The Royer AxeMount

Royer's new AxeMount has provided a big step forward in helping to get the best guitar recordings possible. It's no secret that the Royer R121 is long revered as “the quintessential rock guitar mic”. It's accuracy in the mids really allow you to capture the tone of a guitar/guitar speaker properly. But, there is a shimmer that seems to be best captured by the Shure SM57 – and this is why the combination of a Royer R121 and Shure SM57 combined, has been a long used and loved guitar recording technique.

There are some problems you run into with this double miking technique. Getting the right positioning on a speaker cabinet is key to the foundation of the recording. So you set up one mic stand, mount an R121 and find the sweet spot. Now you set up a second stand (more real estate taken up now), and you try to squeeze that SM57 right next to that R121. Now you have to worry about element alignment (as phase is a concern), what it in setting up the SM57 you bump the R121? A quarter inch can make a huge difference. Now you have to set the Royer back up to that sweet spot. You just have a few things you have to take into consideration, and these can complicate things. The Royer AxeMount changes a lot of that.

Now with the Royer AxeMount, you have one mic mount that holds both the R121 and the SM57. First you can actually get the mics properly close now (due to the AxeMount design), secondly you only have to use one stand (so a lot easier to set up, with less real estate being used up) - this also does help with cable management. The AxeMount also makes it very easy to move both mic (maintaining the proper alignment/set up), to find the sweet spot – whether you want the Royer near the cone or edge (with the SM57 on the opposite). So all you really have to do, is mount the mics, align the elements (which is so much easier with the Royer AxeMount), then find that sweet spot and start recording. Further is allows for some great experimentation, as you can use other dynamic mics instead, position the R121 inverted (so the ribbon is side by side with the dynamic mic), or upright (so there is separation between the two mics), and you can also try an SM57 with one of our Crimson Audio Transformer Mods (Yellow.sm, Orange.sm, or White.sm). Also grab a Crimson Audio Mogaines (dual channel mic signal booster) to further enhance your tracking.

The Royer AxeMount is something that is so simple, yet so improves efficiency and workflow, you have to wonder why it took so long for something like this to hit the market. Though all that matters is that it is here, and we can now more easily get the great guitar tracks we need. And, we at Front End Audio have made it even easier to accomplish this, with our Royer R-121 Electric Guitar Microphone Package.

Here's to the guitars that drive our song!