Guitarist Shawn Tubbs compares the Royer R-10 ribbon microphone, retailing for $495, to Royer’s flagship R-121 ribbon microphone.
Category Archives: Comparison
Steve Albini
Microphone Comparisons
Saxophone – R-121, Coles 4038
Trumpet – R-121, Neumann U-67, RCA 77DX
Acoustic Guitars (Steel String, Nylon String, 12-String) – R-121, Schoeps 221B
Electric Guitar – R-121, SM-57, Coles 4038 (being overstressed)
Drums – R-121
Recorded by Steve Albini
Recorded at Electrical Audio, Chicago, IL.
In Royer’s early days, when many people didn’t understand ribbon microphones, Steve Albini was kind enough to make a number of educational recordings for us which we included on our first demonstration CD. Steve is a well-known, well-respected engineer who has plenty of experience with ribbon mics and thousands of engineers and producers have learned from these comparison recordings over the years.
Tape Op Magazine reviewed our Demo CD #1 and said this about Steve’s recordings:
“The ‘something special’ though is the Microphone Comparisons with Steve Albini at the end of the CD. Steve goes through and compares the R-121 to other mics (Coles 4038, SM57, etc.) and provides us with his wonderful dry commentary. We love ya Steve! Truly one of our favorite CDs at the studio these days.” -LC
All of Steve’s comparison tracks are here, along with his original commentary.
Saxophone (Coles 4038, R-121, close R-121, distant R-121)
Trumpet (Neuman U-67, R-121, RCA 77DX)
Acoustic Guitar (Steel string – Schoeps 221B, R-121 / Nylon string – Schoeps
221B, R-121 / 12-string – tube condenser, R-121, condenser and R-121 blended)
Electric Guitar (SM-57, R-121 / Coles 4038 being overstressed)
Drums
Andy Georges – Comparison Tracks
Electric Guitar – R-121
Comparison Tracks
Engineer: Dusty Wakeman
Recorded directly to 20-bit ADAT at Mad Dog Studios, Burbank, CA
a) One R-121 six inches from a guitar cabinet. Fender Stratocaster with single-coil pickups, into a Matchless amplifier with a Marshall 4-12 cabinet. At this distance you hear little or no room ambience.
b) Same Stratocaster/Matchless combination, with the R-121 three feet from the cabinet. The mic is three feet high and pointed directly at the cabinet. At this distance, the cabinet’s tone becomes more apparent and room ambience plays a more important role in the overall sound.
String Quartet – Microphone Comparisons
Strings – SF-24, R-122, R-122V
Microphone Comparisons – SF-24, R-122, R-122V, Schoeps CMC6-U small diaphragm condensers.
Engineer: Ron Searles
Recorded at CBC Studios, Toronto, Canada
During an AES event in Toronto Canada, a cluster of microphones was set up over a string quartet for listening and making comparisons. The cluster included one SF-24, two R-122’s, two R-122V’s, and two Schoeps CMC6-U’s (set for omni), 6 ft high and 8 ft back from a string quartet.
Recording Chain: All mics fed into Universal Audio 8110 preamps. Recorded flat with no EQ or compression to ProTools at 96K.
Special thanks to Dave Dysart, HHB Canada for arranging the event.
a) Single SF-24
b) Pair of R-122’s
c) Pair of R-122V’s
d) Pair of Schoeps CMC6-U’s