Royer Labs blog

Two Microphones in One: Recording on the Back of Your R-Series

support@royerlabs.com (Everybody at Royer Labs) — Fri, 23 Oct 2026 19:05:51 GMT

If you own a Royer R-series microphone, you own two microphones. Most people only ever use one of them.

Every current R-series does this

At distances of three feet and closer, the back side of an R-series ribbon has a slightly brighter response than the front. That goes for every current R-series model: the R-10, R-12, R-121, R-122 MKII and R-122V. The difference is subtle. It is also free, takes about ten seconds to try, and is often exactly what an acoustic guitar or a vocal is asking for.

R-10 R-12 R-121 R-122 MKII R-122V

Hear it first

Here is the same acoustic guitar part recorded twice on one R-121: once on the front, once on the back. Both takes are a Taylor 512 with the microphone eight inches off the twelfth fret. Nothing else changed.

Listen: John Jennings, forward R-121 and backward R-121, matched for level. Switch between the two while it plays.

How to do it

Turn the microphone around. The logo should face away from the instrument or singer.
Flip the polarity. Use the polarity switch on your preamp, or a polarity-reverse cable or adapter.

Facing forward: logo toward the source. Turned around for recording on the back.

The second step matters. A figure-8 microphone picks up equally from both sides, but the two sides are opposite in polarity: the front is positive, the back is negative. Reversing polarity at the preamp makes the back behave as the front. If the ribbon is your only microphone on the source you may never notice the difference. The moment you combine it with another microphone or a DI, you will.

Where to start

Acoustic guitar. Put the microphone eight to twelve inches off the twelfth fret, with the ribbon aimed toward the sound hole. The same approach works well on mandolin and fiddle.

Vocals. Set a pop filter three inches or more in front of the microphone and have the singer start six to eight inches away. Adjust from there. For a large, very warm sound, bring the singer in closer until the proximity effect becomes noticeable. Always use the pop filter.

When not to use the back

The front, logo side of the microphone is the side designed to handle very high sound pressure. We do not recommend using the back for loud, close work such as a microphone right up against a guitar cabinet.

Strong singers behind a pop filter, and aggressive acoustic playing, are no problem for either side.

And the effect only exists up close. Beyond about three feet, both sides of the microphone record exactly the same.

Why it works

This comes from our patented offset ribbon design, found only in Royer R-series microphones. The ribbon sits slightly forward of the center of the microphone, closer to the logo side. That gives the ribbon more room to move backward when it is hit with high sound pressure, which is a large part of why an R-121 can sit in front of a loud amplifier.

The brighter back side was a happy accident. Because the ribbon is offset, it sits in a different position relative to the chamber of the microphone depending on which side faces the source. Turn the microphone around and that difference in position becomes a difference in sound.

Try it on your next session

Record one pass on the front and one on the back, matched for level, and listen to them in the track. You will know within a few bars which one the song wants.

More recordings made on the back of an R-121 are in the Audio & Video Library, including sessions with Shawn Sullivan, Robert Cray and Alison Brown.

Yes, You Can Put a Ribbon on a Kick Drum: The 45 Degree Position

support@royerlabs.com (Everybody at Royer Labs) — Fri, 23 Oct 2026 19:03:50 GMT

A kick drum is the last place most people would put a ribbon microphone. It is loud, it is low, and it moves a lot of air.

Two mics that like the job

It is also one of the best uses of a Royer ribbon. The R-10 has become the favorite for the job, and the R-121 is the classic choice: its sound on the front head has often been compared to a FET 47, big, round and solid. You just have to place the microphone correctly, and correct placement comes down to one number.

R-10 R-121

The position

Distance: ten to twenty inches from the front head. Start about a foot out, then move in or back until you find the sweet spot for that drum in that room.
Angle: lean the microphone forward 45 degrees, so it tilts down toward the drum.
Avoid the hole. If the front head has a port cut in it, keep the microphone away from it. That is where the blast of air comes out.

An R-121 on kick drum, leaned forward 45 degrees.

Why 45 degrees protects the ribbon

A ribbon is a thin strip of corrugated aluminum, clamped at the top and bottom. What stretches a ribbon is being hit flat-on by a wall of low-frequency pressure and moving air.

At 45 degrees the impact of the kick does not arrive across the whole ribbon at once. It travels unevenly down the length of the ribbon, so the ribbon flexes instead of being stretched.

Why 45 degrees also sounds better

This is the part people do not expect.

A figure-8 microphone hears the front and the back and rejects the sides. On an R-series microphone that rejection also extends to the top and the bottom. Talk directly into the top of an R-121 and you hear next to nothing.

When you lean the microphone forward over a kick drum, the top of the microphone points at the rest of the kit: the snare, the toms and the cymbals. So the angle that protects the ribbon also aims the dead spot at everything you do not want. The result is a well-isolated kick, almost as if you had draped a blanket over the drum and the microphone.

Hear it

Here is an R-121 on kick drum, leaned forward 45 degrees to isolate the kick from the rest of the kit.

Listen: Jodi English session, R-121 on kick drum

And here is Bobby Holland putting an R-10 on the outside of a kick for the first time, in our drum mic tour from Pentavirate Studios.

Modern or vintage

For a modern sound, add a dynamic. Put a D-112, a 421 or even an SM57 inside the drum to pick up the attack of the beater, and use the R-121 outside for the body. Balance the two to taste.

For a more vintage sound, skip the dynamic. The ribbon alone gives you a rounder kick with less click. Brian Blade's live kit was miked this way, with an R-122 on kick.

For jazz, back it off. Move the microphone a little further from the head for a more open kick.

Two cautions

If you can feel a breeze, use a pop screen. Put your hand where the microphone is going and have the drummer play. If you feel air, move the microphone or put a pop screen in front of it.
Cover it when you move it. Put the sock on, or cup your hand over the ribbon end, when you carry the microphone to and from the kit.

Try it

Next time you have a kit set up, put an R-10 or an R-121 about a foot off the front head, tip it forward 45 degrees, and move it until the kick sounds right. Then listen to how little of the rest of the kit is in it.

There is more on overheads, room microphones, toms and snare in our guide to Recording Drums, and more drum recordings in the Audio & Video Library.

What Really Blows a Ribbon (It Is Probably Not What You Think)

support@royerlabs.com (Everybody at Royer Labs) — Fri, 23 Oct 2026 19:02:17 GMT

Ask most people what kills a ribbon microphone and you will hear two answers: volume and phantom power.

Volume is mostly wrong. Royer R-series microphones are built to sit in front of loud guitar amplifiers, and used properly a loud amp will not blow one. Phantom power is half right, but the switch on your preamp is rarely the problem.

What actually sends ribbons in for repair is a short and avoidable list.

The part we are talking about: a 2.5-micron corrugated aluminum ribbon, clamped top and bottom, hanging in a magnetic gap.

1. The patch bay

This is the leading cause of blown ribbons in professional studios.

The microphone section of a patch bay is the only part that carries DC voltage, in the form of phantom power. Patch cables use tip-ring-sleeve plugs, and when one is pushed into a jack the contacts do not all connect at the same instant. For a split second the plug behaves like a miswired cable and puts phantom power where it should never go: across the ribbon itself, through the transformer.

Each of those brief jolts stresses the ribbon far more than normal recording does, and the effect adds up. A ribbon that should have lasted many years can be finished in one night of careless patching.

The fix: before you re-patch a microphone line, turn phantom power off on both the channel you are leaving and the channel you are going to. If you cannot be sure, unplug the microphone until the patching is done.

Patching hot is also hard on some condenser microphones, and if the monitors are up, on your speakers and your ears.

2. A bad cable

A cable that is shorted, damaged or wired incorrectly can do the same thing as the patch bay, only continuously. If pin 1 (ground) is shorted or miswired to pin 2 or pin 3, phantom power can reach the ribbon.

The fix: use good cables and check them. As a habit, turn phantom off when you are plugging or unplugging a passive ribbon. Once the microphone is connected through a healthy cable, switching phantom on or off is not a problem for a Royer.

A note on the active models

The R-122 MKII and SF-24 are phantom powered and need phantom to operate. The R-122V and SF-24V run on their own tube power supplies. None of this applies to them in the same way, but the cable and patch bay advice still does.

R-122 MKII R-122V

3. Moving air

With ribbons, wind is the enemy. The ribbon is a very thin strip of corrugated aluminum, and it can catch air like a sail. A blast of air can stretch the corrugations or tear the ribbon.

That is a different thing from loudness. It is the puff of air from a kick drum port, a plosive from a singer, or simply walking briskly across the studio with the microphone uncovered.

The fixes:

When you carry the microphone, put its sock on or cup your hand over the ribbon end.
When it is on a stand and not in use, cover it. Air conditioning vents and doors opening and closing all move air.
Always use a pop filter on vocals.
On guitar cabinets, bass cabinets and kick drums, follow one rule: if you can feel a breeze, use a pop screen.
On very loud sources, turn the microphone slightly off-axis. Ribbons sound the same slightly off-axis, and the ribbon does less work.

4. Metal dust

A ribbon microphone contains very strong magnets. They will pull in tiny metal particles from whatever surface you set the microphone down on. Once those particles reach the gap where the ribbon hangs, they can touch the ribbon and cause distortion.

The fix: watch where you put it down, and keep it in its sock and its box when it is not in use.

5. An airplane

Sealed, watertight cases often come out of an aircraft cargo hold holding a partial vacuum. Open the case and air rushes in, straight through the microphone.

The fix: before you check a ribbon microphone, loosen the pressure relief valve on the case, or give a watertight case a small vent. Do not worry about the cold. Temperature and humidity changes in the hold do not affect ribbon microphones.

6. Your friend

A high percentage of the microphones we re-ribbon were "loaned to a friend." Lend yours only to people who know how to treat one.

How to tell if your ribbon is stretched

John Jennings shows this in the video below. A stretched ribbon usually loses four to eight decibels of sensitivity. The low end gets loose and flabby and the highs go missing.

Look at it. Hold a flashlight behind the microphone (the one on your phone is fine) and run it down the length of the ribbon. A healthy ribbon is straight and centered, with an equal sliver of light on each side. If you see an S-shape, or the ribbon looks bowed and moves around when you tilt the microphone, it is probably stretched. This check alone catches most stretched ribbons.

Listen to it. Plug the microphone into your preamp, put on headphones, and gently rock the microphone back and forth. Gently: do not whip it around. If you hear scraping or flapping, the ribbon is loose and is touching the magnets.

One thing to know: a stretched ribbon can still sound fine on a quiet source with the microphone upright. The trouble shows when you put it on something loud.

Do not open the microphone. Opening any Royer product, or having it serviced by anyone not authorized by Royer, voids the warranty.

If it does need a new ribbon

It is not the end of the microphone. Replacing a condenser's capsule can change its character. A ribbon microphone that is properly re-ribboned at the factory comes back sounding as it did when it was new.

If you think yours is damaged, we are glad to look at it. Start on the Repair Service page. If you are the original owner, the first re-ribbon is free.

Most of the time, the test will tell you the microphone is fine. Treat it like the instrument it is and it will stay that way.

Ribbons on Strings, No EQ: Inside the Pentavirate Sessions

support@royerlabs.com (Everybody at Royer Labs) — Fri, 23 Oct 2026 18:42:53 GMT

Most microphones add something you spend the rest of the session taking out. We went to Pentavirate Studios in Nashville to see what happens when a mic doesn't.

▶ Unmute Active Ribbons on Strings · 3:04 · Pentavirate Studios, Nashville

With musical director Anthony Da Costa playing and engineer Bobby Holland tracking, we recorded fiddle, steel-string acoustic, a "Nashville strung" acoustic and mandolin on Royer ribbons. No EQ and no compression on the instruments. Here is what went where.

Steel-string acoustic and fiddle: Royer SF-2

The active ribbon went on the two brightest instruments in the session, the steel-string acoustic and the fiddle. No EQ on either.

SF-2

SF-2 on the steel-string acoustic. SF-2 on fiddle.

Steel-string acoustic: Royer SF-24V

The tube stereo ribbon on the same steel-string, for a stereo picture of the guitar and the room around it.

SF-24V

SF-24V on the steel-string acoustic.

Nashville-strung acoustic and mandolin: Royer R-12

The R-12 took the "Nashville strung" acoustic (a six-string carrying the high-octave strings from a 12-string set, so it rings like the top half of a 12) and the mandolin. Still no EQ.

R-12

R-12 on the Nashville-strung acoustic. R-12 on mandolin.

The signal chain

Every ribbon went straight into the Undertone Audio MPDI-4, all four channels, through Lynx converters and the API The Box 2 console. The only processing was a little compression from the UnFairchild 670M II on the mix bus.

MPDI-4

MPDI-4: four channels, four ribbons, no EQ.

Why it works

Accurate, resonance-free capture means each instrument shows up as it is and finds its own place in the mix. What you hear is the instrument, not the microphone.

Recorded at Pentavirate Studios, Nashville. Featuring Anthony Da Costa. Engineered by Bobby Holland. Equipment provided by Lynx, API, HEDD Audio, Accusound Cable Company, Royer Labs and Undertone Audio.

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Royer Ribbons on Drums: Bobby Holland's Mic-by-Mic Tour

support@royerlabs.com (Everybody at Royer Labs) — Fri, 23 Oct 2026 15:54:01 GMT

Ribbons on drums isn't new. Ribbons on every part of the kit, compared side by side, is a different afternoon. At Pentavirate Studios in Nashville, engineer Bobby Holland walked through the Royer lineup on a full drum session.

▶ Unmute Bobby Holland's drum mic tour · 3:25 · Pentavirate Studios, Nashville

Kick out: Royer R-10

Bobby put the R-10 on the outside of the kick, something he'd never done before. His verdict: he likes it a lot.

Kick in vs kick out: the sE V Kick inside the drum on its own, then the R-10 outside brought up on the fader. Sound on.

R-10

R-10 on kick out. The 160 dB SPL rating is why this works.

Overheads: SF-12 vs a spaced pair of R-12s

The SF-12 in Blumlein against a spaced A-B pair of R-12s, then both collapsed to mono to check phase coherence. Same kit, two very different pictures of it.

SF-12 R-12 pair

SF-12 over the kit, with the R-12 pair spaced either side.

Rooms: SF-24 vs SF-24V

The same room on two stereo ribbons. The SF-24 goes deeper. The SF-24V is focused, with nice clarity.

SF-24 SF-24V

SF-24 on rooms. The SF-24V sat right beside it for the comparison.

Shaker: Royer SF-2

Bobby called the SF-2 on shaker the best sounding shaker he's ever heard.

SF-2

SF-2 on shaker.

Four short cuts

If you only have a minute, the session also exists as four vertical cutdowns: R-10 on kick, SF-12 vs R-12 overheads, SF-24 vs SF-24V rooms, and the SF-2 on shaker. They'll roll out on Royer's social channels over the coming weeks.

Bobby Holland at Pentavirate Studios, Nashville.

Recorded at Pentavirate Studios, Nashville. Engineered by Bobby Holland.

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