Microphone vs Interface for Vocals

R

Robert27191

New member
Hi All,

First post on here - great forum find! Apologies if this is in the wrong section - I'm just getting to grips.

I've been recording at home for a number of years and have worked my up from a total newbie to only a partial newbie. I play piano, sing lead for a band and always enjoy the technical side of the recording part.
I began with a Se2000 mic, with an alesis i02 interface. More recently, I have upgraded to the Rode NT1-A mic with a Scarlett 2i2 interface.

My question is as follows, and I appreciate it's a very subjective one. Is it better to spend (very) high end on a mic, and use an average interface / better to use an average mic with a high end interface / better to have equally good mic and interface?

My budget is around £250-300 for a mic or so. My original alesis interface worked brilliantly, and I can't actually see much difference in the scarlett. The Rode NT1-A is a step-up from the Se2000, but is it better to save on upgrading the interface and spend the extra £100 on a higher-end mic? I record mainly vocals through those mics.

Thanks in advance!

Robert
 
You are looking at two microphones with very similar performance, and your opinions seemed to be based on what they cost, rather than what they sound like. The alesis and scarlet offer similar facilities, and I would personally choose the Focusrite - but only because I've had other items they make, NOT because of any real audio quality difference. Wherever you can, you must listen to audio equipment. Spec really does mean very little. Sometimes equipment with excellent paper specs just don't sound very good. The Rode mic sounds different to the cheaper Chinese one, only you can decide if that means better!

I've sort of got an unwritten rule for my mic purchases now - I never buy a single mic, because I find stereo is often important, so for my style of stuff, stereo pairs are always more handy. The ones I only have one of, don't seem to get much use - because for singers, or spoken word, I have a favourite mic, and the others kind of come out as 2nd string.
 
Thanks for that Rob.
In your opinion, is the Rode better than other similar-priced mics, or just 'different'?
Also, although you have answered the question once, if I pushed you for an answer to the original question what would you say? I agree about listening, and the two interfaces are very similar, but I'm simply wondering whether it's worth spending two or three times the price on a mic.
 
I own a Rode NTK which the guy who mastered my stuff doesn't care for. I bought his recommended mic - M Audio Sputnik a couple of years ago. My first impression was it is a little brighter so I have eq'd it a little and now find it quite nice. I also bought a LA610 MKII which adds a nice color to it. The songs in my signature links are all Rode NTK on vocals mostly ADAT to Sonar using an Alesis 16 IO . The mastering engineer is finemastering.de
I also use a Rode NT2A at my friend's house and I think it is better than the NTK actually.
 
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