All lowercase text is so hard to read.
on my machine, the text is also gigantic, and some of it is outside the screen :')
The Ribbon Microphone
31–40 of 70 posts
Re: The Ribbon Microphone
#32Is there a recording somewhere to hear what this sounds like?
They have a bit different characteristics to dynamic/condenser mics - usually less high frequency content, and pronounced proximity effect.
Often used for horns, violin, guitar cabs - sources where you want to reduce "shrillness" but you can use them anywhere.
Re: The Ribbon Microphone
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
As you’ve pointed out High SPL isn’t what breaks ribbons, it’s high SPL at low frequencies (ie wind/air moving frequencies, like those produced from a slamming wooden case lid. 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 sti…
Is the frequency response purely a function of the physical shape? I wonder why you can't use a similar diaphragm shape but as a condenser?
No, it's a function of the acoustic, mechanical, and electrical properties of the entire system.
An easy way to understand this with dynamic mics is that the coil itself has some resistance, inductance, and capacitance that impedes the flow of the induced current through the coil. That impedance is frequency dependent, so the properties of the coil affect the frequency response.
Same principle applies to all transducers. The acoustic energy is converted into mechanical/kinetic energy and then into electrical energy. So to understand the frequency response you need to understand the acoustic, mechanical, and electrical impedances.
Re: The Ribbon Microphone
#34In the good old mandatory "headphones are speakers" spirit (which us kids at 12 years old had fun with by plugging our headphones in the mic input to act as a mic) I'll mention that ribbon tweeters in speakers are a thing too. My floor-standing loudspeakers have two tweeters, one of which is a ribbon tweeter.
The vertical tweeters in the vid here are ribbon tweeters (same speakers but not my vid):
Re: The Ribbon Microphone
#35If the author's reading this, the site renders like this in a recent Firefox - https://i.imgur.com/lazMsqx.png
Re: The Ribbon Microphone
#36For anyone interested in how mucrophones can sound different, check out Jim Lill's video [1] where he A/B tests a bunch of mics against one another and industry standards. 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. 1: https://youtu.be/4B…
Love his series, but you really have to keep in mind that his testing methodology is "reductionist": a microphone's quality can't just be distilled to its EQ response. Phase, transient response, clipping, etc. are also part of the equation. 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 nam…
>> solid state clipping != (saggy) tube overdrive.
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.
Re: The Ribbon Microphone
#37All lowercase text is so hard to read.
ifyouthinkthatsbadbearinmindthatbothcapitallettersinlowercasetextandspacesbetweenwordsarefairlyrecentinventions
Re: The Ribbon Microphone
#38For anyone interested in how mucrophones can sound different, check out Jim Lill's video [1] where he A/B tests a bunch of mics against one another and industry standards. 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. 1: https://youtu.be/4B…
That's an amazing video, the first 30min Youtube I've seen that is densely packed with usefulness and without any fluff (in pace, audio and visuals).
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.
Re: The Ribbon Microphone
#39Is this basically just the inverse of an electrostatic speaker? I've seen DIY builds of those using very thin films coated with some electrosensitive solution - would that work as an alternative for the foil/leaf used here?
No, a ribbon microphone is sort-of a dual of a dynamic microphone if you squint hard enough. An electrostatic speaker is closer to the inverse of a condenser (capacitor) microphone
Just to add: inverse of ribbon microphone is ribbon speaker [1].
[1] https://www.psaudio.com/blogs/pauls-posts/how-a-ribbon-speak...
Re: The Ribbon Microphone
#40If the author's reading this, the site renders like this in a recent Firefox - https://i.imgur.com/lazMsqx.png
Not the case on v134.0.1 on Linux Mint.
