AEA R84 Ribbon Microphone

Great mic! My go to mic for vocals and guitar cabs. Quality is top notch.

I do radio news for a local Public Radio Station from a home studio...and for years have been using an EV RE20. Very decent mic. Graduated to a Rode K2. Better. Finally bought the R84...it is perfection! Yes, soft, buttery, big-sound, but still detailed, and takes EQ extremely well...so much so, you can literally tailor the mic to sound almost anyway you like, without artifacts and without changing the natural sound of your voice...it's like, organic. Excellent for singing with my guitar as well. It is also beautifully made and great to look at. Special thanks to Dave at FrontEnd who took time to answer all my questions, even called Wes Dooley at AEA to check on the DJ option(no longer available, but not really needed) and got back to me with a detailed answer. Completely satisfied with both the mic and the company!

I only take my R84 out of it's sleeve on special occasions and typically stay within inches of the mic for that lovely classic ribbon proximity effect... velvety smooth. The R84 also sounds very detailed and natural when you back up from the mic a bit.

At first, I wasn't that crazy about the sound of this classic ribbon "emulation" (I've sung through vintage RCA 84s, and they are fairly different, overall, in sound). But then, I tried it with a couple of different preamps and found one that seemed more sympatico with the AEA. It does render a very realistic (if understated) sound when recording higher-pitched strings with fast transients, like ukuleles and tiples. Just be prepared to boost the signal to the max. It takes about 65 db of gain to be useful with even slightly quiet instruments. It gives a classic sound to horns, and can be an effective tool for more "vintage" sounding vocals, say for jazz. Overall, a very good addition to any studio's mic collection.

This is my favorite mic that I own. It is the best microphone I have found for my dynamic voice. It smooths over the gravels and volume fluctuations very nicely. I have also used it as the S in an M/S setup on grand piano with a Rode Classic in omni as the M; this mic has a more even spread in its figure-8 pattern for an application like this, moreso than the R92 for example. It also sounds great as a drum room mic and on all kinds of acoustic stringed instruments! As a ribbon it can sound a little dull on its own, but one of my favorite things about this mic is that I can compress it and boost the highs on it to some extremes without sounding harsh at all - it just opens it up. There are many good ribbon mics out there, but I believe this one is an exceptionally good value for someone who doesn't have an extraordinary budget!

Since I got this microphone some months ago, my condensers have been hard pressed to leave their cupboard. I've used R84 on every occasion and the results are stunning. Buttery highs on glockenspiel, very present, very balanced acoustic guitar, wonderful nuances on hand drums and percussion. What can't this mic do? This must be one of my best studio investments ever!

This is my first ribbon mic and I am using it primarily for a room mic on my electrics. It really stands out with distorted sounds. I have tried with with rock male lead vox and it sat too far back however it shines on guitars. The build is fantastic. I highly recommend this mic.

I've used a pair on the contrabasses in the orchestra and was really blown away! An amazing open bottom end, not boomy like other condenser mics... and the figure of 8 is another weapon of this mic; I needed a spot mic on the piano with the opera singer next to it, placed the R84 in front of the piano with the singer in the "null" of the mic and could really get a natural balance between the piano and singer using the AEA R84 in combination with my other micorphones. And what they say is true: one pair of R84's is not enough...! These are my favorite mic's! Just go for it; you won't regret it (if you don't like them, you can always sell them to me... I would like to have an extra pair...)

I've owned this mic for about a year and it's become my favorite for electric guitar, smooth vocals, and drum overhead. This mic captures what's going on in the room extremely well. So if your guitar/drums sounds great in a room, they'll sound great in your recording. If it sounds like crap in the room, this mic won't save you. The mic take EQ extremely well. I like to use the mic in combination with other brighter mics to create a really uniquie sound I can never capture with one single mic.