Inexpensive Ribbon Mic Shoot-out
Музыка
So you want the warm tone of a ribbon for horns but can't afford a thousand-dollar Coles or Royer? These three each come in at under $200.
They are:
the Sterling ST170,
The Cascade Fathead BE,
and the Golden Age R2.
I made this mic shootout video because although there appear to be a great many such videos testing mics for vocals, voiceovers, guitars, drums, etc., I couldn't find very many suitable shootouts that specifically deal with woodwinds and brass instruments. There are even plenty of mics that can make a saxophone sound good, but brass instruments like trumpets and trombones are notoriously hard to get the appropriate amount of warmth and still preserve the nice crisp high end. Mic placement is tricky, too; the sound coming out of those instruments is very directional, just throwing a mic in front of the bell isn't going to accurately pick up the way the instrument sounds in the room. I'm a saxophone player mainly, so I'm testing these mics with my own instrument. Future videos might include a brass test with a trumpet and trombone for comparison.
When I was putting together my studio, I tried to find a balance of good quality microphones that wouldn't completely use up my budget. In my opinion, as good as the Coles 4038 is, $1200 is a lot of money; although there's no substitute for an actual Coles if you can afford it; that $1200 can buy at least six times as many microphones that will get close enough to work for most purposes.
Note: this test is COMPLETELY subjective. There are lots of factors to selecting the right mic, not the least of which are the size and shape of the room, the particular tone each player gets out of the instrument, and so much more. That's another frustration I've found with some of these other "mic shootout" videos; they're usually shot in an acoustically dead space like an isolation booth or a small room with foam walls. Being in an iso booth is typical and normal for vocalists, but as a horn player most of the session work I've done takes place out in the big studio room with the rest of the band; those spaces are definitely not acoustically the same as an iso booth.
My big room, where the video and audio was recorded, has been designed and treated to have a nice natural acoustic warmth. The wood-panel ceilings reflect just enough of the right kind of ambience, while the corner traps dampen the wrong kind. It's a good sounding room, and a realistic representation of what one might find when recording in an actual large studio room instead of an iso booth.
So, since I'll be using these mics primarily for brass instruments, and since brass instruments are primarily recorded in the big room with the whole horn section all at once, I wanted to create a "mic shootout" video which incorporates these conditions in a way that's more "real world" realistic than just a dry iso booth might offer.
RESULTS: again, totally subjective. I like the Golden Age R2 best. It has a nice, crisp, present high end, but still maintains that ribbon warmth. It also sounded the best of all of them during the off-axis test. The Sterling ST170 surprisingly came in second in the off-axis test but I didn't like the rear polar pattern as much, and the full frontal test sounded more like a cheap condenser. The Fathead sounded very similar to the R2 in full frontal placement, but the off-axis test was my least favorite, and the rear polar pattern didn't sound great IMHO either. That's a clue that the Fathead was designed to be much more directional than the other two, which may not necessarily be a bad thing. I think the Fathead has its practical applications, but my saxophone isn't one of them. Of the three, though, the R2 is definitely the winner of this particular test!
Hope you get something useful out of this, and please don't forget to "like" and "subscribe!"
Пікірлер: 26
Came for the mic shootout, stayed for the lovey sax playing. Thanks!
@spankypdx
2 ай бұрын
Thanks for checking it out!
Golden Age R2, sideways!
Great vid. I like the Golden Age mic. Beautiful playing too.
@spankypdx
2 жыл бұрын
Thanks! The Golden Age is my favorite too.
I honestly prefer the MCA-RK47 condenser. I suppose it could be mic placement.. it sounded more natural
The ST170 has more of a null than this demonstrates but it’s still an awesome video to learn about affordable ribbons. You’re only really in the null area of the middle mic and you can hear it. Thanks!
@spankypdx
2 жыл бұрын
Thanks for watching! Yeah, this isn’t the most scientific method to test mics, for sure! I did end up with a favorite mic out of it, and the others have ended up being my go-to for other applications. The Fathead sounds amazing in front of a guitar amp, and I love the sound the ST170 gets on low brass instruments like trombones and tubas. None of them are anywhere near a Coles 4038 but they’re not meant to be.
@NovelMeetsEvilPodcast
2 жыл бұрын
@@spankypdx And some of people’s fever about their 💰 mic locker is gear-porn (Hey guys, I own a Faberge egg!) It’s obviously not all hype re: Coles, but we have access to great cheap mics compared to the past. Null!
Sterling wins with my ears! Nice playing
@PaulTheTrombonist
Жыл бұрын
amazing what these low price ribbons can do though . you can use them all on a session!
Great job!
Great playing!
@spankypdx
Жыл бұрын
Thanks!
great vid, thanks for making it. The golden age is clearly better and the most natural sounding.
The sterling sounded more up front but not so well on other 2 tests? How do u think it would handle piano using a Tascam model 12 +58db gain? My concern with Ribbons is noise. How u manage to get them so quiet and what would be an affordable way to drive the passives? Many thanks and I love your gorgeous playing which deserves a Ribbon for sure! Much love my man : )
@spankypdx
2 жыл бұрын
I agree the Sterling is a bigger more up-front sound, the fact that it’s powered might be part of the reason why. Overall I didn’t like the tone on my sax as much on the Sterling as with the other two though. I might not necessarily want to use a ribbon mic for piano, a stereo pair of small condensers work better IMHO. I use a pair of Røde NT5 condensers in XY formation about 6 inches above the middle of the strings. Preamps make a huge difference as far as noise. Get a preamp that’s as clean as possible, especially for the passive ribbons which need more gain. Some people also will use an additional box like a Cloudlifter; I’ve heard good things about those but haven’t tried one myself. I use an Apogee Element 88 which has the lowest noise of any pre I’ve ever tried. Apogee pretty much invented D/A converters too so there’s that.
@phoenixrising1576
2 жыл бұрын
@@spankypdx hey cheers. It is very good for the price I guess. I was looking at rodes, oktava and line audio mics. There's also a small company in Australia I found called 3u audio and for budget custom ribbons called No Hype Audio. Thanks : ) I'll check out the apogee 88.
@in.der.welt.sein.
Жыл бұрын
As said above, the Sterling is an active ribbon mic, which needs phantom power, so that gives it a higher output. As for passive ribbon mics, you can use something like the cloud lifter, or any of the other "mic pre-pre amp booster" for an extra 25db of gain, which allows for a lower noise floor.
@joshmcdzz6925
11 ай бұрын
@@phoenixrising1576 I have heard alot of folks say 'nah nah, don't use ribbon for pianos only SDCs' but I beg to disagree. RIbbons' have a high fidelity reproduction when it comes to acoustic instruments and way easier to eq than SDCs esp very colored ones like the Rode NT5. If you can't afford a KM184, get a ribbon. I guess the Sterling would sound better on the piano because of its active circuitry. If you haven't bought any yet, try the ART AR5 active ribbon, it seems to sound better than the sterling and nearly like the Golden age. As for noise, passive ribbons have a noise level that will NEVER make its way into your recording ( pretty low noise ) but the active ones will have a self noise just like any condenser. I wouldn't worry about noise at all. It's the least thing to worry about. Get a Triton fethead for dynamics to get a +27db gain ( fethead's got one for passive/Dynamic mics and one for condensers/active mics )
I havent opened the box of my new st170 but look forward to trying it out. $150/ea on black friday gc
I like the cascade
@spankypdx
Жыл бұрын
That's my favorite mic for trumpet and also for directly in front of a guitar amp.
Golden age sound the best.
@spankypdx
Жыл бұрын
I liked the sound of it best on my saxophone too, but I like the Cascade better for other instruments.
The sterling sounds bad!!! Not like a ribbon at all..