Tube Microphones; Microphone Selection & Placement - Yamaha AW2816 Manual

Construction of a Ribbon Microphone
Ribbon microphones typically have very good sonic quality and are very smooth and natural
sounding. However, ribbon microphones can be very fragile. This is especially true of older
ribbon microphones. Newer ones are much less fragile than older ones but are still not as sturdy
as a dynamic microphone. Common applications for ribbon microphones are vocals and acoustic
instruments. Older ribbon microphones do not handle high sound pressure levels very well so are
not used on guitar amplifiers or drum-sets unless placed a few feet away from the source.

Tube Microphones

A tube microphone is a type of condenser microphone but since it is so widely used in recording
it needs to be mentioned separately. A tube microphone uses the same design as the condenser
but instead of relying on voltage supplied from the mixing console it uses a separate vacuum
tube power supply. Tube microphones are generally very smooth sounding and are used
extensively in professional recording studios. Although technological advances have made it
possible to build quality tube microphones much less expensively, a good tube microphone can
range anywhere from $500 to over $10,000. For this reason they are not as common in home
and project studios. Tube microphones are used most often for recording vocals but are also
often used on acoustic instruments.
Microphone Selection and Placement
As mentioned earlier each microphone will have different sonic characteristics. Here are a few
brief suggestions on microphone selection and placement:
Vocals
A large diaphragm condenser microphone or a tube microphone is a good starting place for a
vocal microphone. For solo vocals use only one microphone placed 6-10 inches from the
vocalist. Be sure to use a pop filter an inch or two away from the microphone. While some
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