Royer Labs SF-1

The Royer Labs SF-1 is a light-mass ribbon microphone that is made for use strictly in the recording studio setting.  It is a small diaphragm mic and has a variety of possible uses and applications.  The mic has a figure eight polar pick up pattern and will pick up sound within the 30 Hz to 15 KHz.

OVERALL OPINION

I've been using the Royer Labs SF-1 ribbon mic for about a year or so, although I don't own it and have strictly used it in a professional studio setting.  I used a pair of these microphones for a variety of applications and instruments and found that they are versatile mics that are capable of a number of different things.  I've used them as drum overheads as well as for other close micing applications.  You would think that this wouldn't be great at handling high pressure levels since it is a ribbon mic, but this mic is unique when it comes to this as it is designed for and is able to handle loud noises and high pressure.  I've also used this on an electric guitar cabinet and acoustic guitar and other acoustic instruments like piano and other stringed instruments.  I've found that if you are going for this particular type of ribbon sound, that you really can't go wrong with this one.  Royer is the best in the business when it comes to designing and manufacturing ribbon microphones, and this mic is especially cool because you have the best of both worlds in terms of the ribbon sound along with the capability to handle louder signals that most ribbon microphones wouldn't be best for.  If you are looking for a really nice small diaphragm ribbon microphone, the Royer Labs SF-1 is a great choice and is a unique and versatile one at that.