i always enjoy the opportunity to recommend ribbon mics, and this is one of the applications where ribbons excel. oddly, not many project studios are sufficently aware of the wonderful sonic characteristics of ribbon mics, but if you look at the equipment lists of the best pro studios, you will see a variety of new and vintage ribbon mics (
coles 4038,
rca 77,
royer r-121, beyer m160 and m130). of these,
the beyer m160 is the most affordable, and is a great little mic. ribbons are especially good for horns, bowed strings, woodwinds, and drum overheads (the early beatles recordings used a single coles 4038 overhead as their only drum mic, and a pair of coles were the only drum mics used on led zep's "when the levee breaks"). the new technology ribbons, such as the royer, are also seeing a lot of use micing guitar cabinets. ribbon mics have provided the traditional warm sound of most jazz recordings since the 1940s.
