502 I'm using. Here's my rig in action.

 

[audiomagnate]

The last 8 seconds of Test 5 is my best sample with the least amount of hum.
Now that I think about it, I believe that he actually used a shielded RCA cable soldered to the pickup mic and it produced almost zero hum.
I don't have enough knowledge of these cable designs to do it properly.

On a side note - is there a way, through hardware, to force single channel audio into both the left and right channel? When I record the watch ticking, it only plays on the right side. I know you can put it on both channels through software but what about a hardware solution?

:-!

That's better, but still a lot of hum. https://www.amazon.com/Mizar-3-5mm-Stereo-Audio-Adapter/dp/B01DZV37VY/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1524155837&sr=8-2-spons&keywords=1%2F8+female+to+rca+male+y+adaptor&psc=1

 

[audiomagnate]

You're right, if that's what's on the end of your mic.

 

[audiomagnate]

I'm getting output on both channels from the adapter I just purchased. Now to do something about the buzzing o|

https://www.amazon.com/Behringer-50...UTF8&qid=1525630292&sr=8-1&keywords=xenyx+502