Ribbon Microphones

Ribbon microphones have similar properties to condenser microphones except for high electrical output (so they generally aren't used as ambient microphones positioned far away from the sound source) and they are less robust.

The Ribbon microphone consists of a very lightweight metal foil diaphragm suspended in a high powered 'horse shoe' shaped magnet (take care not to leave them near audio tapes as they can erase them). The movement of the foil acts much like a dynamic microphone and generates a low level alternating electrical current. The metal foil is very delicate and always requires an excellent integral windshield to prevent the foil from literally being blown away or deformed.

An extra windshield is recommended should you decide to use one for close up vocal work. Its light weight means that it responds readily to high frequencies and fast transients in the sound.

The pickup pattern of ribbon microphones is always ‘figure of eight’ which makes them useful for ignoring sound sources to their sides. They make good audience microphones since they can be put next to the P.A. speakers which they wont ‘hear’ very well but the audience’s laughter and applause will be recorded well.

The Tone of Ribbon Microphones

Ribbon microphones have always been appreciated by some sound recordists for their natural tone and they are now experiencing a renewed interest, however their fragile nature means they tend to be used only in the recording studio.

Ribbon mics have a high impedance as well, so make sure your microphone preamplifier can handle such impedances otherwise you wont get the full bass response from a ribbon mic. It is also wise to switch off any phantom power on a ribbon microphone channel since it can cause loud noises when patching on a jackfield or potentially damage the ribbon.

The frequency response of Ribbon microphones gently rolls of at the higher frequencies along a similar curve to that of human hearing so they are considered to have a nice ‘warm’ sound - often used to warm up vocals and speech.

Nowdays the main manufacturers of Ribbon microphones are Coles, Royer, Audio Engineering Associates (AEA) and Beyer Dynamic.