Ribbon mic maker Royer Labs acquired by Sounds Great Holdings

Royer Labs, the company behind the R-121 ribbon microphone, has a new owner. Sounds Great Holdings, LLC, a recently formed private equity firm, announced the purchase on March 23, 2026. Royer stays at its headquarters in Burbank, California.

New leadership

Joe Covey, one of the partners in Sounds Great Holdings, is now Royer's CEO. He said the plan is to keep the brand's legacy while investing in new technology and growing it internationally.

Dave Hetrick joins as president and chief revenue officer. Before this he was president of ADAM Audio, and earlier he ran sales at KRK, Beyerdynamic and other pro-audio companies. Hetrick said he sees large room to grow Royer worldwide. The new management lists three priorities: wider global sales, more spending on product development and closer ties with the professional audio community.

The founder keeps a stake

Royer was founded in 1998 and is best known for its ribbon microphones, above all the R-121. Its work for modern recording earned the company a Technical Grammy Award. Co-founder and outgoing president John Jennings wrote on Facebook that he keeps 10 percent ownership and will consult for the company. He said Royer will continue largely as before, but with stronger support for its research and development team, which he expects to bring new ideas to market soon.

Who owns Sounds Great

The firm is led by Joe Covey, Matthew Davidge and Adam Pelzman. Covey and Davidge are principals of Interactivation, a holding company that buys and runs businesses in TV, music, education and healthcare. Pelzman is the founder of Fort Lawton Capital, a small private equity firm that invests in business services, financial services and consumer products. Sounds Great Holdings stated that it intends to buy several more well-known pro audio brands in the coming months.