Recording - May 2015 - 42

B Y PA U L V N U K J R .

Sandhill

bursts of air. It also lets the ribbon work with
minimal screening and protection, which
results in a purer sonic capture.
The 6011A's ribbon is corrugated (as
almost all ribbons are), but uses a variable
corrugation pattern on the ribbon called
VariGeo, which Sandhill claims improves
the overall performance. The NCRT ribbon
element sits in a rigid precision machined
aluminum and steel motor assembly,
designed to be resonance free.
Visually the 6011A is a balance of simplicity and elegance married to precision
craftsmanship of the highest order. This mic
is about as solid and well constructed as it
gets. The body is made from machined aluminum covered in a grey/metal flake powder coat. It measures 65/8" long, 2" wide
and 1" deep, and weighs just shy of a
pound. The ribbon element is set inside the
mic behind a dual-layer metal screen, and
the sides of the mic are reinforced with aluminum strips. These strips are where one
attaches the mic's unique shockmount,
which is made of rubber strands that
clamp to the mic via a sliding clamp
assembly that can be removed with an
included Allen wrench.

6011A Ribbon Microphone

dBA (1% THD), and maximum SPL before
clipping of 160 dB with the pad engaged.
The 6011A, like most ribbons, is fairly
flat, natural, and devoid of any overt
presence peaks or tailored frequencies
throughout its midrange. On the low end
there is a 5 dB rise between 60 and 70
Hz, and on the high end the mic has a
slight dip at 3 kHz, coming back up at 4
kHz, and then slowly but significantly
rolls off from there down past -3 dB
around 15 kHz, -8 dB by 20 kHz.
The sound
As you may guess from the above frequency description, the 6011A exhibits
the classic rolled-off ribbon sound in the
high end. This may appear dark and colored to ears that are used to bright modern condensers, but it's actually nice,
smooth, and natural... and not as rolled
off as many vintage-flavored ribbon mics
that I have reviewed and used.
On the low end, this mic is positively
huge! It has a massive low end and one
of the thickest proximity effects I have
ever used in a ribbon microphone.
Thanks to its active electronics, it is consistent and clean, and while I've used hotter active ribbons, few can withstand 160
dB. Kick drum, here I come!

A remarkable ribbon that really grows on you...
Sandhill Audio is a Finnish audio company started in 2008 that released its first product in 2011, after 3 years of extensive dreaming, designing and testing in 2011. That
product is the 6011A ribbon microphone.
From inexpensive Asian models to
high-end boutique fare, one thing almost
all ribbon mics have in common are delicate, fragile ribbon elements. This was
Sandhill's top design goal: to invent a
more durable ribbon.
The ribbon and the mic
The corrugated pressure gradient ribbon
element in the 6011A measures 60 x 4.7
mm and is made of a special composite
material that Sandhill calls Nano Composite
Ribbon Technology (NCRT). According to
Sandhill, this new composite electricallyconductive material is significantly stronger
than standard ribbon elements. (How much
stronger? Riku Pasanen of Sandhill told me
the mic easily survived being strapped to
the hood of a speeding car!) This design
avoids ruined ribbons due to high SPL or
42

RECORDING May 2015

The 6011A and shockmount comes
housed in a water- and gastight high-performance resin case. According to
Sandhill's website, you can run over the
case with your car if you wish, with the
mic remaining protected. (I didn't test this,
although I was encouraged to.)
Electronics and specs
The 6011A is a phantom-powered ribbon mic for consistency in performance
despite varying impedances from differing mic preamps. With the shock mount
removed, there is a rear-panel trap door
which requires a second included Allen
wrench to remove. Once opened it
reveals an SH1280 transformer made by
Lundahl. There is also an internal 6 dB
input pad switch, and a small set screw
that I didn't touch, since its function wasn't documented.
A few relevant specs: frequency range
of 20 Hz-15 kHz (±3 dB), sensitivity of
4.1 mV/Pa (open circuit), equivalent noise
level of 22 dBA, dynamic range of 122

My long and winding Sandhill story
Usually when reviewing a microphone, I
like 60 to 90 days with it so I can put the mic
to use on actual day-to-day sessions on a
variety of sources. Well, this time around I
received a pair of 6011A mics sometime in
late 2012. Before I was able to complete the
review, Sandhill temporarily ended its US
distribution agreement, so the mics weren't
easily available here. I was told to hang on
to the mics until a new US distributor was
brought on board... which finally happened
at the AES Convention last October. So with
an unprecedented review period of well
over two years, here is my Sandhill story.
My very first session with the 6011A back
in 2012 was tracking both lead (female)
and backing (two male) vocals for an indie
pop project, and honestly I did not like them
at all. That may sound like an odd way to
start a review, but when I first encountered
the up-close low end proximity effect from the
6011A, it was just overwhelmingly thick and
gave the mic a very dark pillowy feel that
neither I or the singers liked for that track.
Recording - May 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - May 2015
