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Post by mcirish on May 8, 2023 11:23:18 GMT -6
Anyone have any experience with the Alder Audio H44 ribbon mic? I listened to a podcast interviewing the owner (Tyler). Kind of intriguing so I checked out the website. It's quite affordable. Almost worth taking a chance on it. www.alderaudio.com/h44 |
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Post by Ward on May 9, 2023 17:52:22 GMT -6
Reminds me of the Samar in appearance and possibly construction . . .  |
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Post by mcirish on May 10, 2023 5:13:06 GMT -6
I guess he got a patent on the design of the ribbon. He puts a herringbone pattern into it instead of the typical corrugation. It's supposed to make it a bit stronger. My guess is that it would also be less sensitive, but I'm not a ribbon expert. Still thinking about picking one up to test when I have some spare money.
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Post by mcirish on Aug 9, 2023 16:01:18 GMT -6
Digging up this thread to say I did buy one back in May. I hadn't had much of a chance to use it until the last few weeks. I had a cello player come in and we shot out mics for a while just to pick the right one for her cello. For ribbons, I tried an AEA84A and the Alder H44. I also tried a U47(ish) mic and a Beyerdynamic MC930. The front side of the H44 was the pretty easy winner in this session. I ended up buying a Rycote shockmount. The clip that comes with it is fine but has no isolation.
Prices recently went up. I guess I should have bought a pair when they were $399. Anyone looking for a ribbon that has a bright side and a dark side in one mic, this should be on the short list. I think I might want to look into an inline preamp to boost the signal a bit. It worked fine but being a passive ribbon, it needs a lot of gain.
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Post by Ward on Aug 10, 2023 9:40:05 GMT -6
Digging up this thread to say I did buy one back in May. I hadn't had much of a chance to use it until the last few weeks. I had a cello player come in and we shot out mics for a while just to pick the right one for her cello. For ribbons, I tried an AEA84A and the Alder H44. I also tried a U47(ish) mic and a Beyerdynamic MC930. The front side of the H44 was the pretty easy winner in this session. I ended up buying a Rycote shockmount. The clip that comes with it is fine but has no isolation. Prices recently went up. I guess I should have bought a pair when they were $399. Anyone looking for a ribbon that has a bright side and a dark side in one mic, this should be on the short list. I think I might want to look into an inline preamp to boost the signal a bit. It worked fine but being a passive ribbon, it needs a lot of gain. Very interesting. Do you have much experience with other ribbons, and if so, could you compare them to others? |
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ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
Posts: 16,103 
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Post by ericn on Aug 10, 2023 10:16:26 GMT -6
I’m waiting for John Epstein to chime in with his asymmetrical ribbon rant.
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Post by Ward on Aug 10, 2023 11:28:31 GMT -6
I’m waiting for John Epstein to chime in with his asymmetrical ribbon rant. Winter is coming? |
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Post by mcirish on Aug 10, 2023 14:19:50 GMT -6
I've worked with a 77 on vovals and I own an AEA84A. In this one instance, the 84A was bigger in the low end in a way I didn't want. The H44 was a little less boomy and it also had a slight presence to it (on the front side) that made the cello sit well in the mix without becoming harsh or scratchy. Often, I have to do a bit of dynamic EQ to tame bow scrape on some instruments. In this case, I didn't have to do anything.
Yes, the H44 is assymetrical. In my case, I look at it as two different kinds of sounds. I don't tend to use the front and back. I place a gobo behind the mic to stop the pickup of the back side. If I was going to do a real figure 8 thing or some MS setup, this wouldn't be the mic I'd choose. Alder does have a symetrical version avaialble as well.
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Post by christopher on Aug 10, 2023 15:10:26 GMT -6
What do you guys think about the look? I like the visuals, cool body and logo. The way they did the logo, it looks like a cutout. Are any other companies doing that? And the letter A, though it looks more like a different letter to me. And also the grill cutout isn’t just a simple looking rectangle. Interesting
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Post by drumsound on Aug 10, 2023 17:44:52 GMT -6
I've worked with a 77 on vovals and I own an AEA84A. In this one instance, the 84A was bigger in the low end in a way I didn't want. The H44 was a little less boomy and it also had a slight presence to it (on the front side) that made the cello sit well in the mix without becoming harsh or scratchy. Often, I have to do a bit of dynamic EQ to tame bow scrape on some instruments. In this case, I didn't have to do anything. Yes, the H44 is assymetrical. In my case, I look at it as two different kinds of sounds. I don't tend to use the front and back. I place a gobo behind the mic to stop the pickup of the back side. If I was going to do a real figure 8 thing or some MS setup, this wouldn't be the mic I'd choose. Alder does have a symetrical version avaialble as well. How much difference are you hearing between the front and back? |
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Post by mcirish on Aug 11, 2023 8:31:33 GMT -6
I didn't do any extensive comparisons from the front and back. In this case the front had just a slight mid push that made the cello clearer without being harsh of scratchy. I need to do a lot more testing before I can give and ultimate statement on the differences though.
The design is pretty cool. I've never seen any other mic that looks like it. It's sort of a medium long ribbon. Very compact body so it's easy to place anywhere.
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