Ribbon Microphone

Ribbon microphones were actually the very first kind of production microphone.  They are created by taking a small, extremely thin piece of corrugated aluminum and placing them between two powerful neodyne magnets.  While fairly simple in design they produce some of the smoothest, most realistic sounding reproductions available.  Due to their more fragile nature (excessive air movement can break the ribbon) they are primarily used in studio's these days although several notable singers of the past (such as Sinarta) used them quite frequently.

Our ribbon microphones use a motor comprised of a 0.6 micron ribbon suspended between two 1/4" neodyne magnets.  The motor is statically mounted to the body and wrapped in a gauze to help protect as an additional windscreen.  For a more durable microphone, perhaps suited for slightly rougher handling, a 2 micron ribbon can be substituted.  A Lundhal LL2913 magnetically shielded transformer with a cobalt amorphous core is used for the ribbon transformer.

Ribbon microphones are passive in nature, requiring a good quality preamp to bring the levels to those normally expected for recording.  They are naturally a figure eight pattern and capture a realistic sound of both the recording source and the ambient room.  Bottom line, when paired with a quality tube microphone preamp the sound you get from a nice ribbon microphone is unbeatable for studio environments.