Hello, guys, this is my first post here, I find it amazing that there's such a huge community for us to rely on. I need help choosing my first ribbon microphone. I plan to use it on brass instruments, acoustic guitar, hand percussion, and to compliment it my new Soyuz 017 FET for other applications. I'll be passing it through a cloud lifter and an apollo twin mkII. I currently own most UAD preamp emulations, and I'll be getting a real 1073 soon. My budget for this is 1,300 USD tops, so I've narrowed it down to the AEA N8, R84, Royer 121, or the Beyerdynamic M160. Any thoughts?

The M160 is the easiest to use and most versatile. If your room doesn't sound great, the hypercardiod pattern just ignores that fact. For electric guitars, string instruments, drum OH, it's my first choice.

Of the others, demos of the AEA N8 sound killer. Personally, I don't vibe with the Royer.

I'm talking to the distributor to lend me the aeas and the m160 along with the royer. I think I'll run a shootout to check out at my studio. ?

I have the R84, R92, and a pair of 121's. For me, I feel like the Royers are the most flexible and work on the most sources.

They are all great mics.

I do not have cloudlifters... I run through SCA N72 or A12 without any shortage of gain.

Thank you, what shockmount do you use with the royers? I read that they don't include one and the one royer offers is like 250.

Out of those, the R84 is my choice. It just sounds great and vibey on anything.... guitars, drum overheads, drum rooms, crotch mic, horns, etc...

M160 is a little bit different of a ribbon... its not figure of 8 pattern like most. I believe it's hyper cardiod. Nice on drums and guitar cabs... little more focused and less "big" than other ribbons.

R121- Vanilla, IMO. Sounds nice, but a little boring. Never my first choice except for chuggy metal guitars.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...ock_Mount.html
I've done a few of these -along with a bunch of shock mounts for various mics.. Bottom line, when you've had enough of rubber bands' wearing out, Rycote.
This is the 44901' 18-55mm.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...hoCJogQAvD_BwE

Listen explicitly for how the AEAs and the M160 reveal the truth about the quality of your studio space. As mentioned above, the M160 will be more forgiving of a difficult room.

Demo the AEA R92.

I really liked the AEA R84 too but imho it needs a fairly big great sounding room to do it's thing at it's best - it has a big ribbon sound if you can give it space to breath.

The R92 works better in a smaller project studio space and has far less proximity effect when close micing guitar, vocals etc it also has a bright and darker sides so that adds to it's flexibility.

I'm personally less of a fan of the R121 and prefer AEA ribbons.

The AEA dedicated ribbon pre the RPQ 500 pairs up like a dream with an AEA mic and removes the need for a cloudlifter.

I think the R84 is the most "ribbony" of the mics on your list. I admit it might not be the most versatile - just because of this. It might depend on how many mics you have in your locker.

I absolutely love it on electric guitar and it is also my favorite mic on trumpet. Good on sax as well. I have used it for "one mic" over-the-shoulder drum kit and frankly it's the only mic that I felt was completely successful in that application.

I have gotten great results with it as a lead vocal mic.

Because it is so "vibey", as MilkPossumSound puts it, it makes a great spotlight mic for setting something apart. For example, I had a piano player want to overdub a melody line using the same acoustic piano he played for rhythm. The R84 made the overdub sound like a different instrument. Mixing that part in was easy. But you can see how that character might also imply less Versatility.

I probably would not use it 'every day' for acoustic guitar or percussion.

Thank you guys, I went with the R84 due to the delivery time and also I think since its my first ribbon I definetely wanted something ribbony. I do have a room studio but my acoustic treatment is on point. It will arrive along with my Soyuz mic so I'm excited to hear them out.

How did it play it out?

I loved it. I've been pairing it a lot with the soyuz 017 Fet for accordion and 12 string acoustic guitar in spaced A B configuration , on brass instruments and backing vocals (specially crowds) as a single mic, and as a mono overhead. I also used it once as a single mic config to record acoustic guitar but it was for a jazz pop song. Its not my favorite for acoustics every time but it worked great for that particular song. I almost always use it with a cloudlifter.

I’ve owned all (as well as MANY other ribbons) and all are great mics! Can’t go wrong with any. As you can tell by responses, we all have our favs.

I will say a good ribbon preamp, like the AEA TRP, makes a BIG difference.

Also if you get a 121, the back side is brighter than the front, kinda like 2 slightly different mics.

Also ribbons can take large amounts of additive EQ very well, unlike most mics. You can often make up for areas other folks see as weaknesses in the mics.

If you are open to one other suggestion, the Alder Audio H44 is as good as any ribbon mic I’ve owned and is probably the most versatile. At $500 It is the best value out there!!!

Seems like you made the right call! The R84 is probably my favorite ribbon mic, period. I had a great experience with one earlier this week, rehearsing/recording at a cool studio owned by a friend of mine, playing in a horn section: bari sax, tenor sax (me), and trumpet, in a smallish booth, with an R84 for me and the bari player to share and an AEA 44 for the trumpet. I was blown away how well the recording turned out, even in that cramped little room, and I don't know how the R84 captures so much detail and fidelity while still offering that ribbony warmth.

I almost always prefer a top-quality condenser mic for my session work, but the R84 is exceptional and always deserves a listen. Paired with your 017, you should be in pretty excellent shape!

Hey do you also have the NoHype LRM-V mic? How similar is it to the R84?

I have the NoHype on my wishlist but I'm starting to see used R84s at somewhat reasonable prices. Not sure if it's really worth the extra money - I kind of like the idea of sticking with a low budget mic locker since I'm just a hobbyist.

I do own the LRM-V and I love it! It's actually the main reason I don't own an R84... it does what I need a ribbon to do. And I can borrow an R84 from a friend if I ever REALLY want to use one for something specific.

The LRM-V can actually sound quite similar to the R84, but only with a fair amount of high-end boost (which it can take very naturally). One thing I like about the R84 is its surprisingly good high-end detail capture, and I like that it isn't as rolled-off on top as the LRM-V is. You get tons of the classic ribbony rolled-off high-end in the LRM-V, and that makes it a better contrast to my various condensers, vs the R84. But a modest amount of boosted highs for the LRM-V gets it crazy, crazy close to the much pricier AEA.

Thank you, that's pretty much what I was hoping to hear lol.

I'm in an awkward spot where I am building up a mic locker and see lots of affordable and decent mics by 3U Audio, NoHype, Line Audio etc - but then in the $1K range there's another selection that seems better but only marginally. Really trying to refrain from constantly chasing the higher price when I could just be happy with the affordable option. I guess this is probably a common sentiment.

Yes, and finding about certain high-quality lower-cost makers – like the three you mentioned, specifically – has been something I've found extremely valuable about GS. These are all essentially zero-marketing operations run by guys who really care about what they do, and they're an excellent alternative to bigger-name manufacturers with bigger marketing budgets (and markup).

I DO, however, think the high-end gear is ultimately worth the price – I also work in music full-time and I can justify it as a business expense. So for people who aren't full-time, are hobbyists, or are just getting started, these lower-cost alternatives are wonderful. They're capable of pro results. So if you just need some serviceable gear to help you get to work, and you don't have the budget for Neumann/Schoeps/AEA yet, they make tons of sense and won't hold you back.

Have you compared the R84 (passive) to the N8 (active) with a focus on vocals and acoustic instruments such as mandolin and trumpet?

I've never been in the same room with an N8 so I can't say I've compared them! I'm confident either of those mics would be great on either of those sources, although for mandolin I'd probably prefer a good-quality condenser mic with a reasonably flat response. Schoeps, ideally, or something like a TLM170. But either of those AEA mics would undoubtedly get the job done very nicely too.