Royer Labs

Royer Labs is a microphone company that many consider to be one of the foremost manufacturer of ribbon microphones. The reasons most often cited for this opinion is that Royer has combined the traditional warmth of vintage ribbon microphones with the strength of modern materials. While older ribbon microphones had a great sound, the ribbons were weak and would break easily. Royer microphones, however, are strong enough to be placed in front of electric guitar amps, a placement that older ribbons could not have weathered.

David Royer designed his first ribbon microphone in 1997 and started the company that bears his name one year later. When that first microphone, the R-121, was released, it received positive reviews from all the major recording magazines. The company continued to innovate, and was the first to develop a phantom powered ribbon microphone, and a tube-ribbon microphone.

In Use

Royer microphones have been used on many instruments. Sound engineers have had good results when recording classical guitars, drum kits, pianos, woodwinds, and electric guitars. Users of Royer microphones include Carlos Santana, Herb Alpert, Steve Albini, Ross Hogarth, and Ed Cherney.

References

*http://emusician.com/tutorials/emusic_ribbon_mic_summit/index2.html, Gino Robair, "Ribbon Mic Summit," "Electronic Musician", August 2006
*http://mixonline.com/mag/audio_royer_labs_ribbonvelocity/index.html, Barry Rudolph, "Royer Labs R-121: RIBBON-VELOCITY STUDIO MICROPHONE," "Mix", April 1999
*http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr00/articles/royerr121.htm, "Sound on Sound", "Funky Ribbon," April 2000
*http://www.royerlabs.com/quotes.html