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The beyerdynamics M 160 is a very unique ribbon microphone, with it's unusual hypercardioid polar pattern, it sets itself apart from your standard ribbon mic. M 160 has a very warm, silky sound, and a very high transient response, that makes it great for drums, acoustic instruments, brass sections, vocals, or as a room mic.
The hypercardioid polar pattern offers 25 dB of off-axis noise rejection, making it a go-to mic when multiple players are in the same room. The M 160 is the signature sound of John Bonham's huge drum tone, featured on Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks", as well as Eddie Kramer's first choice for Jimi Hendrix's guitar cabinet on all his recordings.
Go to overhead mics
OK, Its Bowies favorite live vocal mic, Andy John's captured Bonham's iconic drum room sound for "When the Levee Breaks" with a pair of these and Eddie Kramer used it on most of Hendrix's recordings.... and last and not least, hand assembled in Germany by the same woman for decades... I was told by a Beyer representative "when she stops making these they will stop being made" The mic itself is a workhorse and unique in design having 2 ribbon elements on top of each other, the result is a hotter output and more consistent tone... It can handle loud SPLs and some even love it on a snare, very natural on overheads, cabinet and just as well a acoustic or cello. Great if you wanted to warm up a Taylor guitar or Trumpet.. not to mention excellent rear rejection, a rare welcomed quality for a ribbon. This is a great first mic if you wanted to get a pro grade ribbon as it will be most useful over other more traditional designs.. Its a studio must have...
Great sounding microphone. Exceeded my expectations.
Depends what you are looking for. This is not bright but I have found uses for it where nothing will get this sound. I also purchased an m130 (figure 8) to match up for M-S recording.
Im not a professional musician or audio engineer, but my buddies and I like to record some covers as a hobby. We play a lot of classic rock covers, Zeppelin, Hendrix, Rolling Stones, Alice Cooper, etc. I was reading up on how they got some of those iconic drum and guitar tones and this mic came up time and time again, apparently it was the microphone of choice for Jimi Hendrix on his guitar and the mics used to get the huge John Bonham drum tone. We decided to add two of them to the mic collection and record some Zeppelin and Hendrix tunes. When I put it on the electric guitar, I was instantly pulled to the past, it was the closest my guitar rig has ever sounded to a classic recording. It had far more definition in the note attack than my previous microphone, and much warmer sounding with my Strat. When we did the drums, I had a mic on the kick and snare, then put the M160s farther back in the room. At first I wasnt getting that huge tone, but once I learned what compression was those two mics sounded bigger than anything we tried recording before. Im really glad we added these mics to the setup, finally able to make some recordings that sound like my heroes.
I run a medium-low budget project studio, but my studio has a few high-end preamps and excellent conversion. After purchasing this mic with an M130 and AEA TRP preamp for primarily acoustic guitars, I knew ahead of time that this mic would get a lot of use on other sources. I'm a horn specialist & multi-instrumentalist. Recently I tracked my tenor sax with this mic, and I was seriously floored with the sound. The tracks on tenor sax was like something you'd hear on any top-notch modern jazz or pop album. Overdubbing solos & horn-lines to beach-music type tunes, I honestly didn't need any EQ or compression - the tracks were that even, smooth & natural. I have a music partner who does a lot of songwriting, and he's tracked entire demos with just this one mic. Now, I just have to keep myself from taking this mic out of the studio to live gigs! I will buy another as soon as finances allow. Definitely a 'work-horse' mic. BTW, the gain & clarity on the AEA is amazing on these ribbon mics. I'll be trying the AEA on dynamics & tube condensers soon.
The best gear advice always comes from those who use it the most. That's where you come in! Let the pro audio world hear your voice with a review of the beyerdynamic M 160 Hypercardioid Double Ribbon Microphone . Once you submit your review, please check your email and verify your address to have it posted.
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In our latest Studio Spotlight interview, we're chatting with Gustavo Porras and getting the lowdown on all things Red Lion Audio. Read on to learn more about the studio's set-up, Gustavo's latest gear acquisitions, why he chose the API The Box II console for this space and so much more.
Describe Red Lion Audio for us. What's the layout like? Red Lion Audio is located in a quiet complex in Edgewood, Florida. The studio is over 1200 sq ft. and divided into a lounge room, control room and live room. The control room is equipped with the API The Box 2 Console, a Burl Audio B80 Mothership, Barefoot Sound MM27 monitors and loads of other outboard gear. We've got gear from Neve, Chandler Limited, SSL, Retro Instruments, Looptrotter, etc.
The Live Room is a 600 sq ft. space with a 12’ ceiling and is fully equipped with various amps and a big selection of drums. In terms of amps, we have Marshalls, Orange, Ampeg, Soladano, Divided by 13, Fender, Metropoulos, Bogner and more. For drums, we have a Yamaha Recording Custom, DW Collector, Q Drums and A&F drums.
How would you describe your studio workflow? Each piece of gear we select is handpicked to our tastes and everything is normalized in our patch bay to save time during mixing and tracking and achieve the best quality sound in our production.
What do you like most about working on that desk? The way I can mix with two hands without having to use a mouse. I can shape the sound how I want it much faster than using outboard gear and not need to worry about latency issues. I can also use my Bricasti Design M7 reverb with my aux send and return and that's all I need!
What's an essential piece of gear to your process and why? Besides the API The Box 2 console, I would say the Smart Research C1LA Compressor, API 2500, SSL Fusion and Kush Audio Clariphonic are essential pieces of gear that I always use during my mixdown.
What are your go-to microphones for tracking? For vocals, I like the Upton 251 for modern sounding vocals and Neumann U87 for classic rock vocals. On guitar, I usually use a Royer Labs R-121 and Beyerdynamic M 160. If we're talking drums, a pair of Coles 4038 for overheads and a pair of AEA R84A for room mics.
What was your most recent gear purchase? How has it changed what's going on at Red Lion Audio? I just got a Burl Audio B80 Mothership BMB4 filled with BAD4M, BDA4M, BAD8 and BDA8 cards. This gives me the best audio quality that you can ever have.
What's an album that really changed the way you look at music? What about the record stands out to you? Production-wise, the Beatles' Revolver because they were making music way ahead of their time. Sound-wise, Muse's The 2nd Law. That is the sound of a perfect mix to me.
Who are some of your favorite engineers and producers? Chris Lord-Alge, George Martin and my friend Sam Guaiana. He is killing it in the mixing game.
What's the greatest piece of advice you've received about working in the recording studio? Always record guitars using a DI and always use an analyzed spectrum on your mix buss.
Whether you’re looking for a last-minute holiday gift or dog-earing something special to spend your tax return on in 2022, you can’t go wrong with a great studio microphone. And we sure do have a lot of them here at Vintage King!
From classic tube condensers to modern modeling mics, there is a truly a microphone that will fit every studio no matter what type of audio you record. Let's take a look at our top 10 best selling microphones of 2021 and discuss what makes them so special.