royer r-121, my verdict

[morpheusmultimedia]

So one month ago I got myself a pair of royer r-121. since them I have tried to use them on couple of different sources just to get used to what that mic does and what it doesn't. in general the r-121 is most known as a killer guitar cab mic but I think it goes much much further than that. one thing where it shines are cymbals and drums overheads. before I bougth the royers I had some cheapo ribbons from thomann - the RM700 and RB500. While those are absolutely OK for their price the r-121 is much much smoother and in general it has a very even and natural sound.

I am producing a hardcore album at the moment and I have tried a different approach for the drums this time - spot miking every cymbal insted of an OH pair. And this is something where I totally like ribbon mics. I set up the 2 royers to pick up mainly the 2 crash cymbals and put the t.bone rm.700 on the china and HH while the RB500 were used for a stereo room. we had a really good drum kit - a pearl masters custom with a truth 20ply snare drum and the drummer was pretty good as well. It got me the best drum sound sofar - the cymbals are crystal clear and smooth, no harshness. I did just some slight EQ while tracking - cutting some 800hz from the cymbal tracks and was extremely happy.

Next stop was guitars - here I blended the royer with an sm57. To get the royer sounding good I needed to back it off around 20 cm from the cabinet. we were tuned pretty low to A and I was getting too much bass untill we backed the mic to that point. after that I positioned an sm57 to get some high-end and it sounded pretty cool. I was doing some reamping before that for another band that just sent me some tracks to mix and the royer takes EQ very well. you can boost quite a log of highs without getting it sound bad.

One thing I was pretty suprised was the performance of the mic on a bass cabinet. I set it up on an ampeg 810 cab and I was instantly happy with the sound.

Anyone wanting to share their experiences with the r-121 or any other ribbon ?

 

[JeffTD]

These kinds of posts make me reeeeally want a couple Royers. Any chance we could get some clips/pictures of your room? I've heard the room has more of an effect on the sound than with a condensor or a dynamic.

 

[gabriel g.]

Isnt the Royer 121 a figure 8 mic?

So it always pics up the room.

Interested in hearing OH clips with it.
Because the Royer pics up the ceilling too, right?

realy wanna hear some clips

 

[jangoux]

We've got one at the studio I work on. Works GREAT for clean guitars and room tones. Some guys love it on snare, but I'd never put a $1k mic on the snare.

 

[timislegend]

121s are awesome... but after spending over $2k a few years ago on them, i felt like it couldn't be the end of my ribbon mic choices.

then i heard about the cascade fathead 2, 121, aea shootout.

don't get me twisted... i love my 121s but my fatheads are over 60% cheaper and have competitive detail.


i plan on getting another matched pair of fatheads... just because they are so damn cheap!

 

[BLUElightCory]

I'm a big fan of the Royer R121/R122 - Love them on clean/crunch guitars, blended on heavy guitars, and also on acoustic instruments and brass/woodwinds.

I think it's important for people to realize that the Royer is a big, dark mic with HUGE proximity effect - A lot of people who are used to condensers and dynamics are generally surprised when they first use the Royers (or other similar ribbons) because of how dark and bassy they can be. But once you learn how to approach mic technique with ribbon mics they become addictive, and can be really flattering on many sources. The Royers also take EQ really well, so if you need more brightness you can get away with EQ-ing in plenty of highs without the negative effects that can be had by adding highs to condensers and dynamics.

 

[mva801]

We've got two at the studio I work at. I use them on literally ANYTHING. Guitar cabs especially. Drum overheads. They give a real meaty acoustic guitar sound. Also great for brass and string insruments. I love our royers. I've recorded a stand up bass with a 121. They almost always beat out our coles 4038's.

 

[crillemannen]

Lindell at Bohus studios seems to be a big fan of the royer (dont remember which model now) on overheads. But they are expensive as hell though..

 

[morpheusmultimedia]

Isnt the Royer 121 a figure 8 mic?

So it always pics up the room.

Interested in hearing OH clips with it.
Because the Royer pics up the ceilling too, right?

realy wanna hear some clips

I will post something from the session I was describing - I am still editing the stuff.

It does pick up the room sound for sure, my live room istn't finished yet but I have some portable bass traps from my old space that I move around depending on what I am recording.

this is a photo form that session -

 

[sys_fail_you]

the studio i used to work at had an r121 and it changed my world. i would love to hear a whole mix done with them. i'm liking that i see bass trapping. did you DIY those or did they come from Atlanta?

 

[morpheusmultimedia]

the studio i used to work at had an r121 and it changed my world. i would love to hear a whole mix done with them. i'm liking that i see bass trapping. did you DIY those or did they come from Atlanta?

the bass trapping is DIY and temporary. You can see on the pics that the ceiling cloud is already framed as well those triangular shapes on the back wall - they will turn into helmollz resonators soon

 

[KillDivision]

121s are awesome... but after spending over $2k a few years ago on them, i felt like it couldn't be the end of my ribbon mic choices.

then i heard about the cascade fathead 2, 121, aea shootout.

don't get me twisted... i love my 121s but my fatheads are over 60% cheaper and have competitive detail.


i plan on getting another matched pair of fatheads... just because they are so damn cheap!

I got me a Cascade Fathead and love it on guitars. I have to say that i've never heard/used a Royer 121.
The Cascade is very smooth on the highend and takes eq very well.
I get the best sound around 20 cm or more from the cabinet.

 

[ElektricEyez]

Yep your assessment on the r121 is pretty much spot on. One thingid like to ad is that while it does pick up the bass sounds but what makes it really shine is the lower Mids it gets. They can be real meaty sounding. Also another suggestion is to look up the way Michael Wagener uses his Royers he's got a good technique. And like everyone said the royer takes EQ very well but your right its best to blend it with a 57.

I own a avatone ribbon mic which is nice but I get to use a royer at another studio I work at.

 

[morpheusmultimedia]

I got me a Cascade Fathead and love it on guitars. I have to say that i've never heard/used a Royer 121.
The Cascade is very smooth on the highend and takes eq very well.
I get the best sound around 20 cm or more from the cabinet.

the t.bone rm700 is IMO the same mic as the fathead, and it sounds pretty different than the royer to my ears. it is similar but still different. the t.bone anyway is a killer mic

 

[morpheusmultimedia]

Yep your assessment on the r121 is pretty much spot on. One thingid like to ad is that while it does pick up the bass sounds but what makes it really shine is the lower Mids it gets. They can be real meaty sounding. Also another suggestion is to look up the way Michael Wagener uses his Royers he's got a good technique. And like everyone said the royer takes EQ very well but your right its best to blend it with a 57.

I own a avatone ribbon mic which is nice but I get to use a royer at another studio I work at.

I have tried to gather as much info on MW and his usage of ribbons - this is what I read/heard and saw

he places the royers dead center on the cone, at the position where normally the grill is - he has stripped all the cabinets of the grille saying this gives him a much open sound. the r121 goes into a chandler TG2 - where he sets the impedance to 300 ohms - which is technically incorrect but this way it rolls of some lowend. the amps are pretty bright as well. I read he runs as much 5 faders sometime - combining different amps and blending in the DI tone from the randall cabinets. he uses the randall rack mounted preamps a lot.

so MW's guitar tone is based on the royer but there is much much more to it.

 

[sys_fail_you]

I have tried to gather as much info on MW and his usage of ribbons - this is what I read/heard and saw

he places the royers dead center on the cone, at the position where normally the grill is...

Don't forget that this a ribbon mic. High SPL can stretch it out. I would add to the above to place it with a 45ish degree angle (use ears) with the top towards the speaker and the bottom away from the speaker, so that it glances down the length of the ribbon instead of smacking it dead on. I'm pretty sure Wagener practices this as well.

 

[morpheusmultimedia]

Don't forget that this a ribbon mic. High SPL can stretch it out. I would add to the above to place it with a 45ish degree angle (use ears) with the top towards the speaker and the bottom away from the speaker, so that it glances down the length of the ribbon instead of smacking it dead on. I'm pretty sure Wagener practices this as well.

there is a slight angle but certainly not 45 degree - I have read a post from him that he never broke a ribbon and only mentioned the 45 degree angle when using it in kick drums.

 

[sys_fail_you]

there is a slight angle but certainly not 45 degree - I have read a post from him that he never broke a ribbon and only mentioned the 45 degree angle when using it in kick drums.

Behold, the power if ISH!!!

 

[BLUElightCory]

there is a slight angle but certainly not 45 degree - I have read a post from him that he never broke a ribbon and only mentioned the 45 degree angle when using it in kick drums.

The R-121 and R-122 are incredibly resilient mics; if the amp is really loud you can just use a slight angle (like in the pic) or rotate the mic slightly. With ribbon mics, volume is not as dangerous as moving air, so tilting/rotating the mic keeps the ribbon from receiving the full brunt of the air blast.

The 45-degree angle on the kick drum helps with the air blast from the drum and ALSO helps the mic reject the cymbals (as the top null of the mic is pointed towards the cymbals when angled forward).

You can also just point the mic straight at the speaker and put a pop-screen in front of it to diffuse any moving air coming off of the speaker.

 

[KillDivision]

the r121 goes into a chandler TG2 - where he sets the impedance to 300 ohms - which is technically incorrect but this way it rolls of some lowend. the amps are pretty bright as well.

The Cascade also (as a ribbon) produces a lot of low-end when the mike is placed close to the speaker. I would say too much if you place it to the cloth. There is a lot more low-end compared to a sm57.

Would love to try a Royer.
The Cascade , because of its price, was more of an impulse buy.