She Tied A Yellow Ribbon Mike?

B

bmg

Member
I’m looking to record acoustic music, and was thinking of getting a ribbon mike (a Royer R-122, maybe) as I hear they are more sensitive for this type of application.
I’m also looking to buy a mic-pre and was thinking of the BAE 1078, but am a little confused, as there are so many models to choose from.
(And also am not sure whether to go for the standard rack mount version, or the 500 series.)
Anyone have any experience with either of these items?
 
bmg said:
I’m looking to record acoustic music, and was thinking of getting a ribbon mike (a Royer R-122, maybe) as I hear they are more sensitive for this type of application.
I’m also looking to buy a mic-pre and was thinking of the BAE 1078, but am a little confused, as there are so many models to choose from.
(And also am not sure whether to go for the standard rack mount version, or the 500 series.)
Anyone have any experience with either of these items?
Click to expand...
A ribbon mic typically has lower output than condensers and modern dynamics. If you don't have enough quiet gain from your preamp, the results may be disappointing.
 
I didn't see a "1078" at the BAE site, but the one 1073 I looked at had 80dB of gain - should be plenty.

The prices of those BAE preamps are not in most "home" recorder's budget, probably. And, when you are looking at things like that, it's usually to get some character/color of the preamp, but maybe you're trying for something like an old ribbon into an old board kind of sound. A far less wallet-emptying route might be to look at some of the newer, active ribbons, which would remove the need for an additional preamp. Unless, of course, you're using the ribbon purchase to justify the preamp. (Who would do something like that?! ;))

Now, I've never had a ribbon mic, but I just haven't quite found the reason to tip me over into that camp. I don't know what kind of "acoustic" music you're recording, or how you'd employ a ribbon there, but most of the examples of ribbons being used for acoustic music seem a little contrived. But, again, not a ribbon user.

That R-122 seems most popular for micing electric guitar amps and drum overheads, from all I've seen. When I have spent time looking [at ribbon mics], it was not on the short list. (I generally only do very small acoustic stuff, and not much of that anymore!)
 
I don't have any experience with ribbon mikes, but I do have some experience with mic preamps. I would recommend the BAE 1078 mic preamp. It is a great sounding preamp and it is very versatile. It can be used for both studio and live applications.

--
Jason Hook. I enjoy remixing old songs using Audacity together with UnMixIt for vocal removal or isolation
 
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