What I realized lately is that recording with ribbon mics is a bit like filming in RAW if you are familiar with video. When you film in raw you get a very flat low contrast image with little color information. The plus side to filming in raw is that after correcting color and contrast in post digitally you are essentially doing the same thing the camera does internally with its prebaked color profile however the end result is of higher quality and its much easier to push and pull the colors around using RAW. Thats how I see ribbon mics. They lack the internal electronics of condensors that function as a preset eq and that eq needs to be done in post (or during tracking). But the ribbon mics take eq better than any other mic. I always underestimated that when I heard people mention it but it is a revelation when you start eqing ribbon mics just how useful and great sounding they are.
The thing that intrigues me about the Cole’s is that when it comes time to mix, I’m always trying to tame the cymbal highs (using akg 451s) and trying to beef up the shells. Essentially this is what the Cole’s are supposed to achieve
The Coles fattens up the kick and snare and has that darker top like a ribbon does. The 414's sound great and have more topend and are leaner down low. Either would work great but force you to make different choices when mixing. I'd say the Coles may work better if you were mic'ing your kit with less mics as with your three mic example - preferred it there.. Nice compare.
Great job on this. The C414 XLS is a rather mellow and neutral mic, and the Coles even make those sound bright. If I had both sets, I would have a hard time deciding which ones to use. It would probably depend on the song. Thanks for sharing.
give the Coles an Eq-lift in the highs...then compare again ;-) (and maybe the AKG get a lower lift?) :-) i absolutely love the dirty character of my Coles over the the hole kit...i experiment a lot with overdriven mic-pre...also nice what happens to the sound with some more saturation. Nice comparison, thank you for sharing!
I use beyer 160 as my overheads never been happier. They are hypercardiod not figure 8 tho they are unique in that way but cymbals never sound harsh which is an amazing feat and the toms sound wonderful also
i find that detailed highs with the overheads are great for a maximal, modern-crisp approach. big beefy close mics to supplement the lows and low mids. the AKGs won’t get in the way of the close mics that way. coles are fantastic for a very controlled sound or a sound that can be compressed heavily and work with minimal close micing/auxiliary micing. the weight of the mids could get in the way of larger and heavier instrumentation, however. they both sound beautiful.
Two separate beasts. Ribbons are inherently darker than condensers. Both serve a purpose and when combined on a kit with dynamics too, it's a great combination of flavours
Ribbons are not 'inherently' darker than condenser microphones, in a pedantic sense -- it comes down to the specific dimensions of the ribbon motor. The longer the physical path from the front side of the motor to the back side, the lower the frequency of high-end roll-off slope begins. So it's not 'inherent' -- it's merely 'typical'. That's without even bothering to mention that some condenser microphones can be dark.
The 414 are nice and crisp but I think the coles are the choice if you have any plans of compressing. Right as you do that, the 414's will make the cymbals out of control but the coles will keep the snare and cymbals where they need to be. Also i want to note that how great you and your set sound. Great playing and I love the tone of the kit.
Really gotta second all of that! Nothing ever sounded as good on pecussion room mics as the coles wacked with a pair of distressors. Now that's addictive. Great demo thanks!
The best I've tried to match them was by boosting high freq in the coles and get a bit of the dark out.. But even then, they still sound a bit different
For a drum solo, the Coles easily wins . For a song mix it probably doesn’t matter. I’ve heard songs where the drums sound average and nothing special but it blends with the song perfectly
@@cplaei1800 if the cymbals are too bright, a dark ribbon mic might be better. But in a busy song mix, a bright condenser mic might be better to cut through a mix. However, mics are not everything. The right preamp can improve the sound as well.
Personally, I prefer ribbon microphones because they seem to have a more natural transient smoothness that I like. But if you're just recording at home, and already have some AKGs that work perfectly well, I don't see much point in buying more mics. I think people should focus more on just using whatever gear they already have, unless something is so bad that it's unusable (even a $100 mic is good enough for home recording nowadays). If it was me, I'd solve the problem by selling all the mics and buying an AEA R88 or Royer SF-24 (or a pair of Coles or RCA). But I'm a fanatic of the 'one mic' style, because it sounds BETTER to me. I hate the sound of a dozen close mics on everything. You don't have a dozen ears. It sounds fake.
What I realized lately is that recording with ribbon mics is a bit like filming in RAW if you are familiar with video. When you film in raw you get a very flat low contrast image with little color information. The plus side to filming in raw is that after correcting color and contrast in post digitally you are essentially doing the same thing the camera does internally with its prebaked color profile however the end result is of higher quality and its much easier to push and pull the colors around using RAW. Thats how I see ribbon mics. They lack the internal electronics of condensors that function as a preset eq and that eq needs to be done in post (or during tracking). But the ribbon mics take eq better than any other mic. I always underestimated that when I heard people mention it but it is a revelation when you start eqing ribbon mics just how useful and great sounding they are.
The thing that intrigues me about the Cole’s is that when it comes time to mix, I’m always trying to tame the cymbal highs (using akg 451s) and trying to beef up the shells. Essentially this is what the Cole’s are supposed to achieve
Awesome comparison and playing. Thank you Chris
Thank you for checking it out 👍
Great little test, thank you!
Thank you for watching
The Coles fattens up the kick and snare and has that darker top like a ribbon does. The 414's sound great and have more topend and are leaner down low. Either would work great but force you to make different choices when mixing. I'd say the Coles may work better if you were mic'ing your kit with less mics as with your three mic example - preferred it there.. Nice compare.
Great job on this. The C414 XLS is a rather mellow and neutral mic, and the Coles even make those sound bright. If I had both sets, I would have a hard time deciding which ones to use. It would probably depend on the song. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks 👍
Thanks man!
Wow. Love the Coles.
give the Coles an Eq-lift in the highs...then compare again ;-) (and maybe the AKG get a lower lift?) :-) i absolutely love the dirty character of my Coles over the the hole kit...i experiment a lot with overdriven mic-pre...also nice what happens to the sound with some more saturation. Nice comparison, thank you for sharing!
I use beyer 160 as my overheads never been happier. They are hypercardiod not figure 8 tho they are unique in that way but cymbals never sound harsh which is an amazing feat and the toms sound wonderful also
i find that detailed highs with the overheads are great for a maximal, modern-crisp approach. big beefy close mics to supplement the lows and low mids. the AKGs won’t get in the way of the close mics that way. coles are fantastic for a very controlled sound or a sound that can be compressed heavily and work with minimal close micing/auxiliary micing. the weight of the mids could get in the way of larger and heavier instrumentation, however. they both sound beautiful.
Two separate beasts. Ribbons are inherently darker than condensers. Both serve a purpose and when combined on a kit with dynamics too, it's a great combination of flavours
Ribbons are not 'inherently' darker than condenser microphones, in a pedantic sense -- it comes down to the specific dimensions of the ribbon motor. The longer the physical path from the front side of the motor to the back side, the lower the frequency of high-end roll-off slope begins.
So it's not 'inherent' -- it's merely 'typical'. That's without even bothering to mention that some condenser microphones can be dark.
thanks
The 414 are nice and crisp but I think the coles are the choice if you have any plans of compressing. Right as you do that, the 414's will make the cymbals out of control but the coles will keep the snare and cymbals where they need to be.
Also i want to note that how great you and your set sound. Great playing and I love the tone of the kit.
Hey thanks a lot Jordan, appreciate it 👍
Really gotta second all of that! Nothing ever sounded as good on pecussion room mics as the coles wacked with a pair of distressors. Now that's addictive. Great demo thanks!
I'd love to hear the AKG's with the highs eq'd to match the coles. I bet you could get them pretty close.
The best I've tried to match them was by boosting high freq in the coles and get a bit of the dark out.. But even then, they still sound a bit different
The coles are second to none here. The coles sounds like what the Ear hears compared to the akg
Agreed :)
For a drum solo, the Coles easily wins . For a song mix it probably doesn’t matter. I’ve heard songs where the drums sound average and nothing special but it blends with the song perfectly
It matters, it really matters.
@@cplaei1800 if the cymbals are too bright, a dark ribbon mic might be better. But in a busy song mix, a bright condenser mic might be better to cut through a mix. However, mics are not everything. The right preamp can improve the sound as well.
But cymbals ARE bright and that is one of the main reasons why the Coles are second to none for this task.
One of the main differences I hear is that the coles are figure of eight and they pick up more of your room than the 414s.
Personally, I prefer ribbon microphones because they seem to have a more natural transient smoothness that I like.
But if you're just recording at home, and already have some AKGs that work perfectly well, I don't see much point in buying more mics. I think people should focus more on just using whatever gear they already have, unless something is so bad that it's unusable (even a $100 mic is good enough for home recording nowadays).
If it was me, I'd solve the problem by selling all the mics and buying an AEA R88 or Royer SF-24 (or a pair of Coles or RCA). But I'm a fanatic of the 'one mic' style, because it sounds BETTER to me. I hate the sound of a dozen close mics on everything. You don't have a dozen ears. It sounds fake.
We hire people and rent objects... thx for the video!
Which 414s are those ? Xls?
Yes, XLS
Coolse that shure sm57 😂
AKG better clarity