I'll certainly second Pat's comments on ribbon mics. We've used Royer 121's and been very, very pleased with them. They're especially nice as a Blumlein pair for stereo micing.
I didn't mention ribbon mics because of their fragility and somewhat problematic preamp situation. (A preamp with variable input impedance can be a big help with ribbon mics.) There are some lower cost ribbon mics available, such as Pacific Pro Audio's R-One ribbon mics which sell for about $100 each. We have a pair, but haven't gotten to really use them enough yet to get a feeling for them. Microphones are one of my favorite subjects, so I hope not to bore the HG list with them too much. I'll try to keep it down to a dull roar... ;-) Alden
