Guitar Gear Forum

Sooooo......

What's good in the world of affordable ribbon mics?

I need one for recording drums in a 2 mic setup. I have a Cascade Fathead that sounded great.... Until it fell over on the mic stand. Now it is fubar. Anyway, I have two mics at the moment, a SM57 and a cheapo MXL M57 condenser. Both will work and I am going to record using both of them together. That said, I would like to add a ribbon to the mix to get a fatter, thicker low end. So before I grab another Fathead, what should I look at? I see MXL and CAD have some cheap offerings. Anyone have experience with them?

Here is what my kit sounds like with just a SM57 out in front. It's about 4 feet in front of the kick and maybe 4 feet off of the floor set dead level. It's going through my WA-12 and into the ID22 then Reaper. I added a bit of comp and EQ in the DAW. Aside from my playing, it doesn't sound horrible for only one mic.

Note: I am playing along to The Upper Crust's "Tell Mother I'm Home". Jim Janota is pretty much my all time favorite drummer.

https://soundcloud.com/heezzies/drums-sm57-out-front


Also, these tutorial's on Youtube are fucking great. This is where I am getting my info. Subscribe to this guys channel. He is awesome.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAvNB0B4TYA[/video]

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audi ... ctads-adid^221957295818-device^c-plaid^323968827023-sku^277401000000000@ADL4MF-adType^PLA

have one. not bad. the fatheads are better, darker, thicker sounding. the rsm5 is a little brighter, but i'll throw it in on guitar sometimes for a cuttier thing if i only have one mic. it'd probably work alright, and having the back lobe on it will open up your roomsound a bunch too compared to a 57.

anyhow-- i've sure heard way worse drum recordings- that sounds pretty good, and if you didn't tell anybody, i suspect nobody'd fuss with that mix.. cause.. well. it sounds like drums in a room! i generally use an LDC omni kinda where you're talking about putting a 57 for a room mic in addition to a pair of LDC overheads, a crotch mic, and a kick mic.. and i've managed alright for a long time.. i really am not a giant fan of overmic'd drum sounds... something almost always seems to get lost in translation.

hell yeah-- sounds awesome -- i didn't know you played drums too!

Thanks!

I just remembered I also have a E906. So I can mess with the Low/Mid/High settings on that one. What's really pissing me off at the moment is that I can't find the mount for my Cheapo MXL 57 condenser

TurboPablo wrote:Thanks! What's really pissing me off at the moment is that I can't find the mount for my Cheapo MXL 57 condenser

If you can't find it, they're only $25: https://www.amazon.com/MXL-57-Microphon ... B0002NYKLU

Thanks Ajax.

I had one of those shock mounts but the threads stripped out. I still have the regular mount for it, but I can't find it. It's wicked irrigatin.

Sooooo.....

I did this yesterday afternoon with the SM57 out in front and the E906 up high. I then proceeded to smash the shit out of it with VST's. The low end and mids sound good to me. The snare sounds fubar because of all the EQ and comping. It's another Upper Crust tune called "Who's Who of Love". Just in case any of you want to have a listen and compare my drumming

https://soundcloud.com/heezzies/whowho-drum-test

The Nady RSM5 is $80.

It's AWESOME. I use it for cymbals sometimes. Guitars. room mic. etc.

It rules.

I will check it out. Thanks.

Just grabbed a "open Box" Nady for $50 from MF.

Now all I need is a mount for my cheapo MXL condenser and I will do up a live lo-fi drumjam in a week or two.

And done.

Cheapo shock mount incoming.

I just received a MXL R144 ribbon mic today. First ribbon mic for me. Been playing, I mean testing, with it all afternoon. The included frequency response chart shows a pronounced bump around 300Hz and a smaller one centered around 6kHz. All the reviews I had read cautioned that output levels are lower than the average dynamic or condenser mic and I can confirm that. But it worked well with my Presonus preamps and EQ'd very well.

My overall impression of micing a couple of guitar amps, snare, toms and vocals is very positive. Tonally, I would describe it as slightly "darker" sounding but that 6kHz adds a bit of airy excitement. I was very taken with the tone I was getting with my Vox AD30VT, particularly the low seemed to have better definition than I normally get. That 6kHz bump seemed to accentuate the "chimey" Vox response. Overall, I thought it made the AD30VT more VOXY. Will probably be my new go to mic for the Vox amps. The Fender and Line 6 amps worked well. Nothing outstanding but more than adequate. Nothing compelling about its use on snare and toms but it did seem to give a bit more "boom" if positioned right. I think a pair of them used as overheads with a single kick mic might work well to get a nice jazz feel.

Vocally, well my only test source was my own and that leaves a lot to be desired. This is not a rock screamer's mic (neither am I BTW). I see the best use of the mic as a lead female vocalist whose voice is a little "toppy". With the figure 8 pattern, a good choice for group backing vocals.

Ordered the mic from Amazon, total cost $77. The package included plastic case, shockmount (typical ehhh MXL shockmount but functional) and cleaning cloth. Heft of the mic was lighter than I expected but seemed to be sturdy.

https://www.amazon.com/MXL-R144-Ribbon-Microphone-Shockmount/dp/B002LASBRG/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1528420183&sr=1-1&keywords=mxl+r144

TurboPablo wrote:... I have a Cascade Fathead that sounded great.... Until it fell over on the mic stand. Now it is fubar.

Ribbon mics can be repaired... I'm not saying you have to do it yourself, but it's possible to DIY.

DrLunk wrote:I just received a MXL R144 ribbon mic today. First ribbon mic for me. Been playing, I mean testing, with it all afternoon. The included frequency response chart shows a pronounced bump around 300Hz and a smaller one centered around 6kHz. All the reviews I had read cautioned that output levels are lower than the average dynamic or condenser mic and I can confirm that. But it worked well with my Presonus preamps and EQ'd very well.

My overall impression of micing a couple of guitar amps, snare, toms and vocals is very positive. Tonally, I would describe it as slightly "darker" sounding but that 6kHz adds a bit of airy excitement. I was very taken with the tone I was getting with my Vox AD30VT, particularly the low seemed to have better definition than I normally get. That 6kHz bump seemed to accentuate the "chimey" Vox response. Overall, I thought it made the AD30VT more VOXY. Will probably be my new go to mic for the Vox amps. The Fender and Line 6 amps worked well. Nothing outstanding but more than adequate. Nothing compelling about its use on snare and toms but it did seem to give a bit more "boom" if positioned right. I think a pair of them used as overheads with a single kick mic might work well to get a nice jazz feel.

Vocally, well my only test source was my own and that leaves a lot to be desired. This is not a rock screamer's mic (neither am I BTW). I see the best use of the mic as a lead female vocalist whose voice is a little "toppy". With the figure 8 pattern, a good choice for group backing vocals.

Ordered the mic from Amazon, total cost $77. The package included plastic case, shockmount (typical ehhh MXL shockmount but functional) and cleaning cloth. Heft of the mic was lighter than I expected but seemed to be sturdy.

https://www.amazon.com/MXL-R144-Ribbon-Microphone-Shockmount/dp/B002LASBRG/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1528420183&sr=1-1&keywords=mxl+r144

I dig my R144 too!
It's my first ribbon mic in over 25 years of recording... I always avoided buying one, because I heard they were fragile. However, the R144 was cheap enough to inspire a WTF purchase.
It's definitely warm sounding (in a good way) and definitely low output so, I was happy to have a lunchbox preamp to kick it up before hitting the A/D converter.
I haven't had the time to really put the thumb screws on it but, I was pretty happy with the results on guitar and vocals.
These days, I'm just recording at home so, one ribbon, one dynamic and one condenser are getting the job done. The condenser gets the most love.