Factory in China going to make me some ribbon microphones!

R

rob aylestone

Moderator
I buy lots of radios from China - and have got quite chatty with their sales people on Whatsapp, and we're now sharing more personal things - like in my case, theatre and audio stuff. She asked what one microphone was and I told her it was a ribbon. A few weeks later she told me she had mentioned this to a friend in a factory who make microphones and they had stopped making ribbons as people had not seemed very interested. I did a few emails with this person and they're going to make me a couple - they have all the parts, just never assembled. So I've agreed a price - a very decent price actually, and I'm going to try them out. It will be interesting to see and hear them. I've paid half the agreed price up front. I'll report back when they arrive.
 
rob aylestone said:
I buy lots of radios from China - and have got quite chatty with their sales people on Whatsapp, and we're now sharing more personal things - like in my case, theatre and audio stuff. She asked what one microphone was and I told her it was a ribbon. A few weeks later she told me she had mentioned this to a friend in a factory who make microphones and they had stopped making ribbons as people had not seemed very interested. I did a few emails with this person and they're going to make me a couple - they have all the parts, just never assembled. So I've agreed a price - a very decent price actually, and I'm going to try them out. It will be interesting to see and hear them. I've paid half the agreed price up front. I'll report back when they arrive.
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Oooo! Bumpy! Bumpy! I shall be very interested in that Rob. Might I float the idea that ribbons are not popular because they are perceived as delicate and vulnerable to damage from phantom power? The latter has, as far as I know, never been demonstrated and the former only needs reasonable care to be taken and ribbons are really fairly robust.

Dave.
 
The factory just sent me the photos of the finished mics - looking really nice, so hopefully they'll sound nice too.
 

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Very cool! It would be nice if they inscribed them "Made For Rob Aylestone".
 
They arrived this morning and they're really nice - both in their appearance and construction and the sound. I've done a quick video.
They're rather nice. Wasn't really sure what they would sound like, but they're quite smooth.

 
It was somewhat surprising that the ribbon mic actually sounded less "roomy" than the SM7b. I would have thought that the ribbon would be picking up more from the back side and would have more room echo.

The ribbon definitely has more bottom end than the Shure. I could hear it in your voice, but it really showed up when you hit the guitar. I really don't have any experience with ribbon mics, but from the freq response curves I've seen on a few the bass boost is to be expected.

You'll have to give us a report in the new year as to how well they met your expectations in the real world recording.
 
I decided I liked them on smaller speakers, and it was a surprise how much bottom they have. I have no frequency response chart or spec of any kind. I suppose they just put them together, tested they made noise and posted them. I want to try them on double bass now, but I think I’ll run out of time before I leave for panto.
 
rob aylestone said:
I decided I liked them on smaller speakers, and it was a surprise how much bottom they have. I have no frequency response chart or spec of any kind. I suppose they just put them together, tested they made noise and posted them. I want to try them on double bass now, but I think I’ll run out of time before I leave for panto.
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"Oh no you won't!"

Dave (any suggested retail prices yet?)
 
To be honest, time's pushing. I bet many people won't know this, but actors have understudies, and the musicians have deps - but we now also have cover for the MDs. Some poor person who's engaed to be cover for a number of shows. In our case, we're doing Snow White and the 7 dwarfs, and we all use the same basic music. It gets tweaked - so some numbers are changed for the turns who have their own signature song - so with Boy george as Captain Hook, he will have Karma Chameleon Peter Pan'd up! The cover MD then spends one night in the pit of each of his shows, hearing the same dots done differently. Gives him warning of cuts and changes - then he sits back and waits for somebody to be ill. Strange job!

I thought about selling the mics, but the pricing is difficult. Total price to me was £280 for two. The bank will charge me around 5% for currency conversion, and the VAT content will add £56 to this. If you use ebay, as an example then they take a fair bit. Selling direct is clearly better but lower quantity.
To make less than £25, then the selling price for ebay would need to be £170. Like the factory, I'd also be worried about returns, the 1-2-3 blow in the grill people would wreck them and send them back. I might buy a few and sell them to friends - but that will have to wait.
 
I just happened to pull up Alibaba and put in Ribbon Microphone. This popped up and looks remarkably like the one in your video.

Shuaiyin Syr-30 Vintage Ribbon Microphone Oem Professional Broadcasting Recording For Studio Mic - Buy Recording Microphone Studio,Audio Manufacture,Ribbon Microphone Product on Alibaba.com

Shuaiyin Syr-30 Vintage Ribbon Microphone Oem Professional Broadcasting Recording For Studio Mic - Buy Recording Microphone Studio,Audio Manufacture,Ribbon Microphone Product on Alibaba.com
www.alibaba.com
 
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