On one occasion, the studio owner, knowing I was using a ribbon microphone on the guitar amplifier, came into the control room to warn me of the level of the guitar amp. He was amazed when he heard how clearly the mic reproduced the sound of the amplifier without a hint of distortion. The R-121 was the darkest of all the mics but it also sounded the smoothest. Since the band s singer has a significant sibilance problem, the Royer ribbon was clearly the microphone of choice. When recording the vocals, I found myself adding more high-end than usual.
Vocals are more susceptible to pops with a ribbon microphone than with a condenser or dynamic mic.
I ve encountered, but it is still no exception. This double protection virtually eliminates vocal pops without significantly altering the sound. Another strength of the Royer R-121 is in recording percussion instruments, especially hand percussion. Percussion can be a problem when recording to a digital medium due to high-end peaks. This is especially true with the tambourine and shaker, the percussive backbones to rock n roll.