AEA R84 Reviews

4.9/5.0 based on 13 customer reviews

Sweetwater Advice

Forrest Powell

I had the privilege of Wes Dooley coming over to the home studio recently, and we did some quick recordings of acoustic guitar on the R84 and R92. Wow! Compared to some mics at, well, four times the price tag, they both stood up with marvelous clarity and rich, musical character. I love ribbon mics in general, and the R84 is spot-on for vocals to reduce proximity effect and extend the frequency range dramatically. Awesome!

Bart Good

I remember the first time that I used the AEA R84 while recording a popular jazz ensemble. The R84 was in front of an alto saxophone and I couldn't believe how smooth and real “3D” it sounded. Since then I have used this mic on acoustic guitar and vocals. I have been impressed with how smooth it captures sound. It also takes eq very well which makes it easy to sculpt in the mix. I highly recommend this microphone - if you've never used a ribbon mic, the R84 is a great place to start.

Sort By Date Sort By Rating

Customer Reviews

Michael Lyons
from Indianapolis, IN
December 14, 2012Music Background:
Tracking Engineer

Love it!

It's like putting your ears up next to the sound source. Absolutely love the R84. Will definitely be adding another to the mic locker.

hncl in MA
from Boston area, MA
December 8, 2012Music Background:
Recordist specializing in jazz/improvised music on acoustic instruments

Excellent, Versatile, and FORGIVING microphone

If I had to start building my microphone collection from scratch, knowing what I do now, these would be the first microphones I'd buy, period. While they wouldn't be the only mics I'd buy, I suspect I could go a long while with a pair of R84s before feeling the need for another microphone.
They are my current go-to microphones for saxophones, trumpets, and wind and brass instruments. No one mic is suitable for everyone's voice, but when this is the one that fits, it's a revelation to the singer, truly flattering and exciting. (In those cases where it doesn't work with a singer, the right mic doesn't generate equivalent excitement—I think I have to look at LDCs with nose-bleed prices to get something that is as good a fit for those folks with "non-ribbon" voices)
Something that no one else has mentioned is how forgiving these microphone are in terms of placement. You'd think a figure-of-eight pattern would be something of a pain in rear, especially in small spaces, and yes, putting something behind this mic is the same as putting something in front of it (except w/ the polarity reversed), but putting something *to* *the* *side* of the mic is darn near putting it in an isolation chamber—the nulls are really that deep. Eliminating or reducing bleed in a small space suddenly becomes possible.
Last but not least, get a really-o, truly-o good preamp for this baby. Ribbons need lots of clean gain and are very sensitive to input impedance, and the *higher* the input impedance, the better. If you can spring for AEA's TRP or (even better) their RPQ, that's wonderful. Alternately (and for much less money) there's Cloud Microphone's Cloudlifter which goes between the ribbon mic and the preamp.
In sum, even though these aren't cheap mics, they are excellent values. Beginners will be surprised at the results they get, while more advanced users will appreciate their flexibility and unusually large range of problems they can solve.

Bob skinner
from
November 23, 2012Music Background:
Singer Songwriter guitarist

NEW SMOOTHIE

The way this mic smooth,s out my crusty old voice really is nothing short of miraculous (If I had this mic 40yrs ago I coulda bin a contender lol ) I am looking hard a getting the RPQ500 but the sound I am getting through my ART PROII >my apollo>pultec eq is so good I am having a hard time justifying the cost .The AEA84 really is two mic,s in one as the sound through the back is very different than through the front .(my voice sounds best through the back)on acoustic guitar the trick seems to be finding a location where it doesn,t sound good. At first I thought the sock was kind of goofy but because this mic gets used so much in my little studio the sock is very handy and practical.I have a fet head dedicated to this mic so I never have to worry about inadvertently applying 48v to the aea84(even if you don,t need the extra 20db)I will admit that I do like gear that looks good(ok I.m a tad vain) and this mic sure win,t hard on the eyes or ears

mike roberts band
from Houston, TX
November 9, 2011Music Background:
Pro musician, songwriter, producer

Love in ribbons

I recorded my EP back in 2005 in a great studio in NYC. Of all the different fancy mics the engineer used on the record, this is the only memorable one. Tracked my baritone voice beautifully, and captured the mandola and guitars impeccably. I'll be getting one for my new songwriting studio.

Ryan Rowdy Mowdy
from Crappy Town, Oklahoma
August 11, 2011Music Background:
audio engineer, musician, dreamer

THE MIC OF AGES!!!

This is THE MIC OF THE AGES!! Caveat - I think finallly I have ACHIEVED MY DREAMS ON VOCALS. I'M ACTUALLY GOING BONKERS OVER THESE MICS. IF YOU WANT ONE OF THE BEST MICS THIS IS IT JUST BUY THIS BABY GET TWO OF EM LIKE I DID THEY ARE UNBELIEVABLE TRULY A MAJOR TURNING POINT IN MY LIFE NOW MY VOCALS WILL NEVER EVER BE THE SAME. THANK YOU SAGE SO MUCH AND ALL YOU AT SWEETWATER DAMN I LOVE THIS MIC!!!!!!!!

Danny Rico
from Brooklyn, NY
October 15, 2010Music Background:
Songwriter/Producer/Engineer

Mic Cabinet MUST.

In long search for that "put the mic where it sounds good in the room with your ears"-mic, the R84 does EXACTLY THAT.

I've heard much hype about this mic, and I finally gave in. I WILL NEVER LOOK BACK. Its characteristic sound is everything you want a 'real' ribbon mic to have. Smooth highs (not dark), impecable and luscious mids, earthquake lows. So far I've used it on drums, vocals, and guitars both acoustic and electric. There is no shining star application because they ALL sound INCREDIBLE.

If I lost it I would break the bank, go in debt, and sell organs to get another.

Look for warmth, and look no further than this mic.

Ney Mello
from USA
November 29, 2009Music Background:
Guitarist / composer, Producer, Engineer

Classic indispensable golden sound resurrected intact in the 21st century

This microphone is also part of of my studio. Ribbon mics, unlike condensers are ideally compatible with digital recording media. They were abandoned due to tape recorders smearing out the natural sound of the ribbon mic. Condensers were created to compensate for that by being harder and more pronounced in the high frequencies. The same principle as pre-emphasis in mastering analog tape more or less.

Therefore I would recommend that someone starting a DAW studio today , first get great ribbons and great dynamic mics before they great condensers. It takes a lot of experience to use condensers well with DAWs and also expensive mic pres. Great solid state mic pres cost even more than great tube pres. You can't really escape that reality and a U87 will not sound too good at all with a cheap mic pre. But ribbon mics work fantastically well with many pres. and are very forgiving until you know mic technique inside out.

Added to that, you will keep your ribbons even after you can buy costly condensers and mic pres worth your time and money. The R84 is in my experience the fullest , most classic sounding ribbon, besides the coles mics. It is not a hard textured mic or wooden sounding like most of the new ribbons made today.

And it is made expertly by people who love with devotion what they make. Definitely not just another cool "product". This is a work of art and love.

It is almost instant 60s big sound that never tires your ears. It is a secret weapon for retro lush orchestral sounds and thick, present vocals, drums, recording amazing violin tones...really anything as long as one pays attention to positioning, impedance, and the fact that they are figure eight polar pattern. It is true that they take eq forever. You would have to pay around 5 times more for a condenser that can take eq like the R84 an sound beautiful afterwards.

Tim
from Central Missouri
October 23, 2009Music Background:
Ex-Pro Guitarist, Recording Hobbyist

Pure Heaven

I've wanted to add a pro-quality ribbon to my mic cabinet for a while. It's pretty easy to find a ribbon for under a couple hundred these days, but most of the "inexpensive" choices seem to all sound the same and don't really have the magic that an old RCA or Coles does. Every part of a sound influences everything downstream, from my hands, pick, guitar, amp, etc. - if it's not right from the start, you can't fix it later. I was looking for something that had the qualities of the classic ribbons, but without the hassle of caring for a 50-year-old RCA 44 or 77 that had been through who knows what.

I considered a Coles 4038, they certainly sound good, but seemed (to me, at least) to have a reputation of being somewhat more fragile than most. I also considered a Blue Woodpecker. I've always had good luck with Blue mics, and the Woodpecker is no exception. However, to me, it seemed too "modern" and not the "vintage classic" I was going for. That's also my reason for not selecting a Royer. Royer mics are incredible, especially the R121 that has become a standard, but still not quite what I was looking for. I ended up with the R84 because of Wes Dooley's experience with RCA ribbons and AEA's R84 design philosophy of keeping the sonics of the RCA 44 while modernizing the construction. If I'd had an unlimited budget, I probably would have picked the AEA R44, but it seemed like their R92 was, again, "too modern" for my tastes. While I didn't have a chance to try one of the new Shure ribbons, I think I'd likely put them in that category, too.

So, when my R84 arrived and I was able to use it in my home studio, it's even better than I expected (and I had pretty high expectations). It's smooth; it's fast; it's extraordinarily detailed; it's warm; it can be as clean as I want it to be, but when it's driven hard, it's pure heaven. This is *exactly* what I wanted and so much better than I thought it was going to be.

Creston
from Gettysburg, PA USA
May 8, 2008Music Background:
Pro Musician

Best Mic in My Locker

Condenser mics are great but this ribbon mic is dead on tone, especially with vocals. Right now I am using my ART MPA Gold preamp to drive the R84 (believe it or not it does a great job) and I am astonished how sweet it is (sorry Jackie Gleason)! I love it, love it, love it!

Chris Tedesco
from Los Angeles, CA
February 20, 2008Music Background:
trumpet player, musician contractor

AEA R84 ribbon for brass and winds

Man, this is the best sounding mic for brass and winds, hands down. And for the money, it is a no brainer. I use it on my trumpet daily doing sessions and everyone that hears it says "what is that mic?" - I have used it on a tenor sax and french horn and both results were outstanding. I liked it so much I now own two of them - purchased through Sweetwater!

Greg
from Central Jersey
August 27, 2006Music Background:
Engineer/producer/editor

exactly what I needed

I own two of these mics because the first one I bought worked so incredibly well! It was originally purchased to record a soprano vocalist on a remote session. It ran through a Grace pre and I couldn't be happier with the result. Every neuance of her vocal was captured with great warmth to compliement her extremely bright voice at a distance of 5 feet. It's great on guitar amps, acoustic string instruments, and stereo applications. I used the pair to record a chamber orchestra and with the addition of a little piano and bass reinforcement, it sounded excellent. Great for room micing drums and alright when used as overheads as long as you desensitize the rear lobe in untreated or funky sounding rooms. LOVE the AEA R84

Manky
from Brooklyn
October 18, 2012Music Background:
Producer

Very solid, all purpose ribbon mic

I have yet to put this mic through all the proper paces, and I do feel a bit unfair reviewing it before using it in a few good rooms with a variety of instruments. By all means, it has been a perfect good mic with lots of character for my purpose so far, not to mention very well made.

Having said that, I do have a few practical points to make regarding using this mic that might be helpful to some of you gearhead shoppers.

-You will need a high quality pre capable of lots of gain. I'm sure you know this already, but it bears repeating that there will be lots of noise unless you are pretty serious about the quality of your pre.

- You will need very good quality boosting EQ to get the best out of this mic. For things like drum/room ambience mic'ing this may not be so much of an issue, but for close mic'ing instruments, absolutely. Your average sequencer freebie EQ is probably not going to do justice to this mic. Your EQing skills really matter, a lot of things will not sound good enough the way they often do even with a carelessly placed LDC.

- The room is very, very important with a mic like this. It will pick up a lot of ambient noise. If you record a single instrument at a time in your bedroom, I would recommend a good LDC or (if you are deadset on ribbons) a Beyer M160. This mic will pick up the neighborhood kids screaming at their mother two blocks away, and it will show up on your delicate acoustic guitar recording.

If you are looking for "warmth", I just want to caution you that your money would be best spent in other places. IMO "warmth" is achieved by your instrument selection and musical sensibilities. Buying a mic is not really going to help you in that regards. (Rant over, but I am particularly susceptible to the "warmth" allure myself)

Overall I see this mic as being something wonderful for recording multiple performers due to the excellent side rejection capabilities and the tonal depth. A few patient, serious musicians in a decent room, with this mic set up in the right place is an amazing thing for getting some real musical performances recorded.

Marshall Simmons
from Toledo Ohio USA
April 1, 2004

Review of the AEA R84

This microphone is a wonderful way to get a smooth rich sound into your sonic arsenal. I was lucky enough to be an early adopter of this mic, and in the 9 months or so that i've been using the R84, it continually suprises me with its sonic beauty.

I often use the R84 on vocals, where it will exibit a smooth thickness in the midrange, and a soft top that is definitely not sibilant. Up close it will give you a huge low end, thanks to its extreme proximity effect.

Not only does the R84 work well with vocals, but it also accels with guitar amps and bass amps. This mic has become my go-to mic for acoustic guitar giving me the body of the acoustic without nearly as much pick sound, unlike my schoeps microphones, which almost become too pick-ey

I am extremely happy with my purchase and would reccomend it to anyone who needs some more colours on their sonic pallet.

Marshall Simmons

The Music Factory Studios

Toledo Ohio

AEA R84

Large Ribbon Studio Microphone w/Cable and Carrying Case

iOS/iPad

Recording

Computer Audio

Guitar

Bass

Keyboard

Drums

Live Sound

DJ/Lighting

Accessories

Dealzone

inSync

SweetCare® 24/7 Tech Support