Royer Labs R-121 and Shure SM57 Guitar Recording Kit

Record an electric-guitar cabinet with a classic two-microphone setup using this R-121 and Shure SM57 Guitar Recording Kit from Fotohaus Klinger. The kit features an SM-21 dual-mic clip that points the SM57 dynamic mic toward the part of the cabinet where the speaker dome meets the paper, while the R-121 ribbon mic will be more on the dome of the speaker, creating a tried-and-true, phase-coherent configuration.

If you're a studio engineer, theR-121 from Royer Labsprobably needs no introduction: this is the studio ribbon microphone that put ribbon microphones back on the map again. Where ribbon microphones were always prized for their sound but considered largely finicky, the R-121 is equally prized for its sound and is about as durable as a ribbon microphone can be.

The mic is known for its warm and natural sound, free from the hyped-up high-end usually associated with condenser mics. It's perfect for anything from vocals to drum rooms to guitar amps to symphonic/choral sections. With its figure-8 polar pattern, it can pick up sound equally from behind or in front of the capsule. The R-121 boasts high SPL handling for close capturing of instrument cabinets, drums, and other transient-rich sources without noise and distortion.

The R-121 delivers the performance you'd expected of a top-quality ribbon microphone, but with the added benefit of not breaking when you mic a sound with a high SPL. There are no internal active electronics to overload or produce distortion up to maximum SPL rating, which is quite high indeed. Furthermore, the ribbon element is not affected by heat or humidity.

Exhibiting almost no noise of its own, the mic is completely absent of high-frequency phase distortion, and it gives you a consistent frequency response regardless of your distance from the mic. All of this means one thing: an exceedingly transparent audio reproduction.

You can use this mic on almost everything. It excels on electric guitar amps, brass instruments, horn sections, all woodwind or symphonic instruments, drum rooms, overheads, kick drums, and more.

The SM-21 AxeMount Dual-Microphone Clipfor R-121 and 57-Styled Dynamic Micsfrom Royer Labs is a microphone combo clip for mounting an R-121 ribbon mic and a 57-style dynamic microphone (sold separately) for capturing the audio of an electric-guitar cabinet. It can be used to position both mics simultaneously in a phase-aligned position—ready to record. In the past, using these two mics required two mic stands and two clips. With the SM-21 setup, a good starting point is positioning the clip, so the dynamic mic is pointed where the speaker dome meets the paper. The R-121 will be more on the dome of the speaker. This is the classic position for these two mics.