Ribbon Mic - Recording Banjo
 

Have any of you guys ever tried a ribbon mic recording banjo? If so, what was your take..? What about the Nady ribbon? I know there are better ribbons out there, but not in my budget right now...

Re: Ribbon Mic - Recording Banjo
 

The Nady's are supposed to be good. Haven't tried them but I have a pair from the same factory / same guts on the way. Ribbons are cool but plan on experimenting a lot with placement and eq. You also need a pre with 50db or more boost for a lot of ribbons.

I have a Royer 121 and I find it is great on bright, slightly distorted guitar. Can be a bit dull on the highs without eq, and they take eq well. The front and back side sound totally different.

Try a Nady I've heard good things about them.

Re: Ribbon Mic - Recording Banjo
 

I recorded a lot of banjo when I worked in Dallas.

A banjo is a funny instrument. You think of them of as loud and clangy (which they can be when strummed) but they are usually finger-picked and that is actually a pretty delicate sound. They have just four strings (sometimes 5) tuned fairly close together, and very small soundboards (not built to create a full-bodied, wide frequency range sound). Their actual frequency range is very limited with very little bass at all and because it is a chorded instrument the notes are usually fairly close together.

So, while the player is picking four or five closely placed notes in very rapid succession, the key is to define clarity within that narrow frequency band and create differentiation between those notes that all tend to sound pretty much alike. I always liked the Neumann U-87. Bright, evenly distributed frequency response and tons of clarity in that mid-range where banjos live.