VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Dayo]

Just curious if anyone has tried the SE Neve RNR1 ribbon mic for v/o?

Ribbons give a beautiful natural tone. I used to have a Beyer M260 as a talkback mic and occasionally I'd use it for character voices, but it was never a practical option for long form work due to the weenie output.

About a year ago I tried out a Royer R122. It had enough output to drive my pre and sounded lovely, but lacked that high mid, high detail and punch.

So the SE Neve ribbon mic has been out for a while now and looks like a slightly different beast. Any experience anyone?

Thanks!

[Mike Sommer]

The Neve mic is ok, it sounded a little thin.

The Royer R122 is a great accurate mic.

If you want a damn good ribbon mic the AEA R44, A44 or the R92 are
perfect for character work and general VO. Talk to Wes Dooley over at
AEA. I would go with the A44.

If you want the best ribbon ever made get an RCA KU-3A. This will ounly
set you back $5000 if you can find one.

What may be lacking is the Preamp on your end. You need at least 80dB's of
output to drive a passive ribbon, and a discreet Class A preamp is the way
to go. Such a preamp would be a Neve 1073 or a Golden Age Pre 73.

Ribbon mics have an accurate sonic sound, you're not going to get high end
punch with a ribbon. Ribbons smooth over, "round the edges" of the voice,
which is why it is a great mic for the ladies that are sibilant. It is in a
word- forgiving.

If you need punch in the mids, it's just a matter of adjusting the EQ.
Otherwise get a good condenser microphone.

A lot of the crystal clear, shimmery highs you hear in a lot of audio is
achieved in post production anyways.
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Acoustics are counter-intuitive. If one thing is certain about acoustics, it is that if anything seems obvious it is probably wrong.