Topic: Ribbon Mics

[TAPEROY]

Is anyone using these?? If so any opinions? i'm looking at a pair of samson vr88's with figure 8 pattern.

[OOK]

use up close (stage perferablely) and in a Blumlein set up.....
Use ribbons indoors only.  Wind of any kind can damage the ribbons, leaving you with a useless mic needing repair.  Oh yeah and have fun...

[jnorman34]

i use ribbons in the studio all the time and love them for their warm smooth sound on classical material.  i have used blumlein pairs of ribbons for live venue recordings on occasion, but i dont think i would want to use them in any kind of large rock venue, or from any kind of distance.  ribbons are also very low output mics compared to condensers, and require good preamps with lots of clean gain.  most ribbons these days are not nearly as fragile as those of past years.   i've owned pairs of coles 4038s, royer r-121s, and these days, i am using the very nice (and affordable) shinybox 46mx's (love em).

if you are doing classical or small acoustic ensembles, ribbons can be great if you can get close (ie, on the stage), but if you are doing rock from distant locations in the audience, stick with sd condensers with hypers for best noise rejection.

[RebelRebel]

ribbons are amazing sounding on certain sources, but wouldnt be my choice for PA taping because of the "generally" fragile nature. Shinybox makes some cheaper ones that may be a good introduction to the ribbon realm. www.shinybox.com

Beyer 130/160 are fairly robust and have been used a lot of albums from the past couple decades. either those or the above mentioned shinybox mics would be my first purchase if I were purchasing a 1st ribbon pair.