BURBANK, CA — Royer Labs ribbon microphones, widely used in recording studios, are stepping out on the road as well. A case in point is their use by Maroon 5 for their most recent tour through North and South America, South Africa and Dubai, UAE, where the band and FOH engineer Jim Ebdon used Royer’s R-121 Live ribbon microphones.
Ebdon, who has worked at Surrey Studios in the U.K. and on tours for Aerosmith, Annie Lennox, Sting, Matchbox Twenty and American Idol finalists, noted how he came to use Royer’s R-121 Live microphones on Maroon 5’s two guitarists, Adam Levine and James Valentine.
“I first got the call about mixing Maroon 5 back in 2007,” said Ebdon, “but due to other commitments, I didn’t actually get behind a mixing console for them until the summer of 2008. I started with a clean sheet during rehearsals at S.I.R. (Studio Instrument Rentals) Hollywood. I was in the fortunate position of being in a separate room so I could fine tune sounds on a pair of Genelec nearfield monitors. After a few hours, it became apparent that these guys were really into their sounds and getting it right.
“After having such great results with the Royers I previously used with Matchbox Twenty,” continued Ebdon. “I knew the R-121s would also make a really good choice for Maroon 5. I mentioned this to the band and they totally embraced the idea. So during rehearsal, we did a listening test and were very quickly convinced that these mics were absolutely the right way to go.”
Ebdon said Mike Buffa and Matt Teal, the band’s two guitar techs, helped fine-tune the guitar rigs for both players, which contributed to the success Ebdon had when mixing the band’s various guitar sounds.
“For lead guitarist James Valentine,” Ebdon said, “I used a Shure SM57 on a ‘Divided by 13’ cabinet and a Royer R-121 Live on the ‘Matchless’ cab. With the Matchless being the predominant sound, I mixed in the ‘divided by’ enclosure about 45 percent. The result was a gorgeous, consistent sound. For rhythm guitarist Adam Levine, I used two Royer R-121 Live mics—one on his ‘clean’ cabinet and one on his ‘dirty’ cabinet. Again, the Royers picked up the true guitar tone.”
Ebdon reports that, for both setups, he placed the microphones approximately 3.5 inches away from the cabinet’s grill. “This seemed to allow the air to breath a bit before hitting the ribbon,” Ebdon said, “and I found the sound more natural that way.”
According to Ebdon, the Royer R-121 Live microphones performed trouble-free throughout the entire tour. “I didn’t hear anything from the band members about their guitar sounds during the entire tour,” notes Ebdon, “which, to me, is a good thing. The reliability of the Live Series was flawless, and this is no small thing considering the rigors of live concert touring.”
James Valentine, who in addition to playing lead guitar for the band, also contributes backing vocals, offered a few parting thoughts about the Royer microphones. “When Jim first put up the R-121s during that rehearsal, it became very obvious these microphones really picked up the true sound of the guitars,” Valentine said. “The R-121 produces a very musical sound that accurately reflects what comes from our guitar rigs. They worked great during the entire tour.”
For more information, please visit www.royerlabs.com.
