Royer R121 Reviews

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Royer R121 Description
Ribbon-Velocity Studio Microphone
The Royer R-121 is a radically redesigned ribbon microphone and Royer's flagship product. Like most ribbons, the Royer R-121's pattern is figure 8, its sensitivity is roughly equal to a good dynamic mic, and it exhibits a ****, realistic tone and flat frequency response. But when it came to design time, Royer threw out the molds and took a fresh approach to ribbons using advanced materials and cutting edge construction techniques. The Royer R-121 redefines ribbon microphones, leading Recording Magazine to say "the Royer Royer R-121 is destined to become one of the classic microphones of the 21st century." It's a sleek, light, extremely versatile microphone that is easy to use, wonderfully musical, and extremely sturdy.

Recording With The Royer R-121
An Royer R-121 ribbon microphone hears things the way your ears hear them. If you've ever heard that incredible guitar, melodic trumpet, sweet flute, deep kick drum, (pick your sound), and found that getting that sound to tape or hard drive was impossible, you owe it to yourself to try a Royer ribbon. On playback you'll notice that the recorded sound is natural and alive, with a panoramic, ambient feel much like what you heard when you were standing in front of the instruments you recorded.

An Royer R-121's response is flat and well balanced; low end is deep and full without getting boomy, mids are well defined and realistic, and the high end response is sweet and natural sounding, never edgy or sibilant.

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Quality: 10
I bought the Royer R121 back in 2005. I was hoping it would be the secret to huge guitar sounds that I simply could not get with the Shure SM57 or Sennheiser MD421. It was implied that this mic is god's gift to recording in some circles.

The reality is it does not increase objective sound quality. I bet very few clients have flipped out when they switched from a SM57 to a Royer R121. In fact, maybe it's never happened. So if you are buying the Royer R121 because you want to charge your clients more you are going to be a little disappointed.

The Royer R121 just sounds different. Quite a bit different! When I first purchased the mic I tossed it on a guitar cabinet and I was disappointed. I was still in the “fizz” era of my recording quest and the Royer R121 did not fit that bill. After about a year of pulling it out here and there I learned to really love the Royer R121.

On electric guitars the Royer R121 is smoother in the upper midrange, essentially ignores all fizz, but has a growl in the lower midrange that you simply can't get with a Shure SM57. It won't happen. It's up to you to decide if this smoothness at certain frequencies is a good thing or not. “Smooth” is a sound that when I was 20 I didn't want in my guitar sound. I didn't want it harsh, but I wanted some bite in there. I always loved the guitar sounds on Offspring Smash and the first Van Halen record. I wouldn't reach for the R121 first for either of those tones. There are dynamic mic guitar sounds.

The Royer R121 is famous for metal guitar sounds because it can get very mean but not in the way that most people may expect at first. I thought all the “mean” was in the 2-5K range. It never occurred to me that there was some serious balls in lower frequencies and that is exactly what the Royer R121 brings out.

Some people make claims that the Royer R121 picks up exactly what you hear in the room with your own ears. I don't know who thought of that marketing trick, but I can't say I share the same opinion.

In the end, if price were no object, I'd recommend the Royer R121 to everyone. Because the mic costs over $1,000 I hesitate. As I said before, there are times when a SM57 is better for the job. If you don't mind blowing $1,000 + to have an additional guitar color, knock yourself out. You'll like it, eventually. However, there may be other tools that you could dump the big cash into before buying the new color on your guitar sound.
Reliability: 10
I've been attempting to blow the ribbon on my Royer since the day the “new toy magic” wore off. I've put this thing in front of a 100 watt on 10 powering a 4x12 cabinet for hundreds of hours. I've blown up my 2 Celestion G12H30s (1 in a 4x12 cabinet with 2 GT75s and one by itself in a 1x12 cabinet) but I'm still trying to blow the ribbon in this thing.

Honestly, I don't know you could get much louder than a Rivera Knucklehead or Marshall Superlead on 10 through a 4x12 cabinet with the mic just an 1” off the grill. I don't think it can be done. This mic handles all the volume you can throw at it. I hear that ribbons aren't necessarily bothered by dB, they are bothered by wind.

Overall Rating: 10
If you won't miss the cash and have all your other toys figured out, this is one great mic to put in your collection. While the differences between my condenser mics sometime get blurred, this thing always stands out as unique. I love this mic. I just wish it wasn't so damn expensive!