I’ve been using some Chinese built ribbon mics now for a few years and, in the right circumstances, they can be very good; the odd guitar amp, male vocalist or (rarely) drum kit. Once considered the height of microphone technology (okay, 80 odd years ago) the ribbon has been left in the wake of more precise and more robust microphone designs.
The list of issues that can affect your ribbon mic is substantial; poor design and build can lead to saggy ribbons, bad wiring can cause accidental phantom power burnout and, while some ribbon mics can handle very high SPL’s their thin ribbons can be easily snapped by loud plosives, a simple ‘p’ from an enthusiastic vocalist could put your mic in the workshop. Then there’s also the issue of gain. When using a ribbon you can find yourself whacking on all the gain you have available and I always find things get a bit dicey at the extremities of a gain pot.
There are solutions out there to make using your ribbons a little easier. Oktava Mod offer a variety of upgrade options to your basic ribbon mic to get it sounding lovely (I’ve heard the results and am planning to send my own pair in for surgery). A bit of care with your wiring should mean that even if phantom power does get to your ribbon, it should survive intact and, using a pop shield should stop your ribbon being pranged, regardless of the source. To help with the gain you can try getting your hands on a preamp with a variable impedance load. Generally (your mics specs should give you more details here) the higher the load the better your ribbon mic will perform. The other options is to use something like the Rode Power Plug which gives a 20db gain boost inline. This was my own solution to the gain problem for a while and I’ve spotted that Cascade Microphones recommend the same solution for their own range of very nice Ribbon mics and even sell the Power Plug through their site.
Of course the more expensive Ribbon mics (more…)
