Most engineers know that ribbon mics and electric guitars are a match made in heaven. But which ribbon mic is right for you? Which one will sound the best for your style of music? Do you want one of the new standards, like the Royer R-121, R-10 or AEA R84, or a vintage classic that’s still in production, like the Beyerdynamic M 160? Or maybe something more affordable just to get you started?
I thought it would be great to give you the opportunity to hear them all side by side; plus, there are a few here that I’ve never heard. So, I gathered up 12 ribbon mics, some vintage designs and some new designs, and lined them up for you to hear. Here are the mics I chose.
| Royer | R-10 |
| Royer | R-121 |
| Beyerdynamic | M 160 |
| sE Electronics | Xr1 R |
| Golden Age | Project R1 MKII |
| sE Electronics | Voodoo VR1 |
| AEA | R84 |
| Avantone | CR-14 |
| AEA | N8 |
| Shure | KSM313/NE |
| AEA | R44CE |
| Audio-Technica | AT4081 |
Let’s Listen
If you’re like me, then you’d rather listen than read, so let’s get to it. I’ll detail our recording setup at the end of the article.
CLEAN
DIRTY
HEAVY
The Technical Details
Guitars
For this listening session, I had Don Carr play the three samples, each on a different guitar.
- Clean: American Strat
- Dirty: Les Paul Custom
- Heavy: Strandberg 7-string
Amp/Cabinet
We used the Revv Generator 120-watt head driving a Mesa/Boogie 4×12 Rectifier cabinet.
Recording Gear
All the samples were re-amped with a Radial SGI Studio Guitar Interface and recorded into Pro Tools at 24-bit/96kHz. The preamp of choice was the Rupert Neve Designs RMP-D8 using its A/D converters. The polarity of all the mics was confirmed using a test signal from a Galaxy Audio Cricket polarity tester.
Alignment
We selected the mic position after listening to it in various places and distances from the cone. The key to presenting a fair comparison is to make sure all the mics are in an identical location so they are all presented with the same audio signal. That’s why I rely on lasers: to align each of the mics in the same space in all three planes. Since distance is critical for ribbon mics, all the mic diaphragms were aligned for distance from the speaker within 6 samples at 96kHz.
What Did You Learn?
If you’ve not worked with lots of ribbon mics before, then listening to these samples may have been an eye-opening experience. Each mic has its own distinct character while retaining that wonderful ribbon sound. I hope you found the ribbon mic that sounds right for you. Call your Sweetwater Sales Engineer at (800) 222-4700 and pick up your very own ribbon mic today!
Credits
Thanks to Shawn Dealey for engineering this session at Sweetwater Studio A; Don Carr for playing; Rachel Leonard for assisting.
