Warm Audio WA-44 Studio Ribbon Microphone

Warm Audio has built its reputation on painstakingly crafted recreations of some of the most coveted microphones of all time. However, they’ve notably steered clear of the intricacies and idiosyncrasies of the ribbon mic—until now. Based on a legendary microphone, the WA-44 is Warm Audio’s first-ever foray into ribbon mics, and it’s got some big shoes to fill. A true icon of the Golden Age of Recording, its inspiration dominated professional studios and broadcast booths from the 1930s-1950s, beloved for its robust bottom end, lush mids and silky-smooth highs.

Precision-engineered with high-quality custom components and tirelessly tested for true-to-vintage performance, the Warm Audio WA-44 faithfully reproduces the iconic styling and rich, silky tone of its source material in exacting detail—all at a price that’s in reach for the average consumer. If you’re looking to capture the sound made famous by legendary crooners like Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, the WA-44 is a must-have for your mic locker.

High-Quality Components for a Timeless Sound

While the WA-44 exudes pure vintage swagger, the secret to its warm, velvety sound lies in a carefully crafted combination of state-of-the-art engineering and meticulously sourced custom components. At the heart of the WA-44 is a 2.5-micron-thick 99.1% pure aluminum ribbon. Suspended between the poles of a premium neodymium magnet, it offers an ultra-wide frequency response that captures the subtle nuances of your performance in gorgeous detail. The American-made CineMag transformer preserves the sultry character of the ribbon, delivering lush mids and polished highs with stunning accuracy. It connects to the included Star-Quad shielded XLR cable, ensuring the signal reaches your preamp in pristine condition.

Rich Proximity Effect for Unforgettable Vocals

Widely regarded as one of the most iconic vocal mics of all time, the microphone that inspired the WA-44 helped immortalize the sound of era-defining artists like Elvis Presley, Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald. Much of the mic’s intangible magic comes from its pronounced proximity effect, which adds rich depth and loads of luscious low-end character to vocals. While many modern mics take measures to mitigate the proximity effect, Warm Audio faithfully preserves this signature characteristic in the WA-44. The result is a mic that captures all the intricacies of the human voice in beautiful detail. Balancing an authoritative low end with a sultry midrange and a rolled-off top end, the WA-44 is expertly designed to deliver timeless vocal performances.

Smooth High End for Versatile Performance

While the WA-44's rich proximity effect adds pleasant weight to performances, its tamed top end is just as important to its undeniably silky sound. The microphone’s finely tuned ribbon gently rolls off excess treble for a smooth tone on any source. This makes the WA-44 a great option for reining in harsh, sibilant, or overly bright sounds on everything from vocals to horns to cymbals and percussion. With its forgiving high end, huge frequency response and high SPL handling, the WA-44 is a vintage-style mic that’s versatile enough to handle the demands of the modern studio—whether you’re using it for drum overheads, double bass or upright piano.

Figure-8 Polar Pattern Adds a Touch of Ambience

The Warm Audio WA-44 features a tight figure-8 polar pattern that rejects off-axis noise, making it ideal for focused sound capture when recording sources like vocals, horns, drums and acoustic guitars. However, the mic’s bidirectional sound pickup also allows you to add a touch of ambience and a natural, roomy feel to your recordings. By experimenting with mic distance, you can dial in the amount of ambient sound that’s right for your project, delivering a sense of immediacy and intimacy to fingerpicked guitars, upright bass and acoustic pianos that places you right in the room with the performer. The WA-44 also excels as a room mic, accurately capturing the feel of your space and bringing a lifelike quality to your sound.