Lester Smith, Technical Support Engineer: "The RM1B (Ribbon Microphone No 1B) was built at the EMI Hayes factory in the late 1940's after the war, only 35 were created and currently, we have two of these microphones at Abbey Road. The RM1B is possibly based on a design by Alan Blumlein, who designed a twin ribbon binaural microphone with the ribbons at 90 degrees to each other, which contributed to the invention of stereo sound but years before the world was ready for such an inspired invention!"

One particular recording engineer, Peter Cobbin, former Abbey Road Senior Engineer and friend of the studios, always used the RM1B on all the film music scores he worked on. He said it produces a certain colour which he believed suited some of the film scenes especially if they were period pieces. The microphone also has its own fader.