The
Ribbon mics continue to impress with a great new acoustic session from
Graham Hodge CHECK IT OUT. The
BIG IDEA is to run a studio recording materclass weekend. Look out for
details!!!!!!!!!
Considered
by many as the most natural-sounding microphones ever made, ribbon
microphoness were immediately embraced by the broadcast and recording
industries in the early 1930s. Not requiring any awkward power
supply or batteries in their operation, the first commercially
produced ribbon microphones produced some of the most detailed
and memorable recordings ever made. Over the past 30 years or
so ribbon mics slowly disappeared off the radar with only the
British company Coles still producing mics for the BBC but the
huge growth in home recording has seen a renewed interest, with
new high quality ribbon microphones from companies like AEA and
Royer becoming studio standards along with recent releases from
Chinese companies like Sontronics, SE and Golden Age. As the name
suggests, at the heart of a ribbon transducer is an extremely
thin, ultra light ribbon of aluminium suspended by both ends.
This ribbon is vibrated by sound pressure within a magnetic field
and the ribbon's bidirectional movement, coupled with its insensitivity
to vibration at its sides or ends, produces a figure-8 pickup
pattern. Because a relatively low output voltage is produced from
the motion of the aluminium strip, a ribbon microphone really
needs a good clean preamp with up to 60 dB of preamplification
to achieve a standard 0 VU signal level. Generally the delicate
ribbon is surrounded by a large, weighty magnet assembly, making
many of the old ribbon mics relatively large and bulky, though
recent designs like range of Royer
ribbon microphones have brought a new lighter style ribbons.
Recording
Ribbon Microphones have gained a reputation for being fragile
and its true that the ribbons can break or become distorted
by wind pressure; even slamming a lid shut on the mic box has
been known to wreck a ribbon but this doesn't mean that they
can't deal with high SPLs if a sensible pop shield is used and
its good practice to use a pop shield all the time. Added to
this they require special handling during use and storage to
avoid damage to the ribbon element but the benefits of a good
ribbon mic far outweigh any of these difficulties as they can
sound stunning on the right recording session. Typically the
sound is characterized as smooth and natural with very silky
highs, a full bottom-end response at any distance, and high-SPL
handling. Low noise and superb transient response are additional
benefits, especially when a ribbon is paired with a quality
microphone preamp.
Generally speaking Ribbon microphones tend to be quite expensive
and companies producing premium quality Ribbon Mics such as
Audio Engineering Associates (AEA), Coles, and Royer Labs produce
mics in the £500 to £1000 range (and beyond) though
of course as with everything there is a new raft of budget Chinese
models by Apex and Nady and also the EH-R1, an updated version
of the Russian-made Oktava ML-52.
Normally the inherently low output of Ribbon microphones means
that the choice of preamp is really important and they can impart
a great deal of character to the sound of the microphones. The
classic Neve 1073 and 1081 have always performed well, along
with the more contemporary Grace units and AEA have produced
their own TRP preamp specifically for Ribbon Mics. It might
seem like yet another expense but you really need a good quiet
preamp with lots of gain to really get the best out of the mic
and when Reelsound bought a pair of AEA R84s it became clear
that we would need a much better set of mic preamps and we eventually
settled on the Focusrite ISA 428 which really brings the mics
alive.
The Golden
Age company have developed a range of interesting
and keenly priced Ribbon mics and their R1 ACTIVE is very interesting
Ribbon mic featuring a F.E.T. buffer ampilier which means that
you can use this mic with long cables and virtually any pre-amp
featuring 48V phantom power, getting round the need to lay out
for a quality mic pre.
I'm sure that in the next few years the re-emergence of the
Ribbon mic will play a significant role in the recording world
and there will spawn a huge range of ribbon mics of all shapes
and sizes.
