Sound from all sides

New Zealand musician and ribbon-microphone enthusiast Larry Killip has helped introduce Chinese microphones to the English-speaking market. In 23 he discovered a new line of cheap Chinese ribbon microphones that were easy for hobbyists to upgrade. Some were unbranded and others badged with the brand name “Nady,” but all were manufactured to roughly the same specs, and probably came from a single factory. “I had one of the earliest Nady microphones,” Killip says. “And in one magic moment I managed to find a website of the actual factory in China.” Killip, who makes his living as a studio engineer, and American friends from an online audio forum began to buy Nady microphones and find ways to improve them, helping give birth to the community of ribbon-microphone hackers that has burgeoned in recent years.