Ribbon Mic Comparison- Royer, AEA, Rode, Oktava
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- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
- A lengthy video comparing the Royer R121, AEA R84, Rode NTR and Oktava ML 52-02 on a Fender Bassman. The results line up with my experiences with this mics, every mic has a purpose and no mic does it all.
What I did find interesting was how close they all were on clean guitar and how obvious they differed on the distorted guitar. My assumption would be the complex harmonics brought out a distorted guitar is greatly impacted by the ribbon designs.
Very interesting comparison, thank you. 👍
I'm really pleased to learn at the end that the Oktava was in-fact the cheapest, I liked it the most throughout the vid.
Definitely a lot of bang-for-the-buck with the Oktava. Thanks for watching!
great presentation and comparison
beautiful
playing and excellent comparison
Thanks so much for the comment and thanks for watching!
Bro I was so enthralled by the playing I forgot to listen to the differences in the microphones lol
Appreciate the comment. Thanks for watching!
this is a dream setup gooood dudeee
I was barracking for the NTR but the 121 won out for me. It focuses on, and articulates the mid-range in a way the others just don't and unless you're playing unaccompanied, isn't that what you want from a mic on a guitar cab?
Close mic'ing definitely favor the 121- especially paired with a Senn 609 for me. But move the NTR back 12-16 inches and it really captures the amp naturally. I use it a lot for one-mic setups on clean to medium dirt tracks.
Thanks for watching!
Great VDO, having the SM57 in there really helps to set the bar. I have a pair of NTR's and an R121, love them both. I got use the NTR's more.
I have yet to find something a ribbon won't work on- amazing mics for sure.
Thanks for watching!
I like the Oktava, it has a depth and 3d quality the others are lacking, it needs a little EQ'ng to sweeten up the highs which isn't a bad thing IMO
The Oktave definitely holds it's own against much more expensive ribbon mics for sure. Thanks for watching!
I’ll take a pair of those Rodes thanks 😁
there's nothing they don't sound good on. Thanks for watching!
@@DDPAV I bought one for vocals and I love it!
Cool review, but using 4 different speakers does not give a fair comparison because the sound of each speaker can be drastically different! I understand it would have been a lot more takes, and this was a way to cut down on takes, but using the same speaker and same position for each mic would give a much more accurate comparison. would be cool if you could just do a short comparison of each mic on the same speaker!
It is very true that speakers can vary though I'm not quite sure how drastic they would be- I guess that would probably be a great demo itself. The overall sonic quality of each mic in the demo pretty much matches the footprint I've noticed over my time using all these mics. Being that they are ribbon mics and all but the Rode NTR have some serious years of usage on them, you could also point out that comparing a new R121 to one that's 20 years old would also vary in sonic character. Ribbons are notoriously fragile and stretch over time, there's plenty of years of cranked Marshalls attacking those suckers! You could also say that playing 4 different passes for each mic on the same speaker could also introduce sonic variations in how they're played. A true test would be to use a looper and just switch out the mics so the sonic input would have zero variations- pretty much far to time consuming for me. Thanks for the feedback!
Ya, forsure I hear you! I think that the differences in speaker would be way bigger than differences in sonic character when talking about playing the same thing 4 times! Of course either way theres going to be differences, I was just saying from what Ive learnt over time its that the speakers would introduce more variation than one might think, even being the same speaker! I think that would be a cool test for you to do , is take 1 mic and play the same thing 4 times(something easy like a strumming thing thats easily repeatable) and put that mic on a different speaker in the 4x12 each time, I think you'd be surprised! So overall my point was not that the ribbon mics in and of themselves wouldn't retain a certain quality, its that when your comparing them to each other , that it somewhat gives a blurry image of how they actually sound! Do you know what I mean? like if on mic 1 it sounded very scooped in the 300hz region , but on mic 2 it didn't , it would be hard to say whether its the speaker or the mic, do you kinda see what I mean? But if every mic is on the same speaker , playing the same thing, you know that any big changes are because of the mic! Ofcourse there will be tiny variances in playing, but assuming you play something easy and at a relatively same velocity it won't change majorly as much as a speaker can actually alter the sound!
he doesn't have the Patients!
Oktava really rules here. The only one that is not annoying
Hard to beat the Oktave for bang-for-the-buck for sure.
Thanks for watching.
sm57 on the side and ntr on the center of the cone.
how much was the oktava ?
Think I picked up two of them back in the late '90s early '00s and they were 200-250 a piece if I remember correctly. A real bargain at the time for sure.
Thanks for watching!
@@DDPAV $399 now.
I picked up a lot of oktava mics a few months back RIGHT when the war started.
I now noticed the price of all oktava mics went up approximately 10-20% since then.
However I forgot to pick up a ribbon!
the oktava sounds the best honestly. I am shocked!
@@levijessegonzalez3629 When I had a commercial studio back in the day they were my go-to's for room mics and strings. Back then you couldn't touch a ribbon for three times the price and still today they hold their own.
Not sure how it compares to current budget ribbons but obvious doesn't do to bad against the expensive big studio standards currently being used.
Don't forget the ribbons!!🤣
Phase only matters if youre running/listening to more than one mic/track simultabneously. This is an individual mic test. Speakers can sound crazy different too. W that said, the Oktavas are the best deal for the money IMHO.
Mentioning "in phase" was to add to the visual representation that the mics were all the same distances. At the end all 4 mics were used and a room mic so being in phase did come into play at the point. Totally agree that the Oktava was a great deal for the money, though I'm wondering how some of todays cheaper ribbons compare- I've had two Oktavas since the early 2000's and used them on countless projects. Thanks for watching and taking time to comment!
The R121 sounds like it has that sweet ribbon +sm57 sound in one mic.
Very odd for a ribbon but very lovely even tho I prefered the AEA.
R121 is my go-to for close mic'ing a guitar cab along with a Senn 609. I tend to use the R84 on brighter sources that need to be tamed. Thanks for watching!
Rode is the one closest to the Royer which is the industry standard ribbon. AEA sounded dull and dark. Oktava held its ground but I can see it better suited as drum room mic, it was rather weak at the mids. I would vote Royer as best overall and Rode as the best value for money.
hmm.. Oktava is actually quite impressive
Absolutely, a bit darker but definitely useful and back-in-the-day they were dirt cheap. Thanks for watching!
oktava for blending defo
AEA sounds for me the most neutral , few colour and compression. I use often Boyer and NTR (trompet and OH drums )
I tend to put the AEA on Trumpet and the 121 on Trombone- think that's a great combination. I also find with the NTR that keeping it back from the sound source about 18" or more sounds incredibly natural- especially guitar cabs.
Thanks for the comment!
@@DDPAV Yes , an AEA on trompet. When my music is busy ( dance 120bmp and more ) and guitar is not leading , I use also a AEA. Indeed , use the NTR when there is space for natural sound in the mix. That 18 inch I have to try , I must be more patient and experiment more with the NTR. Thank you for your vid.
The AEA R84 kills on this brighter, spittier tweed amp, tames it down nicely and makes it more 3D than the others. It's a darker mic, a feature not a bug, with a good color eq boost you can boost the highs to taste but retain the smoothness. The R121 is obviously voiced slightly brighter than the R84, and sounds excellent as well, sounds like there is just nothing between you and the playing, really effortlessly good sounding. Both these mics are Fig-8, and I'm pretty sure have a slightly different voicing on the reverse side (I believe due to the physical properties/dimensions inside).
Yep definitely brighter when you turn them around. Thanks for taking time to leave a comment!
The AEA is dark and muddy.
There is no right or wrong here I would say.
Agreed. Thanks for watching!