Royer SF24V demo - stereo ribbon/tube mic

[rockabilly69]

What if you get a bit further away and raise the gain? I record with ribbons a lot and I find this helps to reduce the emphasized low-end characteristic the ribbons bring to the table. The downside is you need a good sounding slightly bright room to get away with it

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by rockabilly69

What if you get a bit further away and raise the gain? I record with ribbons a lot and I find this helps to reduce the emphasized low-end characteristic the ribbons bring to the table. The downside is you need a good sounding slightly bright room to get away with it

Right, there's definitely a lot of proximity effect with the mic, common to ribbons, I believe. There's some boomy notes on these test tracks that I could fine tune. I've tried a ton of positions now. My room's not terrible, but it's not a pro studio either, so I usually err on the closer side. I'm also surprised that in spite of this being an active mic, it still needs a lot of gain. My AEA RPQ is most of the way up, so I don't have a ton of quiet gain left to work with.

But I keep trying new positions. Here's probably my best result so far, with the mic a bit above the guitar, angled down. Does this seem too bassy to you? I'm pretty happy with this example. 2 short noodles with 2 different guitars, same mic position:

[runamuck]

Lovely sound, Doug. If anything I'd like to hear a tad more bass but it's beautiful as it is too.

[Trevor B.]

Originally Posted by rockabilly69

What if you get a bit further away and raise the gain? I record with ribbons a lot and I find this helps to reduce the emphasized low-end characteristic the ribbons bring to the table. The downside is you need a good sounding slightly bright room to get away with it

Do you find this approach raises the noise floor? I've avoided ribbon mics for this reason despite really liking the darker sound they tend to impart.

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by Trevor B.

Do you find this approach raises the noise floor? I've avoided ribbon mics for this reason despite really liking the darker sound they tend to impart.

Sure, the further you are from the guitar, the more room sound you get, and for most of us at home, the more environmental noise we get. Then, the more gain you have to use, the more preamp noise you get. Most ribbons are themselves very quiet, as I understand it. The noise comes from the extreme gain you usually need, so you need a extra quiet preamp. My AEA RPQ is designed specifically for ribbons, but still adds noise if I have to crank it all the way up.

So it's double-whammy, more preamp self-noise, more room/environmental noise.

[Trevor B.]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

But I keep trying new positions. Here's probably my best result so far, with the mic a bit above the guitar, angled down. Does this seem too bassy to you? I'm pretty happy with this example. 2 short noodles with 2 different guitars, same mic position:

The second clip sounds really great!

[Doug Young]

I had just put new strings on the 2nd guitar in that clip. I think the highs of the new strings and the warmth of the ribbon worked out nicely

[Joseph Hanna]

Originally Posted by Trevor B.

The second clip sounds really great!

Well....I dunno what I can add other than what I've already mentioned. This is just a very, very nice sonic and sound. It stands up under concentrated listening and well as a casual pass which for me is often mutually exclusive. For me (and I know it's all relative) this compliments your playing style and your personal tone really well. The wonderful high-end detail emerging out of the body of the tone is for me stunning.

On another note the challenge of a mic that needs intense gain obviously and first and foremost sheds a pretty bright light on just how important "rooms" can be. Royer's have always been a challenge to properly gain stage and I've heard painfully failed recordings where the pre-amp and room simple refuse to cooperate with the mic.

In the end I guess, if a beautiful and fairly unique signature sonic is a priority the cost of the mic and any room adjustment needed would be well worth the investment!

[anton]

I think that latest clip sounds wonderful. Did you end up keeping the mic.

[Doug Young]

Thanks Anton, the mic I used here was a floating loaner/demo from Royer, so that one went back, but I went ahead and bought a nice shiny new one :-)

[rockabilly69]

Originally Posted by Joseph Hanna

On another note the challenge of a mic that needs intense gain obviously and first and foremost sheds a pretty bright light on just how important "rooms" can be. Royer's have always been a challenge to properly gain stage and I've heard painfully failed recordings where the pre-amp and room simple refuse to cooperate with the mic.

In the end I guess, if a beautiful and fairly unique signature sonic is a priority the cost of the mic and any room adjustment needed would be well worth the investment!

I agree with this statement 100%. Another important thing is, chasing a unique sonic signature, usually requires PATIENCE and the skill/ear to recognize it when you hear it