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Old 03-23-2022, 05:46 PM
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Default Which ribbon mic to buy?

I'm looking at buying a nicer ribbon mic, or maybe a pair sometime this year. I thought I would get some opinions from you fine folks. Mics I currently have:

Gefell M300 pair
AKG 414 XLS
AT 2020 pair
SM 57
Cascade Fathead ribbon

My interface is a RME Babyface Pro. It seems to have plenty of gain for the Fathead, but I've mostly used it to record guitar amps. I might need a specific ribbon preamp to record solo fingerstyle guitar.

I'm thinking of using a ribbon to record electric guitar, banjo, steel string guitar, my National single cone, maybe some flute. Basically a variety of things.

I mostly record in my bedroom studio, which has some acoustic treatment. I've been looking at the various offerings from AEA. The N22 sounds nice, and seems to be built for folks recording at home, functioning best as a close mic. With their other mics like the R84 or the N8 I would need to be farther from the source, which would bring my less than ideal room into play, though its hard to know how much.

On the cheaper end of things these Cascade Vin Jets sure sound good, and seem to get good reviews. A pair of them with the upgraded Lundhal transformer runs about $1000.



If anyone has any input about AEA mics, or other suggestions, I am all ears.
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  #2  
Old 03-23-2022, 06:29 PM
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Cool. I kinda regret selling my ribbon sometimes. My home space is also less than ideal, so I'll just say that my experience with the few ribbons I've had here, which were all of course a figure of eight pattern, that excessive room sound was much less of a problem than I feared. Unlike using, say, the 414 in figure of eight (or omni), I found what little bit of room sound it added was more like a well placed/mixed room mic thing... Oh man, now you got me thinking about ribbons again! The AEA R84 share looks sweet
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Old 03-23-2022, 07:28 PM
sdelsolray sdelsolray is offline
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AEA N8. It's phantom powered so you don't have to worry about using a high gain preamp on quieter sources.
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Old 03-23-2022, 07:57 PM
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Yea I was thinking about the N8 maybe. A bit more versatile than the N22 in that I can farther than 15" if needed. And a little room sound might be just fine. Maybe I'll save up and get their stereo kit.
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Old 03-23-2022, 08:15 PM
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I like your video, nice! What about the Royer R-121? Especially since you mention electric guitar. I'm told, in Nashville, that is the go to these days.
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Old 03-23-2022, 08:57 PM
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Oh thats not me, i wish. Thats RJ Ronquilo demoing Cascade Vin Jet
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Old 03-23-2022, 10:36 PM
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The ribbon mic I'd like to check out is the SE RNR1:

https://www.seelectronics.com/se-rnr1-rupert-neve-mic

Here's Pierre using it (tho not clear how all these mic are being mixed):



I've tried so many ribbons, and continue to *want* to like them, but rarely end up using them alone. Somehow, I always end up saying "nice, but the condensers sound better".
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Old 03-24-2022, 02:38 AM
hazmuz hazmuz is offline
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how about Rode NTR? does anybody have any experience with it?
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Old 03-24-2022, 04:23 AM
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I have a pair of the Rode NTR and really like them, using them mostly as a spaced pair for small ensembles. Sorry I don't have any acoustic guitar recordings to share, but was always pleased when I used them for that.

The only downside to them is their size and weight. Not a deal breaker for me, and the excellent build quality and excellent captured sound outweigh (sorry, but appropriate pun) and misgivings.

A major consideration for selecting a ribbon mic for any recording is the quality of the room. Having deep nulls on both sides and top/bottom are a blessing for reducing "noise", but the fact that they are bi-directional (figure of 8) can bite you in rooms that have nasty reflections. Deployed in a lovely space they can't be beat for spotting solo instruments, imo.
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Old 03-24-2022, 05:22 AM
EZYPIKINS EZYPIKINS is offline
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Royer R-121 gets my vote.
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Old 03-24-2022, 07:03 AM
j3ffr0 j3ffr0 is offline
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I have an AEA R84, R92, Royer R121, and R10. I fell in love with the Ribbon sound for its smoothness and ability to tame harsh transients. I mostly record solo finger style guitar, which can be really quiet. The R92 was my first purchase, but it was a little hissy. Bought a cloud lifter and it was still too hissy for my taste. AEA TRP preamp took care of it, but it is still a little noisy (all the ribbons are noisy compared to a condenser because of the gain I need for finger style). I bought an R10 around the same times as the R92 but the R92 sounded a lot more full range for my application.

Later on I bought the R84, because I got bit by the ribbon bug, and I wanted to try it on vocals. With a little eq, it does not disappoint. I find it more flexible than the R92 for what I do. The bass roll off of the R92 is something I don't want for solo finger style, and it gets more pronounced at greater distances. For close micing, however, the R92 can't be beat. I prefer it to the R84 and the R121.

The R121 was my latest Ribbon purchase, because why not... I have less experience with it than the others, but also seems like a good all around choice. Perhaps a little more boxy than the R84 tone wise.... maybe not as boxy as the R92.

One hidden cost with the Royer R121/R122 is that they don't come with the shock mount, which you will definitely want ribbons IMO because of their tendency to pick up sub sonic info. If you are looking for an all-rounder and didn't want to buy a preamp, the active R84a, N8, or R122 would be my top choices. If you don't mind buying a ribbon specific pre-amp, then you don't have to get the active versions. It can be useful to have a ribbon with more reach like the the R84, N8 or R121 and a close-mic specialist like the R92 or N22. Of all my Ribbons, I'd probably skip the R10 -- it is the boxiest of the bunch although it is useful on things like amps and strummed acoustics.

And if you do ever decide you want to do an external ribbon pre-amp... I recommend AEA over Grace (which has a ribbon mode). I have not tried Millennia (which also has a Ribbon mode).

If I could keep just one Ribbon mic, it would be my R84.
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Old 03-24-2022, 08:14 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by anton View Post
I'm looking at buying a nicer ribbon mic, or maybe a pair sometime this year.

I mostly record in my bedroom studio, which has some acoustic treatment. I've been looking at the various offerings from AEA. The N22 sounds nice, and seems to be built for folks recording at home, functioning best as a close mic.



If anyone has any input about AEA mics, or other suggestions, I am all ears.
Yes can offer some input and a couple of video example Because I use a pair of AEA N22 That said mic's are probably one of the hardest audio items to recommend because everybody's expectations of the "sound they are looking for is different"

I chose the N22 for two reasons

#1 Because I sing in 99% of my recording productions I wanted something that give me be a smooth acoustic guitar sound that can meld with vocal
#2 I wanted mic that I could place fairly close to my electric guitar speaker cabs
Generally I record with the N22's @ I have now doubt that the AEA N8's would be just as good with perhaps

Unfortunately I do not have any example of just the pair of N22 on solo acoustic instrumental

I have this little instrumental demo when I got my Furch BUT I also have a Tube LDC placed between the pair of N22's and back a bit further



This is more typical with vocal





And here I use N22's on both acoustics guitars and the electric

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Last edited by KevWind; 03-24-2022 at 08:38 AM.
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Old 03-25-2022, 02:37 PM
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Thanks for the input everyone, it certainly gives me some more things to think about. Doug, I've listened to most of your ribbon mic samples on Soundcloud, they all sound varying degrees of good. Some I like more than others. That Cascade stereo mic is noticeably darker and noisier than some of the other mics there.

I guess right now I'm leaning towards something like the N8. I won't have to worry about a special preamp, and in my current room I usually mic from about a foot away at least.
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Old 03-25-2022, 02:45 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by anton View Post
Thanks for the input everyone, it certainly gives me some more things to think about. Doug, I've listened to most of your ribbon mic samples on Soundcloud, they all sound varying degrees of good. Some I like more than others. That Cascade stereo mic is noticeably darker and noisier than some of the other mics there.

I guess right now I'm leaning towards something like the N8. I won't have to worry about a special preamp, and in my current room I usually mic from about a foot away at least.
I'd check on the output levels of the N8. I haven't tried that one, but even the N22s, which are active, still require a lot of gain. The Royer SF24, also active, does as well. All the ribbons I have need the AEA RPQ all but maxed out on gain. As I understand it, the noise with ribbons comes not so much from the mic itself, but from the preamp gain required, so you need a very quiet high gain preamp. The Cascade ribbon is a relatively budget mic compared to most of the ones I have, and it probably is the noisiest
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Old 03-25-2022, 09:42 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Doug Young View Post
I'd check on the output levels of the N8. I haven't tried that one, but even the N22s, which are active, still require a lot of gain. The Royer SF24, also active, does as well. All the ribbons I have need the AEA RPQ all but maxed out on gain. As I understand it, the noise with ribbons comes not so much from the mic itself, but from the preamp gain required, so you need a very quiet high gain preamp. The Cascade ribbon is a relatively budget mic compared to most of the ones I have, and it probably is the noisiest
Yes my N22's use most of the 60db gain on my Carbon which is pretty clean
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