posted on Jan 24 by Pat Murphy / The Sound Palace

RCA 44 ribbon microphones have remained an essential part of studio life well after RCA stopped manufacturing them in 1955. The sound and response of the 44 B/BX were unlike anything else available, and was cherished for its smoothness, forgiving nature and unique tonal balance. As collectors began to buy up the supply of RCA 44′s through the 90′s, the availability of this wonderful ribbon mic to the studio was greatly endangered.

The 44 was RCA’s best microphone from the 1930s into the ’50s and is one of those rare mics that has remained relatively unchanged from its inception, and still sounds great some 75 years later. Wes Dooley, a specialist in ribbon mics of all kinds and founder of AEA, has now restored the 44 type microphone to its rightful position in the studio. After tracking down the engineers who designed and built the original RCA 44, AEA acquired ribbon material, made the tooling and custom machined all the parts necessary to build the original RCA 44 B/BX design to its original specifications, just as it was in the 1930s.

Each year, studio owner Pat Murphy has visited with Wes Dooley at the Winter NAMM show (the National Association of Music Merchants) and this year the R44 was finally purchased for clientele of  The Sound Palace.