Bang & Olufsen BM3

The Bang and Olufsen BM3 is a ribbon microphone designed for use in professional recording studios. The look of the BM3 has become classic and lives on through the modern day Royer and Chinese made copies that are modeled after these old mics.

OVERALL OPINION

I’ve been using the Band and Olufsen BM3 ribbon mic for about a year and love the results that I get with it. While it has the look of a Royer 121 or 122, the sound is definitely more ‘vintage’ and warm sounding. I have used the BM3 in a number of different situations, as it excels all across the board. I mostly use it to record acoustic instruments, since it is old and fragile and I do not want to put too much stress on the ribbon inside of it. It sounds great to record acoustic piano, acoustic guitar, and mandolin, but will work great to record just about anything. While it isn’t my first choice for recording all types of vocals, there are certain types of vocals that it sounds outstanding with. The BM3 definitely has its own unique sound and when you are using it you should know this sound and know what will complete it best. For this reason it takes a bit of trial and error until you really use the BM3 to its full potential. The Band and Olufsen BM3 mics have become more and more rare over the years, and have become more and more expensive as a direct result. The modern day Royer ribbon mics are great microphones, and while they look like these classic BM3s, they are completely different microphones, each with tone qualities of their own. If you are a microphone collector, or just love vintage mic sounds, this mic is for you. If you can find one of these at a reasonable price, it is probably worth it as you are not only getting a great sounding microphone, but getting a classic piece of recording history.