AEA - R84

Of the ones I'm most familiar with: 1. Coles 4038 2. AEA R44 3. Beyerdynamic M160 4. AEA R84 5. Royer R121/R122 6. Royer SF12/SSF24 7. se Voodoo VR1/VR2 All are awesome.

Not OP but used an R84 on acoustic guitar once. You can absolutely boost the crap out of the high end and not only does it not fall apart, it sings beautifully

R84 is one of my faves. Use it on guitars and alt folk vocals all the time. I enjoy the Fathead2’s as well. The sE RNR-1 is on every cello that comes through the studio.

R84 is my choice for sultry vocals and brass. Sounds good on guitar and bass cabs too.

R84 as a side mic is crazy

Crazy good! And crazy easy to fuck up setting up 😅

It's a fantastic mic, however, I did not like it on my voice. Best to try it first. The lack of proximity effect didn't work for me, I ended up trading it in for an r84. Baratone voice, for signing.

Lol sing into an AEA r84 and tell me it sounds anything like a sm7b. They are not even remotely similar. Your producer friend is wrong. Mics make a huge difference.

Never tried it sorry. AEA makes great mics though. Ribbon mics inherently sound very different from LCDs and regular dynamics. Personally I dislike moving coil dynamics on my voice. I love singing into the r84, the big ribbon sound is awesome. I don't know if the ksu5 has the same vibe.

Curious what the recording engineers here think. Not including historically amazing ribbnon mics like the RCA KU-3A or the 44 here, this is my list: **1) Royer 122** Really surprised by how much I liked this one. This is my workhorse mic that gets used on everything and anything. It's not as dark as the 121 iteration, and the extra gain means less to no noise. I always thought it was just an electric guitar cab mic, but I can't think of a source that I wouldn't use it on. It sounds like a better version of what my ear is hearing in the room. **2) Coles 4038** Probably the obvious first for most people as nothing beats the Coles on overheads. **3) AEA R84** Great modern revision of a classic. At it's price nothing beats it. they're a little gain hungry so the active version is necessary imo. **4) Shure KSM313** Just all around great. Guitar cabs is where these shine. **4) AEA R88** I had a honey moon phase with the R88. They sounded great but I just don't like being limited to the XY pattern. They sound hyper realistic and 3D, but there's always a bit of noise with these. and they really capture the room. I mean really. **5) Beyerdynamic M160** Probably my least favorite of the popular ribbons -- so many swear by these, but I just think they're crummy sounding. I don't hear the ribbon magic in these at all. I've gotten good guitar cab recordings from these but couldn't justify it at the price.

I'm definitely an anomaly on the M160. Everyone loves them. I love using the R84 on less distorted/driven electric guitar. It doesn't necessarily have to be less distorted but, it captures the reverb of the amp really well, and makes for amazing 3D sounding guitar amp recordings.

That is true. I would do this a lot actually on acoustic, and do the old double the side mic trick. It's a fantastic mic, but I do feel like some of the other ribbons (even the 84A) have a more finished sound.

It's a fantastic mic. Have you used the R84 though? I personally like what that one does a bit more.