I hope I can do this again.....

[hollywood_steve]

Listening back to a straight re-play (not even a "rough" mix) of the jazz trio recording from the other night, the one thing that jumps out at me as surprisingly good - the mono piano picked up by a single Coles 4038 about 3ft out and 2 ft above the curve in the piano. By far the most natural sounding (as in I'm back in the club...) piano I have ever recorded. FWIW, Coles into API/Averill 312, straight into Genex, no other processing.

[Bob Olhsson]

You oughtta hear an RCA 44BX!

[hollywood_steve]

I have, that's what lead me on the path to ribbon mics. During my 7 years at Universal, I heard a lot of old 44s and 77s, but not many sounded alike, and any nice one's I found for sale were over $2k. I got a pair of brand new Coles for that price. Not saying that they are equal or even very similar to a 44, but they give me what I want out of a ribbon, reliably.

[Remoteness]

Mono ribbon can be so sweet. I must try that someday soon.

Unfortunately, they sometimes have the lid completely closed due to the volume and size of the band. Ouch!

I assume you folks used the long stick for the lid, right?

[hollywood_steve]

half stick, but I prefer full.

[fifthcircle]

Originally posted by Remoteness
Mono ribbon can be so sweet. I must try that someday soon.

Been using the Royer active ribbons (R122 and SF-24) here a lot lately. These things are a wonder for the live recordist. You get that sweet ribbon sound and because of the active electronics, cable lengths between mic and preamp almost become non-issues.

I've had a couple gigs where cable runs to the preamp have been upwards of 250 feet and the mics work beautifully. Try doing that with a "regular" passive ribbon mic.

--Ben

[hollywood_steve]

I've had a couple gigs where cable runs to the preamp have been upwards of 250 feet and the mics work beautifully. Try doing that with a "regular" passive ribbon mic.

6 of one, half dozen of another.......... I'd just as soon use the passive ribbon and place the preamp near the stage. But an active ribbon is on my "must try" list, just because I hate to write it off without trying it.

[henryrobinett]

I had a AEA 44c here for a few months. Man did I fall in love with that. I could only spring for the r84, which I love. I used it yesterday in front of a drum set that was otherwise close mic'ed. Sounded great. Eventually I'd like to get another 84 and the 44 (AEA). I'd love to try that on piano. For now I've just been using a pair of AT4050s. through Millennia.

[fifthcircle]

Originally posted by hollywood_steve
[i]
6 of one, half dozen of another.......... I'd just as soon use the passive ribbon and place the preamp near the stage. But an active ribbon is on my "must try" list, just because I hate to write it off without trying it.

Comes down to one major issue- power. Because so many halls have crappy power, unless you run power from recording land down to the stage or get a big iso-transformer, putting pres there can be problematic sometimes. I've done it plenty of times, but I prefer not to if I can avoid it. I also use the SF-24 as a main pair for large ensembles (orchestras, etc...). In some halls, placing preamps in the catwalks is a *very* difficult proposition. When I was in Sydney last summer, I had a 325 foot run (perhaps more) and my console was the closest I could get pres. The SF-24 performed beautifully.

Give the folks at Royer a call and demo a mic. They are a very cool crowd (and local for us LA types, too).

--Ben