Ribbon Sound

[Magdalen Jhonston]

GregChandler said he found the mic had a "clear, detailed and even response, with condenser-like qualities. Extended HF response but still very smooth. Had the most 'air' of these ribbon mics and was notably the one tuned most for vocal recording. Used for backing vocals, I was able to get them to sit back in the track very nicely and still cut through. Compared with the main vocal (tracked with a Brauner Valvet), they were round and smooth, but retained a nice presence on high frequencies, giving clarity and detail without any harshness or sibilance."

The Velo 8 brought instant smiles to our faces, with its lovely, smooth, dark, rolled-off top end. It is perhaps not the mic to choose if you're looking for an all-rounder as, like the Sontronics Sigma, it sounds seriously 'vintage', but it is a lovely character to have available. The panel thought it conjured up exotica jazz (think 'The Girl From Ipanema'), so if this is your bag it would certainly be worth auditioning. The impedance switch was interesting, and made quite a difference: in the 75Ω position the sound was very soft and smooth throughout the range, albeit a little lacking in detail; the 300Ω position brought in quite a lot of extra detail, and seemed to extend the high-frequency response, but at the cost of a little of that smoothness and a little warmth at the bottom. Both positions would be usable on the right voice.

'Robust' and 'musical' were the first adjectives that sprung to mind when listening to the R1 Mk2. It sounded totally different from GA's R2, with a clear, smooth top end, and a lovely warm lower mid-range. "I can hear everything," the vocalist told us, and we later ended up using this microphone above all the others on several of her lead-vocal takes. The revised R1 Active (mentioned earlier) would probably pip it at the post, but if you have the right preamp to drive the passive version it's neck and neck. The results are all the more impressive considering the price.

SE Reflexion Filters were used with all the mics, to minimise unwanted room sound, for the vocal test recordings. The Crowley & Tripp Studio Vocalist turned out to be our favourite for the test vocalist. 6. Sontronics Sigma

Blue's intention with the Woodpecker was apparently to create a ribbon with an unusually extended high-frequency response, and our tests bore this out, showing a top-end response in the same ball park as the Crowley & Tripp Studio Vocalist. However, the character of this top end caused some discussion amongst our committee. Initially one person felt they could hear some 'zippy' distortion high up, rather like a valve mic, and another felt that the extreme top was a little lumpy, with some audible resonances. Despite this rather negative first impression, its character grew on us throughout the session. By the end, the singer rather liked it.

'Tasteful' was the first word we wanted to use when hearing the R84 on vocals. Also 'even', and 'clear and natural, yet tamed'. We felt 'esses' were a little subdued, and the mic was generally a little dark, but in general it was nicely charismatic, albeit with a fairly hefty proximity effect: classy, and eminently useful. In the Priory tests, Greg found that it had a "large, round sound, with good HF detail and transient response, and a big proximity effect. It gave the best feeling of 'being there' for the singer."

The Tube version of GA's R1 sounded extremely 'valvey', with an exaggerated high-frequency sizzle which just threw clarity at us, and in some ways reminded us of the Rode Classic, even down to the tubiness being a little grainy at the very top. The vocalist liked how she could 'hear everything'. We felt it would make a great first tube/ribbon mic for someone seeking some tube character, with the advantage of having that big, warm ribbon lower mid-range. It could be a good foil for a low/mid-range condenser. The only down side was that it was a little noisy, and therefore not the best mic for recording quiet sources. Greg found the tube qualities a little more frustrating: "The top end was very sizzly and spiky, with too much top-end distortion on vocals. This may be said to be a tube characteristic, but it was excessive, and the result was a nasal sound that didn't suit this particular voice at all."

We thought the R121 sounded very musical, though also quite coloured: it generally pushed up the upper mids more than any other mic on test, and we felt the sound was therefore quite spiky, though we also thought this might also help some vocals to cut through a mix more easily. The rear of the mic gave a sound that was more breathy and clear in general, which was not a surprise given the more extended high-frequency response.

The Beyer's hypercardioid pattern, predictably enough, led it to give us a tighter sound, with less room than any other mic on test. That said, the sound was impressively uncoloured. The M160's on-axis response has much in common with the Royer R121, in exhibiting quite a 'lump' at around 4kHz, which, although unpleasant on this particular vocalist, is actually very smooth, and we felt would help some singers' voices cut through a mix. Although perhaps not the first choice as a general-purpose vocal mic, its character is very smooth and classy and I can imagine a rock vocalist with sibilance problems would suit this mic well.

The Royer was lovely on acoustic: intensely clear, yet full. Using the front side, it almost made the guitar sound like a Fender Strat by pulling up the body so much. It was eminently useable, and a very nice contrast to the Oktava which, by comparison, offered all detail and no body. The reverse side of the mic, on the other hand, resulted in a tightly-controlled, brighter version of the same character, which we felt should sit fantastically in a pop mix.

We loved this mic on acoustic. It was lovely and balanced and, thanks to the tube, gave a scratchy top ("but in a good way"), that we felt would help the guitar to work really well in the wider context of a mix. Again, the results seem very good for the price.

The R84 had a nice, clear, sparkly top and a fairly resonant and flabby bottom end. It would probably sound great pulled back a couple of feet and, like the GA R2, would make a good general-purpose 'warmer' for condenser recordings.

See our comments for the R1 Mk2, below. The active version is a touch more flattering at both ends of the frequency spectrum, and isn't so fussy about the choice of preamp, but in other respects the two are very similar.

We liked the top of this microphone on acoustic guitar, and felt that it would sit rather nicely in a mix. However, the balance was a bit wrong lower down for solo work, and it suffered from a severe proximity effect, which brought out the 150-200Hz boom from the guitar's sound-hole quite dramatically.

We rather liked the sound of the R2 on acoustic guitar. It fell somewhere between the mid-range punch of the Royer and the vintage edge of the Sigma, but without having the detail of either. Great for those wanting that sort of very vintage (dark) sound on a tight budget.

The R1 had lots of upper-mids and brought out the strumming/plectrum sound nicely, but it lacked a touch of crispness, didn't offer much charisma, and had a rather uncontrolled bottom end. Though not particularly inspiring, it nonetheless put in a decent performance.

On acoustic guitar, the Soundstage Image was very odd-sounding, in that the soundstage was detailed but sounded rather like it had a high-pass filter on it. We thought this might be good for James Brown-style or vinyl-sounding cameo parts, but it was too coloured to be a general workhorse in this application.

It is easy to hear why the Beyers are so well-known for drums. The lovely smooth lift at around 4kHz has the effect of making snare drums jump out of the wider mix and really punch you in the face: the effect is similar to giving your drummer a double vodka and Redbull and then insulting his mother just before a take!

The Sigma prompted immediate 'coools' across the room when we brought it up. Crunchy and controlled, with a lovely tendency to bring out the resonances in the snare, this mic is a break-beat machine: trip-hop fans should take note.

The R1 Mk2 gave a very nice, lively and broad result, with a great kick sound that was bettered only by the Coles. The overall effect was very balanced, tight and controlled, but without quite the top-end or transient response of the Coles. Again, for the price, the performance of this microphone was excellent.

The R84 had a nice character, but was a touch soft and a bit uncontrolled at the bottom, so it wouldn't be one to use for overheads, but it offers a nice, extra-warm flavour if you don't need detail in great quantities. Greg gave a second opinion: "I set [the R84] about four feet back from the drum kit and positioned it at the drummer's waist height. It picked up a nice balance of the kit, and added a great deal of depth to the sound of the kit when blended in with the closer mics and overheads. I found I could add a fair bit of compression without getting too much volume from the cymbals. It gave a huge, round sound, adding some real thickness to the bass drum and the overall kit."

The frequency range this mic brought out was biased more towards the higher frequencies than any of the others, with a lot of emphasis on the upper mid-range. Transient response was great and the hi-hats were very much brought to the front. We thought it would be more useful as a main overhead in pairs than as a crunch mic, for which role we felt it would capture too much cymbal information.

The SE sounded nice and lively, but was let down by its treble response. As with the vocal 'esses', we found the R1 swallowed cymbals whole. We also felt that the low mids were a bit messy, and the kick sounded quite boxy, with none of the punch of the Coles, the R1 Mk2, or even the little R2.

Upon hearing these mics as a pair on overheads, one of our committee declared he didn't want to make another rock record without using this configuration... they do something to snare drums that we've never heard any other overhead do, really bringing out the crack and weight equally. The only down side would be our feeling that the high treble is a little recessed, so for sparkle on cymbals it might be worth supplementing with some condensers at times.

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