He has a whole series of videos where he explores what contributes the most to "guitar tone", all the way from the strings to your ears and in between. It's a bit of an eye opener to say the least. Highly, highly recommended.
edit: My "case in point" moment is Jim's (excellent!) DIY amp section in this video: https://youtu.be/wcBEOcPtlYk?si=jkehIfyo6AgeTLUo&t=918. Its EQ indeed sounds like the big names, but I'm sure you'll also notice how its dynamics also sound so thin. That's likely because solid state clipping != (saggy) tube overdrive.
In one of his amp cab videos he has the appiphany that all his tone chasing was for naught, because he failed to consider that each and every sound he hears has been recorded. He cannot replicate the tone of how an amp or cab or speaker or guitar sounded, because that sound was recorded, where the mic, preamp, console and recording medium all added their own influence, and him listening to an amp in the room is not how that amp actually sounded. And live sound is a completely different animal all together!
Clipping tends to produce odd harmonics, and blocks highs entirely in the flat parts.
Nonlinearity across the signal range can produce even harmonics and doesn't delete portions of small signals.
I wish he had vocals in his comparison set.
I did love to see five different U87s tested. They have such a great reputation, and we used them so much when I was producing but it's amazing to me how variable they were from mic to mic. Knowing that I would avoid moving forward unless it's my own, that I know.
A typical usecase for this is a singer with an acoustic guitar - one mic can pick up the guitar and almost fully reject the vocals, and vice-versa. Pretty cool.
* "Relics Reborn: Ribbon Microphones Rally for Vintage-Audio Geeks" https://www.wired.com/2011/01/gallery-ribbon-mics-part-1/ https://web.archive.org/web/20240118172709/https://www.wired...
* "Ribbon Microphones: Audio Icon You Can Build in Your Garage" https://www.wired.com/2011/01/ribbon-mics-part-2/ https://web.archive.org/web/20160326035336/https://www.wired... (the internal link from part 1 to part 2 in the Wired story is currently broken!)
(These were posted in 2011 by user mainland but didn't get any comments.)
Or just a sheet of glass in front of the singer.
My blog had the same problem until I removed the css styles that triggered the font size.
@media (min-resolution: 1.5dppx) {
:root {
font-size: 2.4rem;
}
}
My 27 inch 4k monitor comes in at a device pixel ratio of ~1.58, triggering this (presumably) phone-targeted style.edit: haven't managed to replicate the absurdly huge image; what version # & os are you on?
figure img { width: 100%; }on a non-maximized window.
Often used for horns, violin, guitar cabs - sources where you want to reduce "shrillness" but you can use them anywhere.
Edit: fixed a typo
Their frequency response is probably well characterised and documented, so you can simulate one by putting an appropriate EQ over a "normal" mic and the outcome will be indistinguishable from the real thing.
Some are so sensitive that you can actually destroy the ribbon by shutting the (mic) case lid too fast.
Kick drums and bass guitar amps might not be a good match for a ribbon, but speech (with a pop filter) is fine.
Modern mics like those from Royer Labs can handle high SPL (cranked 100w guitar amp).
There are a few reasons why professionals still like ribbons for certain tasks: unlike condensers and dynamics, the resonant frequency of the ribbon is typically very low (20Hz), so you don’t get any peaks or artifacts when the source audio vibrates at the resonant frequency of the mic. Also, if you like the sound of your expensive mic preamplifier, the low output ribbon mics let you add gain/dirt/harmonic distortion which to some is pleasing to the ear.
Love that the op built his own, that’s really awesome.
With that said, every ribbon mic I've owned, I've felt like I've had to handle with kid gloves, just in case.
[1] https://www.psaudio.com/blogs/pauls-posts/how-a-ribbon-speak...
Of course, as soon as i tried to record my guitarist with it, he cranked his amp and broke it again. Guitarists, man...
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45081/the-cremation-o...
perhaps the author is anti-capital-ist?
having an entire separate alphabet just to mark the start of sentences, and proper names, does seem extremely wasteful
on the microphone, it looks like quite a delicate process
i've modded some cheap aliexpress microphones (eg following https://audioimprov.com/AudioImprov/Mics/Entries/2015/12/20_...) but i'd want to see some measurements or reviews before embarking on something like this one
This is quite the style
The vertical tweeters in the vid here are ribbon tweeters (same speakers but not my vid):