How to Hear When Mics Work Together - R121 and SM57 on One Clip - Royer AxeMount SM-21

I got a chance to check out the SM-21 mic clip, which allows you to pair the R-121 and SM57 on the same mic stand, and it makes life a whole lot easier.
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[@MaeveCurtis-o9m]

Sometimes I just go to bed with one of your playlists on because your voice has become so comfy to me over the years

[@regnifelrub]

Danke!

[@Tekkerue]

'The way you can move these mics together as a single unit, this is something you cannot do without this product.' Gaffer tape: am I nothing to you?

[@creativesoundlab]

Hahahah, best comment!!! Sorry to offend you my trusty matte black 2 inch gaffer tape :(

[@royerlabs]

🙏 Thank you for showcasing exactly what we were trying to accomplish!

[@hartcranes7696]

Video starts at 1:30 And btw to OP, thanks for the post! Great video!! I have this clip hitting my door tomorrow, will be great to spend all day doing some *real* recording w/ Royer 121 + SM57.

[@jimmiefarmer3022]

I really wish Royer would make this clip for the R10/SM57 combo. I own the R10 and would buy this style of clip designed for the R10 immediately. Like you said, the ability to have both mics on one stand is really nice.

[@creativesoundlab]

Yeah very true. I wonder if Wilkenson would make one for the R10. I know he's made some stuff for the 421 and others.

[@joelonsdale]

Another great video, Ryan! I use a Cascade Fathead paired with an SM57 to mic my guitar amp in the studio. I can blend the two to EQ-in the tone I'm looking for. Combined with an omni capacitor hanging in the hallway for some room tone, I am always happy with the results. I'm always amazed by what a difference moving the relative position of the two close microphones makes, even just a couple of millimetres!

[@LucaJanota]

Do you get them to cancel each other out to a great degree? I have a similar mic to the fathead and and SM57, but for me, there is still quite a lot going on, when they 'should' be in phase with each other.

[@joelonsdale]

@@LucaJanota They are very different sounding microphones, which is the point. They will never cancel each other out. If you try and align the capsules (look at the manuals to see an exploded diagram that shows where the capsules are housed) they should combine pretty well without agonising too much!

[@LucaJanota]

@@joelonsdale I achieved great sounds with that combination, I was just always wondering if it could be even closer in terms of cancelation, but never really got there. Will take a look at the manuals as well, thanks!

[@joelonsdale]

@@LucaJanota Of you are recording to two tracks on your DAW, you can live up the signals visually by playing a signal into the amp and adjusting the position off one of the microphones until the waveforms being drawn on-screen align.

[@LucaJanota]

@@joelonsdale I've done that as well. Sometimes I did that with a graphic EQ, so I can see which frequencies are getting lost. I have a good ear for that, but sometimes you feel safer, knowing for sure what you get and what's getting lost. That way you can use phasing as a EQ itself, cutting some low mids or some nasty top end.

¡Gracias!

[@surgerywithoutknives2353]

Ryan, this is a really helpful approach that I’ve never tried before … many thanks

[@creativesoundlab]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Thearcherfl]

This was so awesome. I love using my mxl r144 with an sm57 or audix i5 on lower gain rock. For higher gain and metal I love a 57 on axis with a e906 blended in. However, I’ll admit I don’t record high gain often. And when I do I use my v30 2x12 because I know it so well. I’m terrible at tone on others gear.

[@gilliandelear7160]

Oh hell yeah, great experiment.

[@creativesoundlab]

Thanks man!

[@resound7]

That was great. Thanks for your efforts!

[@austinbridge]

Awesome video. Thank you!

[@rlibby404]

thank you for addressing phase vs polarity. Just adding eq affects the phase of the signal in wild ways. 180 degrees out of phase is only equivalent to reverse polarity in the case of a repeating sinusoid- something that can be achieved with a synthesizer, but not with an acoustic drum set.

[@RiffHarvester]

I have an AxeMount clip and I use it with an sm57 and an Art AR5 active side-address ribbon mic which fits exactly like a Royer ribbon mic.

[@kriscullen3378]

Awesome video!

[@ericguizzo7252]

Grazie.

[@creativesoundlab]

Thank you so much Eric!!!!

[@J-DUB-F1]

This is a really useful tool!....... I was once told that the way you set up two mics on a speaker is this. The distance between the two mics is 3x the distance from the speaker. Is that correct?

[@chinmeysway]

cool tool for sure accept that its also great of course to have the distances have plenty of independent. they wont null out if one captures more sound than the other or is ribbon (fig 8) vs dynamic, or is this not accurate?

[@jamescassidy4045]

This may be a dumb question, but you know how a 121 can be put up right on a grill of a loud amp(to some extent obviously), excluding i dunno A 100W Plexi on max volume maybe lol, but anyway I've always found it nice because you can line it up with a dynamic or condenser right up on the grill, but does anyone know if a Coles 4038 can somewhat be safely put up right on the grill of an amp, or super close to some extent? (like 1-2" away)... Is it just kind of an exception for the Royer, because it can handle such high SPL?

[@darrylweller6143]

What do you recommend for best mic for electric guitar cabinets? 121/57, Soyuz 023, AEA N22?

[@hamiltonburger4574]

I really wish these demos (mics, guitars, amps) used Clean tones instead of the usual overdriven sound. My 2cents anyway.

[@TimmyP1955]

Even better if one were to use the Granelli G5790 (a right-angle SM57).

[@InnerCitySlickersTV]

Hey Brother, I really like your channel. I need some help. I am starting a music channel and will be recordling and video taping live in the same room. No overdugs. How can I mitigate the leakage into the vocal mics...thanks in advance.

[@InnerCitySlickersTV]

Good Question, look me up on FB and we will chat

[@LucaJanota]

Phasing is such a weird thing, once you put 2 mics on one source, things start getting pretty complex. Depending on the mics, they might not null out that great like in this example, then it's getting really hard to know whether you got 'the' spot for them where they sound best. In this case, would you suggest changing one of the mic? The fuller the sound is, that you have while nulling out, the more frequencies are getting lost, when flipping polarity right?

[@grep4]

When you have the polarity flipped the least amount of sound is caused by more frequencies and volume of each frequency are being cancelled out (aka "getting lost"). Essentially what you are trying to do is to align the phase of the sound waves so they reach both mics at the same. The fuller sound comes when both have achieved that alignment (aka "phase aligned"). Sure, changing mics might be a good thing to try if you aren't getting the sound you want. In my experience, some mics don't pair well where even when you have them aligned, they don't sound they way you want.

[@creativesoundlab]

Yes, and I think you both are correct. I think, Luca, you were saying that if a pair mics has a fuller spectrum of sound (Picking up 20-20k more evenly) then it could do a better job of canceling each other out. A 57 can only cancel out so much, so it won't null out the low stuff that is only picked up from the R121 for example.

[@almightytreegod]

The movement on your first example would probably be more audible without the slapback delay on.

[@creativesoundlab]

Yeah, but it's in the high end frequencies. I agree it's hard to hear, which is why I flipped polarity to make it more audible.

[@AcousticWisdom]

Does it make any sense to use this combo on an acoustic guitar?

[@creativesoundlab]

Sure. If it works then go for it. I've done it before.

[@AcousticWisdom]

@@creativesoundlab it’s funny because I have the royer but not the 57.

[@darrylweller6143]

What pre’s do you recommend with the use of these on electric guitars?

[@joelonsdale]

Your plectrum choice makes more difference than your preamp choice!

[@djentlover]

The smoothness of Neves usually work really well with distorted guitars

[@creativesoundlab]

I've had a "Awe yeah that's it" moment with the CAPI vp312, but I really don't mind the sound of many preamps. As long as it's a good quality preamp, then there won't be big holes in the frequencies. Too dark, too thin, etc.

[@BobBriessinck]

Thank you for saying 'polarity' in stead of 'phase'.