beyerdynamic M 160

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 wasn’t getting that huge tone, but once I learned what compression was those two mics sounded bigger than anything we tried recording before. I’m 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.

I've used this mic now on practically all sources, with the exception of orchestral strings. While performing superbly, this mic recently surprised the snot out of me while tracking tenor sax. As a 34-year horn player, I had yet to even consider that there might be a "holy grail" microphone for saxophone, but I have found it. I've been running this mic through an AEA Ribbon Pre, and the results are simply amazing. I'm going to get at least one more (maybe 2 or 3) of these to have a pair. The thought of "desert island microphone" keeps popping up in my head. When you consider the cost of other ribbons, you can't go wrong. BTW, when tracking the tenor sax on an old high-energy cover tune, I didn't have even have to add EQ or compression, as the tracks were just that stinkin' good. Nothing but love for this mic!