There have been many ribbon microphones making their way into the market of late. It seems that every manufacturer has their version of either a classic or revised modern design and people are lapping them up like hot cakes. Why? Well, ribbons are great on a lot of sources such as guitars, overheads and vocals and supply a texture you just can’t get with a condenser or dynamic mic.

Superlatives include, “warm’, “vintage’ and “smooth’. Indeed, they were the capture device of choice for the BBC for well over 40 years and they have been used on countless hit records.

The resurgence of ribbons has, in no small part, to do with the prevalence of cheap but otherwise decent Chinese variants flooding the marketplace. In turn that fuelled a ’mod” culture where boutique companies found they could modify these mics by replacing the output transformers with more expensive specimens by Cinemag or Lundahl, and by replacing the mechanical resonant filter screens with custom acoustical dampening to improve the frequency response. Companies like Shinybox and Oktavamod come to mind.

The reason for this is ribbon mics are relatively simple devices with very little electronics involved. A ribbon motor, which is basically a very thin corrugated aluminium ribbon suspended between two magnets, some wires and an output transformer is really all you need. The problem that most ribbons face, is a low output signal necessitating the need for a very quiet and high gain preamp. So now we see a lot of ribbon mics coming out that employ active electronics that run on 48V phantom power to boost the output.

Traditional ribbon mics cannot tolerate phantom power, however, which is why if you plugged in your vintage RCA 77D you would religiously have to check that phantom power was turned off or deal with a burnt up ribbon. A typical ribbon is but microns thick in the single figures and basically becomes a low-tolerance fuse when voltage is sent through it. Another pitfall to traditional ribbons is that they are very fragile and prone to what is called “sagging’, which is when the ribbon stretches and ends up scraping the magnets. They are also very sensitive to wind blasts or being dropped. Either of these can cause damage to the ribbon itself so even handling one can be a stressful affair.

There have been modern advancements, though, so there are companies pushing the envelope to bring the sound of ribbon mics to the masses with the reliability and robustness of their dynamic counterparts.

Enter the Shure KSM313/NE. Shure hasn’t been in the ribbon game since models 300, 315, 330 and 333 from the fifties and the last model 300 was manufactured in 1982. That’s a good 30 years of dedicated service. However, Shure didn’t step into manufacturing ribbon mics again until 2009 with its purchase of Crowley and Tripp, a US microphone manufacturer with some interesting innovations that push the boundaries of the craft.

I received a Shure KSM313/NE from SA Shure distributors Wild and Marr for a test run so let’s take a look.

Features

As mentioned, Shure purchased US microphone manufacturer Crowley and Tripp and rebranded their existing models el Diablo and Naked Eye to the KSM353 and the KSM313/NE, respectively. Hand assembled from machined steel, silver, gold and aluminium materials, both mics are heavy and feel extremely well made.
The KSM313/NE, the subject of this review, features a matte black body and red blast filter with the retro-modern Shure logo emblazoned on the address side of the mic. It’s a very attractive yet understated looking microphone. Of course, like all ribbons, the KSM313/NE is bi-directional (figure-of-eight) but is dual-voiced, which means that it offers two different tonal responses depending on which side of the mic you’re addressing. Addressing the front will supply a warm, rolled off sound while addressing the back will produce a brighter sound more suited to vocals. While this is nice feature for mono capture, it might cause problems when attempting to use the mic in an M/S stereo configuration; a common practice with ribbon mics due to their bi-directionality.

Probably the most interesting aspect of this mic is that it features a new ribbon material which – as far as I know – is only currently available in Shure ribbons and previously in Crowley and Tripp mics. This material is called Roswellite.

Roswellite is the trademark name of the ’acoustic nanofilm” developed by a company called Soundwave Research Laboratories and adopted by Crowley and Tripp for use in their ribbon microphones. According to Soundwave Research, it is an “extremely strong, low mass, super-elastic, paramagnetic composite with high inherent conductivity and shape memory properties.’ So as you can see, this material has many advantages over traditional aluminium foil ribbons. In fact, some of its properties are almost the exact inverse to that of aluminium foil ribbons of similar thickness.

The result? A transducer that can withstand major windblasts and plosives, is virtually immune to phantom power, and can withstand high sound pressure levels, particularly at low frequencies. In short, a ribbon microphone fitted with a Roswellite element is more robust, taking the worrisome fragility of ribbons out of the equation. This material can produce elements that are capable of withstanding 146dB and more!

Speaking of specifications, the KSM313/NE has a frequency response that we typically see in ribbon mics of 30Hz to 15 000Hz. The output impedance is 330Ohms and it has a sensitivity of -54.5dBV/Pa (1.88mV).

Road test

Testing and comparing microphones is always a joy. It’s like an artist trying out new colours and even if it’s not immediately clear what the colour might be good for, you know that you will find a use for it through experimentation.

So I took the mic along to Pan Music in northern Johannesburg, a new studio I began working at this year, and decided to put it up against a sE Voodoo VR1 active ribbon we had in the locker. I realise the KSM313/NE is almost double the price of the Voodoo VR1 but nevertheless, I felt it was a chance to see if it supplied a sound that justified the price tag versus something more affordable.

The subject of the test was a drum kit. I like to use drums to audition microphones as they tend to cover the entire useable spectrum. So, after walking around the room listening to the drums being played, I selected a spot around ear height and about eight feet in front of the kit. This is where I felt the low end was the most balanced in relation to the cymbals and snare. I set up the KSM313/NE first being addressed from the front with the Voodoo VR1 set up horizontally above it and as coincidentally as I could get it.

First thing I noticed when going back into the control room was the KSM313/NE needed a lot more gain to match the Voodoo VR1. This makes sense, since the Voodoo VR1 is active and the KSM313/NE is not. However, I had to boost it to around 50dB of gain to get it to peak at around -12dBfs. The Voodoo VR1 in comparison only needed around half that.

In any case, once I had the gains matched, I could now make an objective call when switching between them. First I listened to the KSM313/NE. It sounded typically “ribbon-like’ with the characteristic top end roll off with a warm midrange and full low end. It wasn’t muffled by any means; it was just exactly how I expected it to sound. It was natural and warm and kick drum came through nicely.
Switching to the Voodoo VR1, there was actually a lot of similarity between the two. The Voodoo VR1 had a tad more top end due, I assume, to its phantom powered internal preamp. There were little more bottoms as well and I found that the mid-range was just as smooth as the KSM313/NE.

Turning the KSM313/NE so that the rear of the mic faced forward, I was interested to hear its other voicing. Sure enough, it was brighter and the bottoms were rolled off too as if a high-pass filter had been engaged. In this configuration it brought the cymbals up and the snare cut through nicely. I could see how this would benefit vocals or bowed stringed instruments. I actually have never heard a ribbon mic portray the top end with such sheen.

The wrap

The KSM313/NE offers many advantages over many traditional ribbons on the market in that it can take obscene amounts of SPL; the Roswellite ribbon can withstand as much abuse as you can dish out and it is immune from phantom power damage. It sounds great, too, and the fact that it has dual voicings makes it akin to having two mics in one. The only downside to the mic is that it requires a hefty amount of gain but most modern, quiet preamps can handle it. Also, it’s a bit pricey considering you can get other mics that sound just as good, such as the Voodoo VR1, for half the price. I guess that whatever shortcomings it may have are made up for by the fact that you have a mic that is likely to last you a lifetime and offer you two different flavours to boot.