How The Royer Sounds

This is where we head off into the ozone. My experience with ribbons has been limited, and I was really curious to try a modern one. So, after going through my usual measurement stuff, I made a bunch of comparison recordings using my trusty B&K 4007 reference mic, an AKG 414 in bi-directional setting, and the Royer. Source material included voice(s), including mine, guitar, trumpet, ‘cello, and some percussion. I recorded everything to multitrack so that I could switch back and forth between mics as needed for study. I didn’t really plumb the depths of the proximity effect, and was pretty conservative with placements, so that acoustic sources were typically 24 to 30 inches away from the mics.

Anyway, what I found is this: for reasons that I cannot directly explain, I found that I often preferred (slightly, but nonetheless preferred) the sound of the Royer ribbon played back through my loudspeakers in comparison with the original source itself! How do you like them apples? Definitely I liked the recorded reiteration of my voice better, and I felt moderately strongly about the trumpet and the ‘cello. So much for accuracy!!!

The word I would use is ‘“naturalness.” There was a kind of easy smoothness and lower mid-range something-or-other that was just plain nice, and that made the original sound feel a little pinched and/or tubby in comparison. Now, to me, it is truly weird to be saying that maybe a recording of a ‘cello might actually sound better than the ‘cello itself, but in fact something close to that happened, although the difference isn’t big. So, for a number of situations I might be inclined to grab the Royer first, including recording my own voice. I’m dying to use it in serious production and have convinced Royer to let me hang onto these for a while, just so I can.

Any quibbles? See the measurement sidebar, and note that there is in any case a smooth rolloff starting about 7 kHz. This “cool” sort of top end response may actually be a virtue and a significant part of the microphone’s sound, differentiating it from the more conventional 8 kHz. peak that shows up in so many modern microphones.

Using the Royer Mic(s) for Fun and Profit

Because the Royer is bi-directional, it tends to de-emphasize lateral energy arriving at the mic. This results in quite a different sound quality from either omni or cardioid mics used in most reverberant spaces such as studios, particularly small ones. Further, because the bi-directional behavior is constant down into low frequencies, there is a distinct smoothness to the reverberant bass response compared to cardioids. Meanwhile, the mic tends to nicely de-emphasize the room, compared to omnis.

As I already mentioned, Blumlein Pairs are a wonderful (I said WONDERFUL) way to go to record stereo tracks, and the Royers should do this extremely well. My two mics were very closely matched in terms of both level and response (about .5 dB).

I would be very happy using to Royer for voice (spoken and sung) and for a variety of overdub applications. Royer’s sales VP, John Jennings, notes that a number of users are really tickled by how well it records guitar amps, and encounter no problems with high levels. This doesn’t surprise me. A Blumlein Pair for drum overheads would be killer. Also, I expect using such a pair about 5 feet above and in front of the harp of a grand piano with the lid off might be similarly stellar.

For much classical and acoustic recording, the Royer should prove to be excellent. Overall, this is a really nice, quite distinctive microphone. It may not be as “accurate” as some others (whatever accuracy means), but the Royer mic tells a particular and distinctive kind of timbral and acoustical truth. Expect warmth, richness and a ‘je ne sais quois” that makes the Royer different, and perhaps just a little better than many other mics.

Happy tracks!