During my project pre-production phase, I did a lot of research about ambisonics, as the topic was fairly new for me. I ran upon a website of a person who provided detailed instructions on how to build an ambisonic microphone, and called it "Ambi-Alice"*. I thought it's super interesting, and probably must be a huge challenge for a person who has never build a microphone before (me). I went through all the instructions, and watched the video presenting the process a few times, and decided to give it a go. Obviously, there were some issues on the way, but I knew it was inevitable and I was ready for it. It took me a while figuring out some things like "can I use this resistor?" or "why is the signal from this capsule not as strong as from the other ones?" and I needed to disassemble parts and put them together a few times, which was a part of learning through "trouble-shooting" and "problem-solving". 

It finally worked. And I found it a huge achievement, not only because I "built a microphone", but also because I kept trying, even though at some point I thought I was about to fail - but my efforts paid off. I managed to record some piano with my microphone and implemented it into my 5.1 composition, "Journey" (see below).

 

*More on Ambi-Alice here: https://www.instructables.com/Ambi-Alice-a-First-Order-Ambisonic-Microphone/