ribbon mic

C

clogmeisterxvi

New member
Hi

I am interested in achieving the warm sound people rave about with ribbon mics, especially for classical string ensembles and solo intruments, but I also am hoping to get a warm sound for electric guitar with natural valve distortion. I will presumably need a separate preamp as well. I am recording through a M audio ultra into Protools DAW. The M audio has quite low gain.

I want to avoid spending too much, so the upper end mics are out of the question. I am wandering if ti is better to go for a Cascade blumlein pair or spend it $'s for instance on a refurbished by Steven Sands Beyer M260.

What preamp shoud l get?

Have people got first hand experience with either option on strings?

Any hints are much appreciated.
 
Hint: Post this in the mic forum :)

seriously - you will get much faster and more expert replies than the newb forum
 
The Cascade (assuming you're talking about the) FatHeads are great mics for peanuts. The pair with the Bloomy bar is one of the most freakish deals out there. Great with strings (really, great with almost anything).

Sure - You're going to need a decent preamp - If you're looking for uber-cheap and still usable, you could do worse than M-Audio's DMP3. If a RNP or something is in the cards, it'd be a somewhat better option though.

WHOOPS - New post:
arcadeko said:
Hint: Post this in the mic forum :)

seriously - you will get much faster and more expert replies than the newb forum
Click to expand...
Good point.
 
Moved this to the microphone forum for you. You'll get more input here. (But Massive is right.)
 
you need a preamp with high gain because ribbon mics require a lot typically.. also watch out for phantom power. Ribbons unlike condensers dont require phntom power and it can actually damage the ribbon element
 
Personally, I like the Peavey PV series of mixers as a ribbon pre. They're clean and extremely low noise, distortion, etc. I'd kill for them to make a version of that with balanced sends on each channel, but even the unbalanced channel inserts kill.
 
I love my Cascade Fat Head stereo pair w/bar...it's my go-to guitar amp mic. I don't do much strings, but I've used them a couple of times on my upright piano, and I love how the high register comes through the Fat Head...so I'm sure they would be great on strings and brass too.

I find that they sound best with a solid state preamp that I have, that is capable of very high, clean gain, though you don't need huge gain, but certainly a fair amount. I've tried them with other preamps, and they are OK, but I think the cleaner and more transparent the pre...the better it will be with the ribbons.
 
I don't know where you are located, but this guy is here in Oz.

I bought a couple of flat heads from here, and I don't mind giving him a free plug as he was very helpful and problem free.

I carried out the simple mesh removal mods and so far have been impressed by the results. Espacally for the price.

Alan
 
Thanks for your inputs. It sounds like the Cascade Fathead pair has a good perfromance for the money, but I might check out this supplier in Australia before I decide.
 
witzendoz said:
I don't know where you are located, but this guy is here in Oz.

I bought a couple of flat heads from here, and I don't mind giving him a free plug as he was very helpful and problem free.

I carried out the simple mesh removal mods and so far have been impressed by the results. Espacally for the price.

Alan
Click to expand...


Hey Alan do you have a link to the mess removal procedure?
 
That web page killed my browser...way too many items/pics in that one page.
Anyway...from what I did see before the browser locked up...most of those mics look like the Cascade mics. They probably buy the same basic mics from China, and then just tweak them.
 
miroslav said:
That web page killed my browser...way too many items/pics in that one page.
Anyway...from what I did see before the browser locked up...most of those mics look like the Cascade mics. They probably buy the same basic mics from China, and then just tweak them.
Click to expand...

Yeah same here Miro froze right up ..... DAMN IT!
 
I've got the pair of fatheads (standard I's with no upgrades). Great on everything I've throw at them except vocals. I have Neve and API preamps, and I like the fatheads through the RNP the best. RNP plus fatheads are very natural, and on guitars they sit perfectly in the mix with no EQ. For overheads they are fine, but I prefer the APIs.

RNP plus pair of fatheads for $800 (less used) is an amazing deal.
 
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