Ribbon Microphones
The last type of microphone that you may encounter, while not often used in the church, is a Ribbon microphone. Ribbon microphones use a very similar concept as Dynamic (moving coil) microphones. Where the dynamic microphones utilize a thin metallic diaphragm that is attached to a coil of wire located inside a permanent magnet as a transducer, " the ribbon microphone utilizes an extremely thin sheet of aluminum foil which is light enough and wide enough that it can be “vibrated directly by the moving molecules of air of the sound wave, so no separate diaphragm is necessary. "
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In the church, I have most often seen ribbon mics used on electric guitar cabinets, but they can be used in other situations as well. The most important thing to remember about ribbon microphones is that the majority of them are not designed to receive phantom power. If you send phantom power to a ribbon microphone, it will likely break the microphone. The only exception to this that I am aware of is the Blue Woodpecker microphone which does require 48v. Ribbon microphones usually offer a very good frequency response and can help make the higher end frequencies a little less harsh and more pleasant to the ear. Their price point usually spans from moderately expensive to very expensive. For example, the Cascade Fat head microphones are $200 per microphone while the Royer 121 is $1300 per microphone.