One of the best parts of building gear (besides, well, the gear) is relationships. The real ones. 

Back in 2014, when Sammy, Nathan, and I were still at AEA, we met studio and live engineer Chris Koltay (BADBADNOTGOOD, Deerhunter, The War on Drugs, My Morning Jacket) who is the heart behind Detroit’s High Bias Recordings.

At the time, using ribbon mics live was pretty uncommon, especially as stereo overheads. But Chris didn’t hesitate. He saw potential where most saw fragility, and he put ribbons to work.

He quickly became a bit of a legend in the shop, mostly for sending the mics back in pieces. And me, Char, for re-ribboning them. It was a call-and-response of the nerdiest kind, and I didn’t mind. That kind of trial by fire only deepened our respect for his ear and made us rethink what was possible. Chris was one of the first engineers we worked with who showed us that ribbons could thrive on the road if they were built with the right intention.

When we started designing our own ribbons at Ohma, we made durability part of the blueprint. Today, many live engineers use Ohma ribbons on the road, and since we started, not a single ribbon has blown (this also includes non-live use — for real!).

Now it’s June 2025, and in the latest issue of Tape Op, we’ve come full circle. Chris didn’t just review our mics, he wrote about them like someone who’s lived with them. He trusted them on punk and noise bands, hauled them across festival stages with BADBADNOTGOOD, and ran them raw with nothing but a bit of high-pass. Also worth noting, he’s never had to send in a single Ohma ribbon for repair.

Almost two years ago, we sent Chris both the ribbon and the condenser, and he put them to work right away. We braced for a feedback sandwich. Instead, Sammy got a text: “these mics holy shit.” In this business, that counts as a love letter with a wax seal.

After years of throwing these mics into the fire, here’s what Chris had to say: