Audio noob needs help with a microphone from 1954

[Tataffe]

Hi guys,
 
My grandfather gave to me a Grundig GDM 121 microphone. Never heard of it? Possible, because it was released in 1954. He bought it for voice recording, but during the recent (30, I guess) years, it has not been used any more. It's a dynamic microphone with an omni-directional pattern, comes with a handy little desk stand, a screw threaded hole to mount it to that stand and a three-pole DIN connector.

 

 

Source: oldmics.pl

 

So I bought an adapter to connect the mic to my mainboard's microphone jack.

 

The problem: Even after setting the recording level to maximum and holding the mic directly in fron of my mouth, the record is very quiet (I'm using Audacity). The smell of an amp lies in the air, however, being the audio noob I am, I have no idea what to look for or what would be the best solution. Can you help me, please? What other information is required?

 

Regards,

Tataffe

[Firearm2112]

im guessing because its so old the components inside werent designed to be very loud, as that was the amps job

[SSL]

Mic probably need phantom power, is it an XLR? USB audio interface maybe?

[EmoRarity]

Mic probably need phantom power, is it an XLR? USB audio interface maybe?

Blue Icicle time

[Whit3Rav3n]

Mic probably need phantom power, is it an XLR? USB audio interface maybe?

It is a dynamic microphone so it doesn't need phantom power.

 

The microphone was originally designed to be connected to a high impedance tube band machine input. The quietness comes from the lack of amplification but it also has a high impedance transformer. If you connect it to a standard xlr microphone input it will pick up a lot of noise because xlr microphone inputs are low impedance. For good results you have to disassemble the microphone and bypass the high impedance transformer.