greetings earthlings today i'm back with a review of a very cool ribbon microphone that
microphone is the bayer dynamic m160 double ribbon microphone and if you are interested in this mic
it will cost you around seven hundred dollars like always i'll throw some links down below
and for this review i have the microphone connected directly to the focusrite 18i 22nd gen
my gain is set at 100 percent i will not do any kind of post-processing but i may have to boost it
in post so check the doobly-doo or the lower third to see how much i did boost it and now let's talk
about what comes in the box it went behind the door first off you will get a zippered storage bag
you'll of course get the microphone a microphone clip with a 5 8 to 3 8 inch microphone stand
adapter some documentation including a frequency response graph for your specific microphone
and some darn stickers then as far as the build quality it feels like a standard german piece of
engineering meaning it feels excellent it has an all metal body as well as this spherical
metal mesh grille which surprisingly has no give to it it weighs in at 156 grams as you
move around the microphone there are no filters the bottom has an xlr port and this microphone
is still being made in germany then as far as the specs the microphone has a hyper cardioid polar
pattern a frequency response of 40 hertz to 18 kilohertz a sensitivity of around negative 60 db
and an impedance of 200 ohms now i am rotating the m 160 to 90 degrees to show you the off axis
rejection and coloration we'll continue around the microphone going back to 180 degrees there should
be another lobe of sensitivity right here you can hear a few plosives then i will go to the second
90 degree angle here's how it sounds and then i will rotate and end at the front of the mic
it's a lot of bass here i would normally do a very aggressive plosive tests but ribbons
aren't the best at rejecting those and you can actually damage them so you can hear if i just
breathe ever so slightly into it it is it's bad so if you're getting this for vocals use a pop
filter now i am right on top of the microphone to demonstrate the proximity effect on this thing
and if i could make a guess i am vibrating the heck out of your subs now i'm about three inches
away from the microphone with it pointed at the corner of my mouth and here is how it sounds about
one foot away from the microphone two feet away from the microphone and about four feet away from
the microphone now i am typing on a keyboard with gatoron blue switches to see how much of my voice
verse how much of the keyboard it picks up and for you sad gamers now i am typing on the elite w keys
here's how the microphone sounds in a well-treated room
and here's how the microphone sounds in a completely untreated room
and in case you're going to be using this at your desk while you're using peripherals i will
go ahead and bump the desk to see how much of that it rejects in the provided microphone clip
and i will bump the boom arm
big no no do not do that and just to be as thorough as possible now i am going to tap
the microphone's body to see if there are any kind of resonant frequencies
and now i want to do a very quick comparison between the m160 and a couple of other microphones
so you can see how it compares for voice of course we will start on the bayer dynamic
m160 i am six inches off of this microphone connected to the 18 i20 gain at 100 percent
check the lower third to see how much i boosted it and here's how the audio sounds
now i am speaking into the bayer dynamic m201tg which is a 300 dynamic microphone
and it is one of my all-time favorites but here is how this sounds compared to bayer dynamics ribbon
offering we are back on the bayer dynamic m160 same distance same gain setting here is how this
microphone sounds let's jump to another one now i am about six inches away from the sm7b's capsule
this is a 400 dynamic microphone one of the most famous broadcast dynamic microphones and i just
wanted to include it in this comparison because this is another one of my favorites because of how
smooth and warm it is so here is the sm7b compared against the m160 and just in case you hadn't had
enough we are back on the m160 here is how this microphone sounds six inches away gain at 100
let's jump to the next one so you can hear how this mic compares against the next mic and to
wrap it up just so we have another comparison to a ribbon microphone now i am speaking into
the aea ku5a which is a 1100 ribbon microphone and this is an active ribbon microphone so it takes 48
volts phantom power i did have to decrease my gain to about three o'clock on the 18 i20 and here is
how this microphone sounds in comparison to the bayer dynamic m160 let me know in the comments
down below which of these microphones did you like the best no filters were added to any of them they
were all raw just as they come right out of the box without engaging any of the switches on them
i've got a ribbon mic that i wanna test for you guys today
i believe it's made in germany and i think that's really neat
i know it's lame to say neat but i do think it's kinda neat it's oh kiddos
i'm gonna go it is official i am a ribbon microphone convert to sound like brick tamlin
i love ribbon i love ribbon and first up in terms of pros the m160 has a surprising amount
of detail to it especially for a ribbon the sound characteristic of this microphone is also
incredibly smooth the proximity effect on this thing has so much weight to it that i think it
might actually begin to create a black hole and it's made in germany i always love seeing that
and then in terms of cons due to this being a passive ribbon microphone it is insanely quiet
so either you will need an incredible preamp or you will need something like a phet head
or a cloud lifter or something like that also if you're mounting this in a location with a
lot of vibration you will need to buy a shock mount and if you're using it for vocals you 100
need a pop filter so what are my overall thoughts and opinions on this microphone on the electric
guitar i did really enjoy it i thought there was a little bit too much low end but a high pass filter
can clean that ride up the top end was still very present and aggressive all the while it was
maintaining this incredibly smooth and pleasing sound though i did really enjoy it with a little
bit of eq then on the acoustic guitar when i was playing a little bit more aggressively i wasn't
too keen on it i thought the low end got to be a little bit uncontrolled you could fix that with a
little bit of eq but where this microphone really shined was when i was doing more gentle playing
the low end has this amazing and intimate warmth to it the top end still had this beautiful shimmer
to it the thing that really stood out to me though was the softness of the attack of the guitar pick
i thought it was incredible for more gentle more intimate maybe solo guitar performances
i loved it then for singing i did find it to be a little bit boxy around 200hz so some eq
could fix that up and make it sound a little bit more controlled and a little bit more natural
the mids and highs were smooth and nothing popped out as unnatural or sharp or painful all in all
a very usable and manageable microphone for singing if you have to use it for that
and lastly for spoken word i think the sweet spot on this microphone is from four to six inches and
at that point it just sounds incredible to my ears i know it is not a vocal microphone but i love it
for a higher pitched voice like mine it provides this authoritative low end the mids were not
overly nasally especially when we compared it to the sm7b and the top end of this microphone is
absolutely bonkers for a ribbon ribbons typically roll off everything above 7 to 10k but this
captures every consonant all the t you capture all that information all the attack of your spoken
word without losing anything without it sounding sharp without it sounding over boosted i may be a
weirdo but i really enjoyed it for spoken word to wrap up would i recommend the bayer dynamic m160
double ribbon microphone oh my gosh double ribbon it's a double ribbon yes i would i absolutely
would i thought this microphone worked really well for music on the electric the acoustic and
for singing especially if you're able to throw on some eq and make some minor tweaks to it and then
for spoken word if you have a super bassy voice the low end may be a little bit too much for you
but if you have a higher pitched voice like mine and you're looking to dabble in ribbon microphones
and get that warm sound that incredibly smooth sound while simultaneously getting an articulate
sound then absolutely i would recommend it but now i want to hear from you in the comments down below
of all of the microphones that i compared the m160 to which one was your favorite the m160 the 7b
the 201 tg or the aea ku5a let me know in the comments down below if you found this video
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you