Category Archives: R-122MKII

Recording Banjo

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Alison Brown and Stewart Duncan Recording Banjo With Ribbon Microphones

Royer Labs and Deering Banjo Company teamed up with renowned musicians Alison Brown and Stuart Duncan, with engineer Matt Coles at the controls at Nashville’s historic Compass Studio, to make this video series on recording the banjo with ribbon microphones. Alison and Stuart have played on many hundreds of recordings and share their deep knowledge of recording the banjo. Matt Coles gives expert advice on microphone placement, working with the back side of R-121s, how to work with the ribbon microphones figure-8 pattern, phase relationships, and more.

Recording Engineer:

Matt Coles. Recorded at Compass Records Sound Studio, Nashville TN. 

Signal Chain:

Royer ribbon mics through API 3124 preamplifiers, recorded to Pro Tools. No EQ or effects used.

VIDEOS:
Episode 1: Alison Brown At Compass Records Sound Studio Recording Banjo With Ribbon Mics
Episode 2: Alison Brown & Stuart Duncan Duet Recording Banjo with Ribbon Mics
Episode 3: Stuart Duncan Recording Old-Time Clawhammer Banjo With Ribbon Mics
Episode 4: Stuart Duncan on His Favorite Ribbon Microphone Positions
Episode 5: Engineer Matt Coles Tips on Recording Banjo, with Alison Brown

Episode 1: Alison Brown At Compass Records Sound Studio Recording Banjo With Ribbon Mics

Alison Brown introduces this video series, which was shot and recorded at the famous Compass Records Sound Studio in Nashville TN. Hear Alison play “Steam Powered Aereo Plane” and talk about her Deering Julia Belle banjo and how she records it with ribbon microphones. Recording Engineer Matt Coles joins her to talk about his favorite places to position a ribbon mic on the banjo.

Episode 2: Alison Brown & Stuart Duncan Duet Recording Banjo with Ribbon Mics

Alison Brown and Stuart Duncan play “Arkansas Traveler” together, then recording engineer Matt Coles walks us through his banjo recording methods. Matt talks about mic positioning, using the R-121 backwards on banjo, phase relationships, and more, while Alison plays solo banjo to demonstrate. In this video, Alison plays a Deering Julia Belle miked with two R-121s and Stuart plays a Deering Vega Vintage Star miked with one R-122V.

Episode 3: Stuart Duncan Recording Old-Time Clawhammer Banjo With Ribbon Mics

Stuart Duncan walks us through how he uses ribbon mics to record old-style Clawhammer banjo, plays “Arkansas Traveler” and shares his feelings about using ribbon microphones throughout his career. Stuart plays a Deering Vega Vintage Star banjo in this video, with an R-122V tube ribbon mic in front and an R-121 behind picking up the tone coming off the rear of the instrument.

 

Stuart Duncan Talks About His Favorite Ribbon Mic Positions for Recording Banjo With Ribbon Microphones

Episode 4: Violinist and banjo player extraordinaire Stuart Duncan shows us where he likes to put a ribbon mic on his banjo, and explains why you’ll want to move the mic closer or further from the instrument depending on the recording situation. Stuart also pulls out a second ribbon mic and shows two positions he likes when recording with two mics. Stuart plays a Deering Vega Vintage Star banjo during this video. 

Episode 5: Engineer Matt Coles Tips on Recording Banjo, with Alison Brown

Recording Engineer Matt Coles summarizes his banjo recording tips and shares a few more pearls of wisdom on how to get the most from banjos with ribbon microphones. Alison Brown caps off this video series, taking us out with a beautiful rendition of “Oh Susanna” on her Deering Julia Belle banjo.   

 
 
 

R-122 MKII Tests – Electric Guitar & Dobro

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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.