Making My Own 'Prosthetic Lung' For Music Production.

In late June, my right lung collapsed.

I thought that would be the last of it, but it happened again in September. I use my lungs for work. So I am annoyed.

Using my TEC Breath Controller the normal way now poses a health risk, but it is an integral part of my workflow as a composer, and not one that I am willing to compromise on. Removing it would add hours to my process, which is unacceptable, so I created a solution of my own with duct tape and garbage.

The Basic Concept

A lung is a bag of air that you can expand and compress at will, with a tube coming out of it that allows you to direct airflow with some precision.

Broadly speaking, this is not a complicated mechanism - in fact, bagpipes are quite similar, and often made out of animal tissue. I thought it might be possible to make this with some household objects, and I was right.

So, if you'd like to make it yourself - here are some instructions.

The Parts

1. A Ziploc Bag
2. A Blood Pressure Pump
3. Duct Tape
4. A Stiff Tube (this is part of the breath controller apparatus that I already have)

Assembly

1. Take the Blood Pressure Pump and cut it in half (across), then pull out the metal valve. The pump piece that you want is the side where the metal valve used to be,

2. Cut a small corner of the ziploc bag that is just a little bit too small for the pump nipple to get through.

3. Place the nipple of the blood pressure valve into the cut hole and force it through until the plastic bag stretches over it, forming a seal around the nipple.

4. Reinforce that seal with narrow strips of duct tape - it won't take that much.

5. Place the stiff tube from your breath controller into the protruding hole of the blood pressure pump (now on the outside of the bag) - with luck, it will fit exactly and form an airtight seal.

6. Seal up the ziploc bag 90% of the way, leaving a small unsealed hole in the clasp.

7. Blow air into that hole until the bag is fully inflated, then seal it quickly to keep as much of the air inside as possible.

8. Use strips of duct tape to reinforce the edges of the ziploc bag (optional)

9. Your bagpipe lung breath controller device is now ready to use. (Pictured)

This device is excellent for breath-type vibrato instruments (not so much pitch vibrato). I believe its main weakness is with highly articulated fast lines - that takes a bit of practice to get consistent.

Remember to tweak your controller sensitivity settings so that you can get a full range from the bag without having to compress it too aggressively so that it will last longer.

Here are a couple of my posts showing me using it.

Let me know if you have any questions - it's a little bit of a niche piece of kit but I'm sure there are one or two people who might find it handy.