RM-5 DIY Ribbon Mic – Blumlein Recording of an Acoustic Band

I was recently contacted by a customer Karlus Rava from Catalonia asking if I would be interested to take a listen to the recording he made with just a pair of RM-5 ribbon mics he recently purchased. I love to listen to the final productions involving our mics, so I was particularly curios to check-out this one.

Saying that I was impressed would mean saying nothing. I was simply stunned by both – the sound and the talent of the musicians. However, I was still to be surprised even more. I was sure that the composition was recorded track by track and then mixed the conventional way. Though, when I talked to the recording engineer he mentioned that it was a one-take unedited Blumlein recording of the whole band!

Take a listen yourself and then read further:

After listening a couple of times again, I still couldn’t believe that he achieved such sound with a single Blumlein pair until he explained the process in details. Here is how the recording was made:

The music video was not filmed life for sure, it was made after the song was recorded and mastered. The positioning of the musicians was rather different from the one you see. First, the vocalist was standing around 30 cm away from the mics. Then all the musicians moved in space to find the best sound and the desired volume levels. The flute player was even placed in another room to fit smoothly in the mix! Finally, when the mix was balanced, the song was recorded as just a single stereo track.

The final production involved some minor EQ and multiband compression, but no editing at all. Actually, the space used to record the song was the same you see in the video, just the positioning of musicians was different, as I’ve mentioned above (see the pictures of the recording process below).

I consider this composition one of the best recordings made with RM-5 DIY Ribbon Mics I’ve heard. Let me know what you think in comments!

RM-5 DIY Ribbon Mic Blumlein Pair Recording Session
RM-5 DIY Ribbon Mic Blumlein Pair Recording Session
RM-5 DIY Ribbon Mic Blumlein Pair Recording Session
RM-5 DIY Ribbon Mic Blumlein Pair Recording Session
RM-5 DIY Ribbon Mic Blumlein Pair Recording Session

So, if you are somewhere around Barcelona and need a recording engineer, here are the contact details of Karlus Rava:

The product page of the RM-5 Ribbon Mic DIY Kit is located here:

https://www.bumblebeepro.com/rm-5-diy-ribbon-mic-full-kit/

This Post Has 11 Comments

  1. Tom Sonntag

    Stunning work… Respect!

  2. Olivier

    Simply awesome! Everything is as it should be and mikes give really great transients and clarity! Great job!

  3. Rooster

    I liked this recording very much. I’m a big Dylan fan and this is a favorite song. The recording of this song by musicians on the other side of the world made the world much smaller and all the people that much closer. And that’s a good thing! Thank you for the hard work!

  4. Jonas Åkerlund

    Great recording.

  5. Marc

    not bad, and the rendering could be natural, really really, but the compressor added to the mix is all in the air.
    This has been the fashionable mistake in recent years. everyone has this stupid habit of using a compressor since there is one available … without even thinking about the dire consequences.
    I do not like at all the harshness and aggressiveness that it brings.
    Pity. But the microphones are not in question. Here the error is purely human.

    french ;

    pas mal, et le rendu pourrait être naturel , vraiment vraiment, , mais le compresseur ajouté au mix fiche tout en l’air.
    C’est l’erreur à la mode depuis quelques années. tout le monde a cette manie stupide d’utiliser un compresseur puisqu’il y en a un à disposition … sans même réfléchir aux conséquences désastreuses.
    je n’aime pas du tout la dureté et l’agressivité que ça amène.
    Dommage. Mais les micros ne sont pas en cause. Ici l’erreur est purement humaine.

    1. Ted Fletcher

      I would have liked to hear the original stereo recording, but Marc, to say that to use a compressor is stupid, is ridiculous. Multi-band compression is very difficult to use, it produces unnatural results as we can hear here!
      I can’t imagine what EQ was applied, it was well done, but the transients in the vocal are on the high side.
      It makes me want to add a RM-5 to my mic collection.

  6. charles kneiblher

    Good recording, makes me wish they used better guitars.

  7. The Gentle Mental

    Great recording, yes! So smooth…
    Btw. is it Tom Petty on the shaker? (;

    1. Artur Fisher

      Thank you, all the compliments to the guy who made it!

  8. Luz

    I wous have preferred a video the actual recording – to show where the mics were relative to the musicians.

    1. Artur Fisher

      I’ve posted what is available to me. For the real recording process please see the photos. Cheers!

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