MXL R144 Ribbon Microphone Audio Demo

ToneSlinger.net takes a MXL R144 Ribbon Microphone through the paces micing a VOX AC30CC2. This audio demo samples the microphone centered on the cone at 2", 6", and 12" using both the front and the back of the microphone.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• mxlr144
• Ribbon Microphone
• guitar cabinet mic
• micing a guitar amp
• sound demo
• audio sample
• microphone roundup

[TheMrObsanity]

it sounds really brittle to me

[AUdioHipster]

i bought one of these because easy to open up and mod... haven't looked at the transformer yet but the ribbon is no frills for sure... just compared it the new Recording Tools German co. (Oktava) the MRP-01 that is so much more transparent side by side, i was in disbelief in the difference, the MXL was totally muffled in comparison. both are passive just a element and a transformer, the RT was not only a tad louder but the transparency and depth... was shocking. hope to do some comparisons soon.

[monkeyxx]

@dannycurtean you are not paying for parts..that's dumb the companies are paying for the parts... you're paying for a holistic design and quality construction, maybe even a service guarantee, with a mic like a Peluso, Neumann, whatever. This is true even in an MXL, where they crap together some parts at a basement price point and sometimes succeed at a design that sounds decent, like the mic in this video. if you're crafty enough, you can buy parts and build your own microphone from scratch DIY

[letskillthekids69]

is this mic good for acoustic guitar and vocals together?

[ar1mills]

@MilkAndThreeCookies You are correct. At our studio we use a royer sf24 stereo ribbon for our overhead and it is excellent. I use the U89s if I need something a little brighter.

[MilkAndThreeCookies]

@strategieztv hey man, that's not true at all. Royer, a very well-respected ribbon mic company, has a whole article about using ribbon mics on drumsets. I personally have used this mic lots of times on drums in my studio and it sounds great! I would recommend it only as an overhead or room mic though, never use it directly on a kick or snare drum as that could very well break the ribbon. Use only dynamic mics for a kick or snare. And be sure to never hit it with your drum sticks.

[strategieztv]

@Number37TE hey you can't really use ribbon mics on drums it will mess up the ribbon. If you want to record drums i advise you to get a stereo pair of the audio technica pro 37's.

[joelhisaw]

@Number37TE read some kvr and gearslutz man

[Number37TE]

Does this mic work for drum sets? If not, what is the best cheap mic that i can record drums on?

[danakerman]

The discussion below has been fascinating if only for the linguistic ambiguity that seems to be driving it. In this case I think gmdinfo and dannycurtean are both right, because they're really talking about two different things: real cost vs value. Gmdinfo may in fact be absolutely right in stating that the real cost of basic components is VERY low.