Nady ribbon mic questions

H

Hi_Flyer

New member
so I got my nady ribbon last friday and tried it out on a band I was recording over the weekend...

what gives? it was SOOOOOO dark! I had it on a guitar cab along with an i5, and so I could A/B the sound... it was so dark that it wasn't even usable. Is it possible something is wrong with it?
 
Hi_Flyer said:
so I got my nady ribbon last friday and tried it out on a band I was recording over the weekend...

what gives? it was SOOOOOO dark! I had it on a guitar cab along with an i5, and so I could A/B the sound... it was so dark that it wasn't even usable. Is it possible something is wrong with it?
Click to expand...

You might want to check for ribbon sag
 
I got one of those RSM-4 mics a few months ago -- my ribbon was indeed sagging.

It was sort of tough to fix, since each end of ribbon was both clamped, and apparently glued to the ribbon motor, so I couldn't just pull one end of the ribbon and re-clamp. Instead, I had to bunch up the slack under one side and re-clamp real quick to keep the tension.

You can tell if it's sagging by looking at it - not sure which model you have, but most are pretty easy to take apart with regard to the grill. You do want to be really careful, since the ribbon is very thin and fragile, and if it breaks, it'll have to be replaced. You can pretty much take the mic apart enough to clearly see the ribbon without endangering it, though, I think.

I believe Michael Joly works on most of the Nady ribbons, for instance:

http://www.oktavamodshop.com/product_info.php?cPath=1_24&products_id=102

he does a number of things, including replacing the ribbon and the transformer, and he's done great work on another one of my (non-ribbon) mics, and has a bunch of other happy customers here. That's probably the best and safest way to go.
 
My RSM 4 needed the gain on my firepod one or two clicks from wide open, but otherwise sounded great-- not bright, not extra dark, just warm and even. I bet yours is broken.
 
It may be ribbon sag, but it could just be that the transformers also are really inconsistent and cheap. The cheap part makes them a lot darker than they otherwise would be. The inconsistent part makes some of them dramatically so. There was a huge difference in the top end between my two RSM-2s, for example, and the difference basically disappeared after a transformer swap.

A Lundahl transformer upgrade opens the high end right up for about $65 plus ten minutes of soldering and possibly a little piece of double-stick foam tape to hold the new transformer in place. :) Of course, if this is one of the smaller mics, you'll have to verify the dimensions to make sure it will fit. If not, I'm sure other folks can recommend some other transformers that will similarly open up the top end.
 
I think I've lucked out with my RSMs as far as consistency... the have made a huge difference in my recent recordings. I've also been using my RSM4 in conjunction with an i5 and the results have been nothing short of fantastic. Best results have been on a Rhodes close mic'd with the i5 and RSM 3ft back and up in the air... I got such a 3D sound that the rest of the mix just fell right in.... and getting the Rhodes to sit right in the mix usually makes me want to destroy everything around me, so that said a lot for the el-cheepo Nady

-Pete
 
The Lundahl 2912 easily fits in a RSM-4 (needs the foam). The Edcor RMX-1 fits very snugly in the RSM-4. The Edcor is what I'm using now, and I like it. The transformer that came in the RSM-4 looked *exactly* the same as the one that came in the ACM-4 in the group buy (even though the mics look nothing alike -- the ones in the ACM-3 and ACM-2 were slightly different).
 
Some of those have several extra layers of mesh covering the ribbon. Removing some of them will open up the top end some. Still, it will never be a bright mic.
 
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