Engineered and mixed by Bruce Swedien. Produced by Bruce Swedien and Andres Levin.
Recorded at Studios EGREM – Havana, Cuba / Fun Machine Studios – New York, NY / Westviking Studios.
All percussion instruments recorded with R-121’s and an SF-12.
From the Sony Records France release “Le Sang Des Roses”.
Recorded, mixed and produced by Bruce Swedien.
Recorded at Presence Studios and Westviking Studios. Mixed at Westviking Studios.
From the Juna release “Les Go.”
All percussion instruments recorded with two R-121’s and an SF-12 stereo ribbon microphone.
R-121 – 10 inches high and 20 inches off the front kick drum head. The microphone was leaned forward 45 degrees to take advance of the mic’s null points and isolate the kick drum from the rest of the kit.
Engineer – Les Camacho.
Recorded at Cornerstone Studios – Chatsworth, CA.
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)
This extraordinary session was held in Ray Charles’ Los Angeles studio in November 2003. I was privileged to attend and was given permission to take photographs with a small pocket camera. The musicianship was incredible, with most parts of the song being done in one or two takes.
-John Jennings, Royer Labs
B-3: Billy Preston’s Leslie cabinet was miked with two R-122’s, one positioned on the top horn and one on the bottom.
Piano: An SF-12 was positioned inside Ray’s piano alongside a couple of condenser mics. The SF-12 was the main mic used in the final mix.
Electric Guitar: The electric guitar amp was miked with an SM-57 up close and an R-122 further back, blended in the mix.
Grammy winning Engineer/Producer Ross Hogarth and session guitarist extraordinare Tim Pierce joined us to create an 8-part video series featuring an in-depth look at Hogarth’s electric guitar miking techniques. These videos are an excellent opportunity for recording engineers at all levels to learn new methods or brush up on some great guitar miking techniques.
Two microphone blends are compared; a Royer Labs R-101 ribbon microphone and Shure SM57 dynamic mic, and a Royer R-121 ribbon microphone and Shure SM57 dynamic mic.
In this video, Ross demonstrates his dual microphone positioning techniques on a guitar cabinet, then uses an open speaker to clearly show where to put mics and why he likes these positions.
Another example of blending a Royer Labs R-121 ribbon microphone and a Shure SM57 dynamic mic, this time on a beautiful Supro combo amp with a 15-inch speaker. Very nice, warm vibrato on this amp.
In this video with Tim playing drop-tuned guitar, we compare an R-121 & 57 blend and an R-101 & 57 blend on a cranked up Diezel head through a 4-12 Marshall cabinet.
Ross uses the R-121 & 57 blend on a great old Magnatone stereo combo amp, with an SF-24 stereo ribbon microphone centered 1-ft back from the amp to capture excellent stereo guitar tones.
Recording Engineer: Christy.
Recorded at Park Studios, Stockholm, Sweden.
Spaced R-121’s on an acoustic band.
Two R-121’s placed 5 feet apart on an acoustic band (guitar, accordion and electric bass) playing live in the studio. Acoustic guitar has slight amount of condenser mic blended in. No EQ or effects. Slight compression on final mix.
Recorded by Dusty Wakeman
Recorded at Mad Dog Studios – Burbank, CA.
First rhythm track recorded on an SF-12 stereo ribbon mic (in mixing, one side was centered and the other was panned to left). Harmony/solo track was recorded on a backward R-121, panned toward the right.
The guitar is a Taylor 512 cutaway.
Recorded to 20-bit ADAT. No EQ, compression or effects.
