Royer Labs R-10 Studio/Live Ribbon Microphone

R-10 Studio/Live Ribbon Microphone

The Royer R-10 is a passive mono ribbon microphone designed for use in the studio and on live stages. Hand-built in our Burbank California factory, the R-10’s sound and performance are all-Royer and it handles SPLs of up to 160 dB @ 1 kHz. The R-10’s compact size and mounting system allows for flexible, unobtrusive positioning.

The R-10’s 2.5-micron aluminum ribbon element is formed with our our patented direct-corrugation process and is protected by a 3-layer windscreen system and internally shock-mounted ribbon transducer. The ribbon transducer is wired for humbucking to reject electromagnetically induced noise.

The R-10’s built-in windscreen provides superior protection from air blasts and plosives. It also reduces proximity effect (bass buildup from close miking) so guitar cabinets and acoustic instruments can be close-miked with less bass buildup. The R-10’s internally shockmounted ribbon transducer isolates the ribbon element from shocks and vibrations, increasing the ribbon element’s durability.

The R-10 utilizes a David Royer custom designed transformer for high overload threshold, minimizing saturation at even extremely high sound pressure levels. You’ll never overload an R-10! The mic’s open grill design minimizes standing waves and associated comb-filtering effects and its smooth frequency response, phase linearity and lack of self-distortion make it ideal for all digital recording and live sound formats.

The Sound

Royer ribbon mics are legendary on electric guitar and the R-10 shows some of its best stuff on studio and live electrics, capturing all the low end, midrange warmth and punch guitarists and engineers have come to expect from a Royer. If you want more bite in the highs but don’t want to multi-mic (particularly on live stages where blending microphones can create phase-related problems), the R-10 takes EQ beautifully and we suggest experimenting with your favorite EQ unit or plugin.

The R-10 is excellent on brass and can handle close-miked trumpets, trombones and other brass instruments. Brass records naturally on an R-10, as bright as the musician plays but without the added sizzle or harshness commonly experienced when condenser mics are used on brass instruments.

Drums are full bodied with realistic (not over-hyped) transients response, and the R-10’s figure-8 pattern conveys superb ambience and depth when used for room miking applications. A compressed R-10 in front of the kit sounds huge and punchy.

R-10 recordings of violins, ukuleles, steel-stringed and nylon-stringed acoustic guitars, banjos and other stringed instruments are warmth and natural and fit into mixes easily. “Airing out” the recorded track by opening up a bit of 12K with an EQ often gives surprisingly good results.

Vocals record record warm and naturally on an R-10, and the EQ-friendliness of the R-10 allows for dialing in completely different sounds with liberal use of EQ. Try experimenting with cutting bass at 100 Hz and opening up 12K by 3 to 6 dB (or more!). Some great vocal performances were recorded on highly EQ’d ribbon mics (Sixpence None the Richer “There She Goes Again” and “Kiss Me” for example).

Royer’s Patented Offset Ribbon Technology

The R-10’s patented offset-ribbon design positions the ribbon element toward the front of the transducer, which allows for high SPL handling on the front (logo) side and the option of a brighter response when recording lower SPL sound sources like acoustic guitar, ukulele and vocals on the back side (3 feet or closer; phase reversed position). For more information on the R-series transducer design, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-KaSiYYcDU

The R-10 is available in matched pairs.