Royer Ribbons Tour with Muse

Marc "MC" Carolan, the front-of-house engineer for British rockers Muse, is using the R-122 live active ribbon microphone from Royer Labs for lead vocalist, guitarist, and keyboards Matthew Bellamy's guitar cabinet.

Originally introduced to Royer Labs microphones during one of his various studio endeavors, Carolan reports the R-122 Live is a robust performer that can handle high SPL sources without the acoustic anomalies served up by some microphones. As for miking Bellamy's guitar cabinet, Carolan says, "Between myself, Adam Taylor [monitor engineer] and Jason Baskin [guitar tech], we came up with an optimum placement of about 4" from the cone and about 2" off center. While his cabinet produces extreme SPLs, it also delivers a wide range of tones and feels. The Royer R-122 Live is the only mic that can handle all of this. I like the fact that there's no artificial high end boost as is found with other manufacturer's microphones. The R-122 Live remains true to delivering the tonality Matt is trying to achieve." Presently, Carolan has two R-122 Live ribbon microphones, with one mic dedicated to Bellamy's guitar sound and the other as a backup.

"When using the R-122 Live in the studio," Carolan says, "I find myself experimenting with a variety of microphone positions. The figure 8 polar pattern and the nulls that are an integral part of the mic's sonic signature provide tremendous flexibility. The amount of isolation from other sound sources that these mics can achieve with careful positioning is really impressive."

"Obviously, its sound is the most important aspect of the microphone," Carolan continues. "The R-122 LIve doesn't try to impose a character of its own on the source. Rather, the mic reproduces the source in a very satisfying manner-especially when things get loud. Its response means the ear is not assaulted with any high-end nastiness."

In addition to his use of the Royer R-122 Live, Carolan recently began working with a pair of Royer Labs' R-101 passive ribbon microphones. "I'm still experimenting with them," he says, "but so far, they have proven to be very versatile microphones. I see a lot of possibilities for the R-101.

"Royer Lab's support services are excellent," he adds. "Not only do they provide answers, but they're great about providing background information, which helps me use their products more effectively."

He concludes, "In all honesty, the Royer R-122 Live is the only guitar mic I need with Muse. All the complexity of Matt's sound ends up being reproduced by that one mic-and it sounds massive."