Engineer Richard Chycki (Dream Theater, Aerosmith, Rush) shows us how he used Royer ribbons to record Dream Theater’s huge electric guitars and drums on “The Astonishing.
Category Archives: Artist
Darlingside
Recorded live at the Folk Alliance Convention, in the Sweetwater/Royer/Mojave Pop-Up Studio
Stereo Room Mic – SF-24
Cello – SF-2
Violin & Violinist Vocal – SF-2
Acoustic Guitar (left, into small guitar amplifier) – R-122V
Foot Taps – Mojave Audio MA-100’s
Acoustic guitar (right) – Mojave MA-300
Vocals – Mojave Audio MA-1000, MA-300, MA-301
Darlingside came into our Pop-Up studio with a few friends and a ton of energy, worked out the final details of the song on the spot, then killed it in this beautiful take.
Engineers: Dan Ankney, Nathan Heironimus
Mixed by Dan Ankney
Recording Chain: Royer Labs and Mojave Audio microphones fed into Universal Audio 8p’s. Recorded to Pro Tools.
Sweetwater Studios, Royer Labs and Mojave Audio set up a portable Pop-Up studio in a hotel conference room at the 2016 Folk Alliance Convention in Kansas City and recorded a number of artists and groups attending.
Darlingside “Birds Say” (© Darlingside)
Camellia City Flute Choir
Flute Ensemble – one SF-24V and four SF-2’s
Produced, engineered and mixed by Frank Bevans. Video by Frank Bevans
Recorded at Westminster Presbyterian Church, Sacramento, CA for the Music at Noon Series.
Recording Chain: One SF-24V (over the conductor’s shoulder) and four SF-2’s (one at each corner of the stage). SF-24V into a Millennia HV-3C preamplifier. SF-2’s into Apogee Ensemble preamplifiers. All mics through Apogee Ensemble D/A converters, recorded to Apple Logic Pro.
Camellia City Flute Choir – https://camelliaflutes.com
Frank Bevans – https://www.fbphoto.com, Facebook
“Anyone in my position who needs to capture the delicate and beautiful sounds of the silver flutes has no choice but to record them with Royer microphones. Plain and simple. Nothing else comes close.”
-Frank Bevans
(For more of Frank’s comments on the recording process, scroll down to below the videos.)
Prelude from Suite Antique (John Rutter, arrangement by Robert Rainford)
Aria from Suite Antique (John Rutter, arrangement by Robert Rainford)
Waltz from Suite Antique (John Rutter, arrangement by Robert Rainford)
Notes from Frank on the preparation for these recordings:
“I remember that set-up being very gear intensive.
I brought: 3 video cameras. Monitors, lights, tripods, cords, cables, plugs.
Audio gear, laptop, preamp, A/D converter, microphones, stands, audio cords, sand bags.
A rolling table and chairs. Not to mention a camera and lights for a group photo and my black suit.
“The acoustics of this old church were remarkable.
No reverb or enhancing effects were added to this recording.
The beautiful sounds you hear are thanks to the wonderful talents of the musicians and the ability of these Royer microphones to capture the natural voices of the flutes.
It was an honor to record the audio and video of this live performance of the Camellia City Flute Choir.”
-Frank Bevans
R-122 MKII Tests – Electric Guitar & Dobro
Royer R-122 MKll Test Tracks
The R-122 MKll is an extremely versatile phantom-powered ribbon mic with a switchable -15 dB pad and a switchable bass roll-off set at 100 Hz, 6 dB per octave.
Electric Guitar:
Recorded by Michael Wagener at WireWorld Studio, Nashville TN.
Recording chain: R-122 MKll to Chandler TG2 preamplifier. Recorded to Nuendo.
Close miking electric guitars with an active ribbon mic can result in microphone or preamplifier distortion if:
1) the mic’s output is too hot for the following mic pre to handle.
2) the mic is plugged into a preamplifier with low input impedance, or
3) the phantom power is weak,
The R-122 MKll’s -15 dB pad reduces the mic’s sensitivity to 2 dB LESS than our non-powered R-121, giving the mic plenty of headroom even in torturous conditions.
In this video, we used a 100-watt Metropoulos 12,000 amplifier turned up LOUD but fairly clean. See recording notes below.
R-122 MKll Test Tracks Continued
Dobro:
Randy Kohrs playing Dobro. Recorded by Randy Kohrs at Slack Key Studio, Nashville TN.
Recording chain: R-122 to RTZ preamplifier. Recorded in Pro Tools
1) R-122 MKll on Dobro, flat with no switches engaged.
2) R-122 MKll on Dobro with low cut switch engaged.
3) R-122 MKll on Dobro with low cut switch and -15 dB pad engaged.
4) R-122 MKll on Dobro with low cut switch and -15 dB pad engaged. The RTZ preamp is turned up 15 dB to make up for the -15 dB pad, bringing in more of the personality of the pre.
Johnny Hawthorn
Johnny Hawthorn – Pawn Shop Tattered Heart
Electric Guitar – R-121 & SM57
Produced & engineered by Charley Pollard
Recorded at Dragonfly Creek Recording
Recording chain: R-121 and SM57 one inch from the cabinet into Shadow Hills Equinox mic pre’s (Steel setting). Both mics were bussed to one track – the mix was committed to while recording.
Recorded to ProTools.
Amps: Blankenship Carry-On 1×12 combo and Marshall JCM 800 into 4×12. Marshall used for solos.
Pawn Shop Tattered Heart received the Guitar Player Magazine’s “Editors’ Faves” for July 2014. Available through CD Baby & iTunes
“Real Thing” (Johnny Hawthorne)
“Dusty Woman” (Johnny Hawthorne)
Rachel Barton Pine
Solo Violin – two SF-2’s
Producer: Steven Epstein, Engineer: Bill Maylone
Recorded at St. Paul’s United Church Of Christ, Chicago IL
Scroll down for video with comments from the producer, engineer and artist.
In this exceptional solo violin performance, Rachel Barton Pine plays a Guarneri del Gesù in St. Paul’s church, Chicago, IL.
Recording chain: Two SF-2 ribbon mics to John Hardy M-1 preamplifiers to RME Fireface 800. Recorded to Pro Tools 10.
No compression or outboard gear. Due to being on location in a large church in an urban area, the only EQ is a 50 Hz, first order hi-pass to keep out the rumble from buses outside. Original recording is 24 / 96, converted to 16 / 48 for the video.
Rachel Barton Pine performs Preludio to Bach’s E Major Partita for unaccompanied violin, BWV 1006
For more information on Rachel Barton Pine, visit https://rachelbartonpine.com
In this accompanying video, Steven Epstein, Bill Maylone and Rachel Barton Pine offer their thoughts on the recording process.
Monster Magnet
Drums (Room) – 2 R-121’s
Electric Guitars – R-121
Engineer – Randy Staub. Producer – Matt Hyde
Recorded at Warehouse Studios – Vancouver, B.C.
R-121’s on electric guitars and two R-121’s as drum room mics.
“Heads Explode” (© Dave Wyndorf)
Fab Dupont / Will Knox
Acoustic Guitar – SF-1
Violin – R-121
Banjo – SF-2
Standup Bass – R-122
Drum Overhead – SF-24
Drums, Tom-Toms – R-122
Drums, Kick – R-122V
Drums, Hi-Hat – R-121
Producer: Fab Dupont. Engineer: Meredith McCandless
When our friend Fab Dupont set out to record singer/songwriter Will Knox’s album “The Matador And The Acrobat” with engineer Meredith McCandless, they decided to track the album entirely with Royer ribbons (except for a condenser on Will’s vocal and a dynamic on the snare). Here is a behind-the-scenes look at the recording process that Fab and company so kindly put together for us.
Vocals & Guitar: Will Knox
Violin: Clayton Mathews
Banjo: Kyle James Houser
Standup Bass: Chris Anderson
Drums: Timur Yusef
Visit Fab’s website at www.fabulousfab.com. Visit Flux Studios at www.fluxstudios.net.
Puremix.net is an educational website featuring a wide assortment of videos on recording, mixing, mastering and much more. Puremix.net was created by Fab Dupont; his partners in Puremix now include Ben Lindell and Ryan West.
Winona Zelenka
Cello – R-122
Engineer/Producer; Ron Searles
In these two videos, Ron Searles uses ribbon microphones to record cellist Winona Zelenka playing an extraordinary 1707 Joseph Guarnerius cello.
Recording chain: R-122’s into True Systems Precision 8 mic pres. Recorded to ProTools in 24/96.
“Six Suites for Solo Cello” (J.S. Bach)
This educational video shows three R-122 active ribbon microphones place in a modified Decca Tree configuration. Engineer Ron Searles discusses the importance of ribbons on bowed instruments, the usefulness of the figure-8 pattern in controlling room reflections, achieving natural sounding recordings using ribbons, and more.
“Intermezzo e Danza Finale” (Cassado)
Two R-122 active ribbon microphones positioned above the cello.
