Podcast Audio and Podcast Gear is HERE! …New Media Gear

Would you consider a ribbon microphone to be Podcast gear? All is fair and I couldn’t resist trying this one…

Ribbon, or velocity microphones were used by all the legends. That smooth-as-silk sound, the tell tale side-address and velvet tones were all signs that a ribbon mic was close by.

Over the years, technology changes. Microphone elements needed to be less fragile and last longer. The dynamic and the condenser elements (mostly dynamic) ruled radio stations as the ribbon sound was dismissed as a dark sound and a maintenance concern, although the ribbon has held in there for studio recording instruments or when a specific vocal sound is desirable.

As we know, everything old is new again. We now pay thousands to re-capture that tube harmonic sound and add plug-ins to our multi-track software to digitally emulate the vintage tape sound we discarded decades ago. And so it goes with the Avant CR-14.

Avant is a humble microphone company that has a nice lineup of microphones ranging from the CR-14 ribbon to the large diagphram valve powered CV-12 and a host of others in between.

I wanted a transparent pre-amp for the CR-14, so I connected it directly to an Avalon M5. No compression and no vocal strip, just dual aluminum ribbons exciting a neodymium magnet.

Avant CR-14: $259

Best,
MarkJensen

[Just in case you weren't aware, NEVER allow Phantom voltage to reach a ribbon microphone. You can do permanent damage to the mic.]

Filed under: Podcasts