Post by schmalzy on Jan 17, 2018 12:02:55 GMT -6
Ribbon mics definitely do a thing for horns.
Glad you had success with those mics. I've been side-eying them for a while. I just don't need 'em right now and have too much else to grab before I snag more limited-use mics (like ribbons can sometimes be).
I say "limited-use" because I have three ribbons (that re-ribboned Apex 205 and two Cascade Fatheads) that do a pretty good job. I'd love to go to something a little more juicy and full-frequency but it requires me entering a different tax bracket. I do a lot of heavier music and ribbon mics sound great (I just stuck a ribbon under the ride about snare-high on a 4-piece drum kit last night...AWESOME kick lows and shell body, by the way!) but are at risk of damage when you've got young-ish, energetic, not-super-aware-of-their-surroundings people moving gear around and trying to find vibe in a live-tracking situation.
I'll never forget the first time I had a drummer kick over a room mic - he was grabbing something and coming back to the kit - the mic was even on one of those shorty stands - it was the slowest single moment of terror I've experienced in the studio. Same mic (after it was re-ribboned) a few years later (just a couple months ago) I'm setting up to have a guy come in and do some distance shouty vocals to finish up a record - literally the last thing that needed to be recorded. I set up the mic across the room and instruct him to stay where he is (so we can get that ambient distant shouty sound) and have at 'er. I get the preamp up and I'm dialing in the saturation I wanted into a compressor. All the sudden I hear VERY LOUD AND VERY GROSS SOUNDING!!!!! "Hey, man, what was that?" "Oh, it was too quiet in my headphones so I just walked right up and sang right into the mic. It's much better now."
I use figure-8 fairly freely in my room - I have enough movable absorption to make sure that back side isn't a problem if I need a tight sound - so that's not really the problem. I'm in the "I had to have a bunch of mics to get started tracking the variety of things I needed to do - now I need to replace them with good stuff" phase of my mic locker and currently my ribbon mics are doing a completely acceptable job. The ribbons are doing the things I need them to do right now so any affordable replacement would be limited-use.
How would you describe the sound of the NTR1 vs the Fathead?