New mic day: Rode NT1

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Concretebadger
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New mic day: Rode NT1

Post by Concretebadger »

Not to be confused with the mic of the same name that Rode made back in the day. This one's a new design apparently.

I was eyeing up another recording mic for the home studio and got curious about a large-diaphragm condenser that you can pick up for £200 and still have change for a coffee afterwards.

On a side-by-side comparison with an SM57 (the only other mic I have atm) it's somewhat more sensitive, and the frequency response is pretty flat. It comes with a really nice shockmount, which fits onto a standard mic stand with no problem (I'm not using the pop filter since I'm not a vocalist).

It'll take a while to play around with placement, but I already like it a lot. It's smooth and clear-sounding, with no annoying humps or peaks in the frequency response that you have to eq out later. The guy in the shop warned me that this sort of mic doesn't work well with guitar amps, but I can only assume that my recording approach, or the sound I have in mind, is a bit weird because it works for me just fine. I don't know why anyone would want upper mid humps and other "colouration" coming from a mic, when you can make eq adjustments to some other part of your recording rig. *shrugs*

Long story short, I was trying to capture the sound my ears hear from my amp in the room. The Shure never got close, but the Rode already seems like an easier route to get there. If you're looking for a budget condenser, I recommend giving it a try.
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honeyiscool
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Post by honeyiscool »

Yeah this mic is great and an amazing value. When you do record vocals with it, you don’t really need a pop filter if you mix slightly off axis. It’s probably my favorite condenser under $800, which I say because I’ve never spent more than that for a condenser. Also a great drum mic.

And anybody who doesn’t think you can mic cabinets with a condenser is being basic. SM57 isn’t some magic formula. It’s just one of the microphones that works reasonably well for a lot of things. I don’t even like it on anything except vocals.
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