13 thoughts on “Show 125 – 30 Ribbon Mic Shootout”

  1. Regarding Jon’s question, actually the Beyerdynamic M-130 and Audio-Technica AT4080 are dual-ribbon mics, but not in the way you’d expect. They use two ribbons that as far as I know are basically stacked on top of another like a sandwich.

    What you’re probably thinking of is the Avant CR-14, Apex 215, Trion 7000, etc. mics that use two ribbons side-by-side. I wish we’d had at least one of these.

    The two unidirectional mics we had were the RCA KU-3A, aka the “10001,” and its modern descendent the AEA KU4 (which is billed as a supercardioid mic). I’m planning to circle back with a wider complement of unidirectional ribbons in a month or two, maybe ask Randy and Corey to do another little shootout.

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  3. Can’t wait to listen to the shootout.. Hope that I have as much patience listening to the results as you guy’s had to have had doing the shoot out..

    Full cred’ to Randy, Matt and Ryan (and their support team) !!!

    Hmm would l have liked to hear the Avantone CR-14 (yes Matt I understand the background) and also the Cascade X-15 Stereo Short Ribbon Microphone. I like the idea of both of these. But hell you had more than enough to play with so I am not complaining.

    I have been thinking of buying a Fathead II Stereo Pair Microphone Blumlein set for a while but now Ryan has got me thinking Vin-Jet..

    BTW.. Ryan I am probably gonna send you a small “impedance toy” to play with over the next week so keep the eyes open for a mailed package..

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  4. great show, I want a ribbon now!

    For Jon :
    salt of the earth:
    A metaphor that occurs in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:13), as part of a discourse on Salt and Light
    Humble and unpretentious people,

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  5. BY THE WAY, Its really smart for any microphone vendor to let the HRS GUYS to demo some mics…you know a million of us little home recording guys want to buy some royer mics, or some coles…and then comes a show like this! TO SAY THE LEAST…I am drooling waiting everyday for the part 2 of this show!!

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  6. Great show, guys! As a sax player, I just wanted to give you a thumbs up for including a sax in the ribbon mic tests (something sorely lacking in most mic tests…) Cant wait to hear the comparisons.

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  8. Great show guys, whole crap that’s a lot of mics. Hope you had fun doing the shootout, i’m definitely gonna have fun listening to it.

    On the two preamp thing, if the first preamp got a mic level output, you are fine, i done it a couple of times when in a tight spot.

    Love the trailer for the shootout.

    Once again great show can’t wait for the next one.

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  10. Hey guys, love the show. I have 2 Mxl r44’s (before the name change) and they get the job done for me, it was also a surprise when you guys dove into the different colors that a ribbon can produce when just moving around the polar pattern. From the shoot out I’m really looking into the Cascade Fat Head II(for guitar) but do you think it would be a better choice to go with a Vin-Jet? Then maybe I can sell my mxl’s. Thanks again, Brandon.

    P.S. does the lundhal tranny make a huge difference?

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    • Both Cascade mikes would be solid choices on guitar. I would also look at the Royer R101. It is the lower priced entry from them that did quite well all around. If you are looking for a pair, then go Cascade to keep the price down. The Lundahl transformer makes a huge difference! I did that mod to my Apex 210s. They went from unusable on electric guitar to very usable.

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  11. Hey, Gents, long time listener, first time poster – loved the ribbon talk. As you were talking about the required gain for ribbons, I was thinking “come on, double ribbons, guys”. Then, reading my mind, Jon mentioned it, but no one there has any experience with them.

    I do – my one and only mic is an Apex 210 double ribbon. It provides enough signal that my el cheapo Behringer mixer preamps have plenty of gain. Some audio examples:

    http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=9078948 I recorded the recorders (four in total) on this track with the Apex. Write-up here: http://robntweber.wordpress.com/2010/05/05/this-is-my-fathers-world/

    http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=9346045 All the vocal tracks were laid down with the Apex. Write-up here:http://robntweber.wordpress.com/2010/07/06/every-day/ I’m thinking about remixing this one – any general advice?

    Thanks for the great and consistent, and consistently great, show!

    Rob

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  12. Hey Guys,

    In the show on the ribbon mics you talked about not keeping mics out for long periods of time to protect from dust getting on the element. This makes a lot of sense, but I of course didn’t think about this and have had my condenser out for a LONG time. What are the best methods for cleaning it?

    Thanks, keep up the good work!

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