A Custom Fit In an Off-the-Rack Arena
”Boutique” microphones have become the new talismans of audio in a scaled-down digital universe. People don’t look at the console first like they used to when entering a recording studio. Today, they want to look in the mic cabinet. Increasingly, however, they’re starting to look in the road case, too. The number of ribbon and high-end condenser microphones showing up on stage is on the rise, suggesting that some boutique manufacturers, facing an increasingly crowded group of companies selling to a studio market with a narrowing top end, are looking to the live sound market for growth and branding opportunities.
Trendsetters
Royer Labs might have been the first to notice the trend. John Jennings, vice president of marketing, recalls a rehearsal prior to an Aerosmith tour six years ago where the band was encountering significant bleed into guitar amp microphones from other instruments on stage. Fletcher, the owner of Mercenary Audio in Boston and a long-time advisor to the band on audio technology, suggested they try Royer’s R121 ribbon microphone. When the figure-8 configuration cleared up the bleed, the band took them on tour. “From there, word of mouth slowly spread the idea around,” says Jennings.
(To be fair, Bob Heil once told me in an interview that he was also fond of bringing studio-quality microphones on stage when he first took his huge, audiophile-like rigs on the road in the early 1970s. “The studio type dynamic microphones, like all good studio and broadcast mics, have much better articulation [than typical stage mics],” he told me. “[My] sound system was like a huge hi-fi system, so it was a good match.”)
For many boutique microphone makers, it’s been a “pull” marketplace proposition, with artists coming to them asking for specific microphones to take out on the road, usually in very limited capacities or roles. For instance, the Tim McGraw and Faith Hill Soul 2 Soul tour has the duo using a single Audio Engineering Associates (AEA) R44 figure-8 ribbon microphone to croon their face-to-face show-closing duet. Pat Metheny was on tour using Cascade Microphone’s X-15 ribbon mic on the piano and a pair of their Fat Head ribbon mics as drum overheads. More recently, Death Cab For Cutie and Mötley Crüe used several Cascades in similar applications.
Steve Trunnell, sales manager at AEA, says he noticed the trend start nearly two years ago. He says artists have learned that ribbon microphones could warm up digital recordings in the studio and expect them to be able to duplicate that in live situations. “They’re very happy when they can recreate that sound on stage,” he says.
Ribbon Mics in Live Applications
Is there a market to be made in high-end ribbon microphones for live applications? Royer thinks so, and is acting on that hunch. In late 2007, it introduced its Live line of microphones, which features a thicker ribbon than Royer had been experimenting with. The thicker ribbon matches what Jennings says is an already robust housing, making the mic completely roadworthy. (Others make a strong argument that the thinner the ribbon, the more precise the sound reproduction, but this is an example of the kind of compromises that have to be made when high-end mics take to the road.) Jennings says the Live line is selling well, however, since the microphones are priced the same as the studio versions (ranging from $1,395 to $4,495), it will still be accessible to only the well-heeled road warrior. While Jennings emphasized that Royer will not go down-market with products for live applications, he did say that new products that could make ribbon microphones “more accessible” are in development.
Trunnell says that while AEA has no plans to create a specific line of live microphones, it is developing recommended techniques that enhance their use for live music and is looking into a line of accessories for that application. For instance, the thin aluminum ribbon element that makes the ribbon microphone so sonically attractive can handle high SPL but is particularly sensitive to wind noise. Trunnell says the company is looking into developing an OEM-made line of wind covers for its microphone line.
A Growing Niche
While the burgeoning shift to using ribbon mics live has taken the boutique sector by surprise, some seem ambiguous about proactively fostering a market in it. Trunnell says simply, “We’re not targeting that market, but we won’t turn it away either.” Michael Chiriac, CEO of Cascade Microphones, is even more blunt. “It could be a huge market out there, but I’m not sure how to figure it out,” he says, underscoring a common problem when cottage-level industries suddenly encounter demand from potentially large markets. Most boutique microphone makers manufacture a few thousand microphones a year, compared with, say, Audio-Technica or Shure, which produce tens of thousands of microphones annually. Jennings says that ribbon microphones are still only a sliver of the overall microphone market and will likely stay that way. “The live market is a real market for ribbon microphones, especially for guitar and drum miking,” he says. “It’s still a niche, but a niche we can grow.”
Contact Dan at ddaley@fohonline.com
