NMD Pair of AEA N 22 Ribbon Mics

[rockabilly69]

Originally Posted by Al Acuff

The signal boost comes from the transformer not the phantom powered electronics which are buffering (not boosting) the signal.

A pair of N22s in Blumlein sounds pretty magical on acoustic guitars. Try a vertical (standard) Blumlein array placing them 6-10 inches from the guitar and roll off a little low end. Your spaced pair sounds great too Kev. Have fun with your N22s!

FWIW I have wood floors which transmit sound to the mic stands and I've found the included N22 shockmounts to be lacking. The Rycote shockmounts (with the red springs) work well with N22s and work with the mounting bar for Blumlein stereo as well.

I bet the boost is coming from the JFET that's in the N22 circuit in tandem with the transformer

[rockabilly69]

Originally Posted by KevWind

While I had anticipated and was all set to love the 67,.... on my voice the 251 was actually the better fit.
And while all three mics were perfectly acceptable and obviously the Brauner is the sound I am used to hearing, there was just something extra with the 251 on my voice
So it will in fact be my next mic purchase

This is funny because I also chased the U47/U67 style classic vocal mic tones until I got a Lawson L251/L47 combo kit. The combo kit comes with both a tube body and a FET body, along with 2 capsules one U47 styled and the other U47. I thought I would love the L47 (which I really like), but I quickly determined that the L251 (with the tube body) was the mic that did it for me. There's a reason why so many people love the 251 voicing!

http://recordinghacks.com/microphones/Lawson/L251
http://www.lawsonmicrophones.com/product/COMBO.html

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by rockabilly69

Try a vertical (standard) Blumlein array placing them 6-10 inches from the guitar and roll off a little low end.

I don't think I'd tried this with the NS22s, just gave it a shot and it works nicely for me. I also rotated them to get MS, which should be almost the same, but I think I like it even better (I usually like MS, so no surprise). I wish I could find a good mic holder for vertical setups like this, trying to setup two mics one above each other is always a bit imprecise, and fidgety.

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

I wish I could find a good mic holder for vertical setups like this, trying to setup two mics one above each other is always a bit imprecise, and fidgety.

I'll bet the folks at Shapeways could design and create something for you to do that.

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by jim1960

I'll bet the folks at Shapeways could design and create something for you to do that.

I have their vertical mount for Schoeps, and it works as far as holding the mic and keeping them relatively positioned. But they don't address how to attach the holder to the mic stand - you have to use something else to hold the mount, and with vertical setups, it's hard to hold it securely - at least I haven't found a solution so far. The schoeps are fairly small and light-weight, the NS22s are bigger and heavier, and I'd like to be able to setup my Brauner VM1s this way (heavy)

[Doug Young]

Here's my exercise in trying NS22s in Blumlein and then rotating them to MS. Almost no EQ on this, just a 1db boost above 4KHz, and a rolloff below 85Hz. Probably could be tweaked, both EQ and mic positioning to sound better. Mics were about 8 inches in front of the guitar. Thanks for the suggestion of Blumlein! I had tried these mics and eventually tucked them away, I think I need to explore them a bit more, they seem promising. The self-noise is a bit higher than my condenser's, I think, but not too bad. I just ran these into my Apogee Ensemble.

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

I have their vertical mount for Schoeps, and it works as far as holding the mic and keeping them relatively positioned. But they don't address how to attach the holder to the mic stand - you have to use something else to hold the mount, and with vertical setups, it's hard to hold it securely - at least I haven't found a solution so far. The schoeps are fairly small and light-weight, the NS22s are bigger and heavier, and I'd like to be able to setup my Brauner VM1s this way (heavy)

The holder I have from them for my Gefell M295 pair was designed to fit the Rycote InVision INV-7 HG mkIII shock mount.

BTW... the mid-side version of your recording is lovely.

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by jim1960

The holder I have from them for my Gefell M295 pair was designed to fit the Rycote InVision INV-7 HG mkIII shock mount.

Thanks, I have one of those, I'll have to try it with the schoeps shapeways mount. For the NS22s, the bar would have to be about 17-18 inches long. I have tried just a normal mic bar, like the Sabra, but even with that, it seems difficult to get a stable vertical setup that doesn't move with the weight of the mics. Maybe a higher quality bar like the AEA: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...7-inch-mic-bar

but that's a lot to spend on a mic mount!

BTW... the mid-side version of your recording is lovely.

Thanks, I'll have to keep working with these, but I think they're promising.

[Paulreso1]

I just came across this thread. I have a pair of N22s and really like them ... they are very versatile and can be used in many ways....in mono, MS, Blumlein etc. I made a video using them to record a couple of acoustic guitars, a resonator and an old ukulele....I'm sure the sound is not completely optimised, but I was reasonably happy with it.

The recording chain is AEA N22 --> DAV BG1 Preamp, --> line level into a Marantz PM661 Mkii portable recorder....no reverb or eq (other than low pass cut) added to the sound....

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Paulreso1

I just came across this thread. I have a pair of N22s and really like them ... they are very versatile and can be used in many ways....in mono, MS, Blumlein etc. I made a video using them to record a couple of acoustic guitars, a resonator and an old ukulele....I'm sure the sound is not completely optimised, but I was reasonably happy with it.

The recording chain is AEA N22 --> DAV BG1 Preamp, --> line level into a Marantz PM661 Mkii portable recorder....no reverb or eq (other than low pass cut) added to the sound....

Nice demo
Interesting and I had not thought of the horizontal MS position

For my singer/songwriter position, I simply put one mic horizontal pointed at the guitar (like your positioning ) and then moved the other mic up to a horizontal position pointed at my mouth ( sort of like a space pair with both facing the source ) but for one for vocal and one for guitar

[Al Acuff]

Have you folks seen the announcements for the new KU5a super cardioid ribbon mic from AEA? It looks like a game changer.

https://www.aearibbonmics.com/products/ku5a/

[Brent Hahn]

Originally Posted by Al Acuff

... the new KU5a super cardioid ribbon mic from AEA? It looks like a game changer.

Indeed. The clips sound very good. That violin clip, especially, pretty screechless. Curious about how close the mic was.

[Al Acuff]

Originally Posted by Brent Hahn

Indeed. The clips sound very good. That violin clip, especially, pretty screechless. Curious about how close the mic was.

It appears you can use the KU5a in the 2-6 inch distance range and it has a switchable high pass filter built in.

Darn! I have all the mics I need but the KU5a sure would be fun... Whoever gets one first please post here and let everyone know what you think.

[Al Acuff]

Here's the video announcing the debut of the KU5a.

[Doug Young]

Very interesting. I'm not very taken with the acoustic and classical guitar clips, tho. Everything else sounds quite good.