Garth wrote: Mon Aug 30, 2021 8:08 am Sytek. Used with cloudlifter as well.

Trying to think if I had a compressor in the chain as that would be an obvious source of noise. It's been a while, I will probably have to experiment & eliminate again. I just remember hearing a bit of noise on a quiet-ish part w/ clean electric guitar.

The Sytek is pretty clean and low noise so maybe something is awry. I have no experience with the Cascade though.

At some point, I had an OctoPre blow tf up and send energy in a lot of directions. It took down my Fatheads with it so I set them off to get re-ribboned. I was going to ask Focusrite to maybe cover my costs on the re-ribboning, and was working up the steam to write a heated letter, and then two replacement Octopres came in the mail on different days.

I sold one and it covered my costs, and I haven't had a problem with my Cascades ever since.

I haven't been recording much lately, so I don't have any update, honestly. I'm sorry to hear that yours are giving you trouble. I sure have enjoyed mine when I have used them. Re-ribboning wasn't crazy expensive, as I recall.... so maybe that's an option?

Adam_I_III wrote: Fri Aug 27, 2021 6:49 am Ribbons as overheads in a poor sounding room? Bad idea 'cos figure of 8? I want a pair badly, but drum space is bobbins. Sorry if this is thread derail!

I'm fairly sure with directional mics theres still some ambient reflective noise being captured, so by using a figure 8 you're just going to have more of it. As for ribbons vs. dynamic directional (just as one comparison) the difference in tonality is going to be determined by the specific ribbon mic you will use.

It's also going to be a mic placement thing. I have my drum "overheads" actually just about 7-8 feet apart both pointed at the snare, maybe 15-20 feet from the kit in a room that wasn't made for music recording at all. The mics are both about say, 5.5 feet from the ground.

If you want to hear what it sounds like on a rock record I can send you a link. Also note the back pattern of my ribbons is about 1.5 feet from the wall of the room, so that's another consideration.

indiegrab_360 wrote: Sat Sep 04, 2021 8:37 pm

Adam_I_III wrote: Fri Aug 27, 2021 6:49 am Ribbons as overheads in a poor sounding room? Bad idea 'cos figure of 8? I want a pair badly, but drum space is bobbins. Sorry if this is thread derail!

I'm fairly sure with directional mics theres still some ambient reflective noise being captured, so by using a figure 8 you're just going to have more of it. As for ribbons vs. dynamic directional (just as one comparison) the difference in tonality is going to be determined by the specific ribbon mic you will use.

It's also going to be a mic placement thing. I have my drum "overheads" actually just about 7-8 feet apart both pointed at the snare, maybe 15-20 feet from the kit in a room that wasn't made for music recording at all. The mics are both about say, 5.5 feet from the ground.

If you want to hear what it sounds like on a rock record I can send you a link. Also note the back pattern of my ribbons is about 1.5 feet from the wall of the room, so that's another consideration.

Yes please!

Adam_I_III wrote: Sun Sep 05, 2021 12:02 am

indiegrab_360 wrote: Sat Sep 04, 2021 8:37 pm

Adam_I_III wrote: Fri Aug 27, 2021 6:49 am Ribbons as overheads in a poor sounding room? Bad idea 'cos figure of 8? I want a pair badly, but drum space is bobbins. Sorry if this is thread derail!

I'm fairly sure with directional mics theres still some ambient reflective noise being captured, so by using a figure 8 you're just going to have more of it. As for ribbons vs. dynamic directional (just as one comparison) the difference in tonality is going to be determined by the specific ribbon mic you will use.

It's also going to be a mic placement thing. I have my drum "overheads" actually just about 7-8 feet apart both pointed at the snare, maybe 15-20 feet from the kit in a room that wasn't made for music recording at all. The mics are both about say, 5.5 feet from the ground.

If you want to hear what it sounds like on a rock record I can send you a link. Also note the back pattern of my ribbons is about 1.5 feet from the wall of the room, so that's another consideration.

Yes please!

I PMed some links to examples.

Bought one of the Monoprice LR100 Ribbon mics. Been using it for some Mid-side stuff. Not bad.

Mickey242 wrote: Tue Sep 21, 2021 11:11 pm Bought one of the Monoprice LR100 Ribbon mics. Been using it for some Mid-side stuff. Not bad.

I bought two. I like them.

I jumped on a fathead because of this thread. It should arrive shortly. Shall report in : )

thecr4ne wrote: Sun Jun 06, 2021 11:39 am I'm a fan of monoprice in general (I use lots of their AV stuff at work) they're local to me in southern CA, and they released this mic recently along with a tube mic (apex 460 circuit)

Huge fan too, esp for those inexpensive 16awg xlr cables. My multipattern tube mic I got on megasale there finally arrives today, so stoked to try it out.

I too have had a used Fathead for like a decade, good stuff. I also have one of those cheap Nady ones too, which is fine for where I put it (combo under-snare and beater-side of kick, which btw I don't know why more ppl don't do this, it's almost too perfect once you line both sides up). Also-also a customer and fan of Xaudia (and his insta is incredible if you can stomach the straight-up gore photos of old mic guts before reconditioning) but I can't in good conscience agree that much of anything he sells belongs in the cheap ribbons thread. The weight of history on your shoulders does not feel cheap!

Bubber wrote:

thecr4ne wrote: Sun Jun 06, 2021 11:39 am I'm a fan of monoprice in general (I use lots of their AV stuff at work) they're local to me in southern CA, and they released this mic recently along with a tube mic (apex 460 circuit)

Huge fan too, esp for those inexpensive 16awg xlr cables. My multipattern tube mic I got on megasale there finally arrives today, so stoked to try it out.

Dissenting opinion here. Have purchased a few things from Monoprice and I think I'm pretty much done w/ them. It's all cheap stuff made cheaply. The lighting controller I have crashes and needs to be rebooted, the 3.5 mm cables I have have completely fallen apart, and the microphone cables (Premier series) I have from them are also awful: the screws fell out on the end connectors, many of them are literally microphonic, and the connectors themselves are a bit thick and don't fit well with every jack.

Credit where credit is due though, their DMX cables have all seemed well-made and never given me any issues and the LED Stage lights have all been fine even getting badly treated. HDMI cables have all been fine too. Seems to be a crap shoot, some stuff good, some stuff bad. I've heard good things about their headphones and will keep those in mind if I need some to track full bands again, and the ribbon mic seems to be lauded. But either of those things probably should be handled w/ great care and consideration taken on how they are able to deliver products at their bargain price point.