Rode Nt4 Opinions

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PATRIOT2006

New member
Hello, new here to the forum. I have a modest home recording studio and am thinking of purchasing a mic for recording steel string and classical guitar. I was looking at the Rode NT4 and the general consenus on other forums is that is is not very good. Reviews on the internet appear to contrast what I have been told. Any owners here that may offer an opinion? All suggestions would be very helpful. Thanks in advance for any advise.
Rich
 
There's better options in my opinion. A pair of: oktavas
marshalls
sp
pelusos
shure
at
akg
gives you more options and I especially like my modded (flatpicker) oktavas, on par with my neumann 184's (totally different sound but just as nice)
 
I've never used it, but my personal opinion is that stereo mics are one of the last mics you should add to your collection, as they are very specialized in function. IMO, you would be better off picking up a pair of small condensers that you could use for a variety of stereo miking situations beyond just the XY offered by the NT4. Don't get me wrong, XY is great, but sometimes OTRF or a spaced pair just work better. For the money you would spend on the NT4, you could pick up a used pair of Shure SM81's, which are great for acoustic miking. There are plenty of other options out there, too.
 
Yes , I think you're right about the fixed NT4. I have been looking at the Peluso cemc6 but I would have to probably buy one at a time as opposed to a set. I am wondering if I would be better off buying it with the hyper cardiod instead of the standard cardiod capsule because my room isn't acoustically designed for recording. Unfortunately money is an issue here.
They will primarily be used for recording solo guitar and I think the hyper cardiod will pick up less reflection from the sides. I also need to build myself an inexpensive collapsable acoustic wall to put behind me when recording. That I think I can do fairly cheap with some materials from home depot and sound absortion product. I'm thinking six foot high by four feet would surfice but I'm no expert on the subject. That's for sure.
 
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scrubs said:
I've never used it, but my personal opinion is that stereo mics are one of the last mics you should add to your collection, as they are very specialized in function. IMO, you would be better off picking up a pair of small condensers that you could use for a variety of stereo miking situations beyond just the XY offered by the NT4.
Click to expand...

Exactly my thinking when I bought my NT5's... I just got a mic bar and I can leave them in the XY configuration, or use just one... or two in a different configuration...

I think you're better off with a 'pair' of anything else... Much more flexible...
 
PATRIOT2006 said:
Yes , I think you're right about the fixed NT4. I have been looking at the Peluso cemc6 but I would have to probably buy one at a time as opposed to a set. I am wondering if I would be better off buying it with the hyper cardiod instead of the standard cardiod capsule because my room isn't acoustically designed for recording. Unfortunately money is an issue here.
Click to expand...

I've heard very good things about the Pelusos. As for what cap to buy, I think there is always a tradeoff in a sub-optimal recording space. A tighter pattern may give you more direct sound off the guitar(but remember, hypercardioid has some 180 degree pickup), but will also give you less of the "whole picture" of what the guitar actually sounds like.
 
I didn't think of that. So I would probably be better off with the cardiod pattern. I have the bug to buy a pair but I'm already a bit extended with my monthly bills.
 
I have used hyper cardioid a couple times with my oktavas and it's not bad for solo work but tends to be weird to try to put it in a mix. When it gets loud enough it's almost too defined. Great for solo stuff though. Especially if the room isn't the best
 
okay. At the risk off annoying everyone here I am asking if any of the mics listed here are good for acoustic and classical solo guitar.
audixm1290 with preamp built in. Does this mean I do not need to purchase a separate mic preamp. Something for me to consider.
crown cm700
shure ksm137
shureksm109
audiotech4041
I would purchase in pairs whichever I choose.
 
I've got an NT4 and I'll play devil's advocate. It's common to equate such a mic to a very good point and shoot camera. We can argue to no avail about whether or not high art can be achieved with a point and shoot camera, but I do know that for me personally, I like to record when I'm moved to do it...when I"ve got an idea hatching or when I'm tuned into the spirit of a composition. And since I record at home and my girlfriend would move out if I had mics set up all the time, I find great value in having the NT4 about to facilitate a quick setup that while static always gives me great results. And I mean great. Surely, two seperate mics in various situations might sometimes produce technically better audiophile type results, etc. But the question to weigh sometimes is whether sacraficing a bit of audio flexibility to quickly capture a magical moment at the outweighs capturing stale moments in pristine audio. Just a though...
 
I have an NT-4 and I've found it quite useful, although I'll have to agree with the majority and say go with a pair of SDCs. You sohuld be able to pick up a matched pair of Oktavas or an NT-5 set for less than an NT-4.

That being said, the NT-4 is a really funky mic. I've used it on a bunch of different instruments and applications and have never really been dissappointed. It can, occasionally, sound a bit flat, but I ind that if you rotate the mic a bit, you can get some good colour. The other good thing is that you don't have to worry about phasing, which can come in handy if you're using it on a piano or trying to stereo-mic a guitar (altough I much prefer a couple of 414s in a piano). It's also kinda cool on chorus lines and choirs, and can get you a good stereo/surround channel for video recording.

So yeah, it's a good mic, but it requires experimentation, and I wouldn't reccommend it as a first mic.
The KSM 137 and the AT4041 aren't too bad... You could also look at the Rode NT-1A or NT2000, Beyer M88 (although that is more of a bass/cab mic) or, if you want to give something different a try, maybe the Shinybox ribbons (www.shinybox.com). They have good sound and a cool name.

If you really want, I can record a shootout on acoustic guitar with the following:
Rode NT-4
Rode NT-2000
Oktava MK-012 (matched pair)
Shinybox 23
Shure SM81 pair
and I can chuck in a DI line for comparison. Might take a day or two, but at least you'll have a bit of a reference. Unfortunatley those are the only mics I have access to this weekend (it's a long w/end here in Aus so i can't get to the shop).
 
cpl, I appreciate the offer but wouldn't want to put you through all of that. I guess my problem is most opinions vary for each mic. For instance, you say the at4041s are ok. Someone else told me they think their great. Same with the nt4 and nt5 although most have said they are not very good. I have this conversation going on in three different forums. Maybe I am getting overly concerned. Afterall this is for solo guitar and mainly for my personal enjoyment. I think my biggest concern is the classical guitar. I don't want it to sound to dark. What is it that you don't like about the AT4041s?
 
Determining what mic to buy by just talking about it can be misleading.

I'd suggest you go to a retailer and have them record to a CDR short clips of a number of mic's... of you playing your own guitar. Very easy to do. Listening to the clips later can tell you a lot.

Other than that, for guitar one can't go too wrong with any of these, IME:
MXL603s
MXLV67
KEL HM1
Oktava 012

Tim
 
PATRIOT2006 said:
I guess my problem is most opinions vary for each mic. AT4041s?
Click to expand...

There are no rules. The only rule is that there are none, so perception varies widely.

Put it this way: If you were the greatest guitarist in the world, and I recorded you with the NT4, that recording would be mind numbing. If you were a very very good guitarist, that recording would be very bery good. etc.

The other recommendations in this thread are good too, though. See, the problem is, you won't know until you hear what sound right to you. (What's right for you is wrong for someone else, so what's the difference?) I say buy the Rode NT4, or, it's un-wed equivalent, and start recording as much as you can. The Rode Mics are great. Highly recommended by many magazines and well regarded reviewers, and myself. (If you're going by reviews, trust them over message boards, which are choke full of assholes and idiots - like me! But trust me though (???)...see! Go with the big magazine reviews if reviews are your thing.)
 
The only real test is your ears. Lots of mics are alright in diffrerent situations, to turn a phrase, it's how you use it...

The main problem people have (that I've heard anyway) with the Rodes is that their SDCs are fairly bright and shallow, but I'm still a big fan. For the price, they're pretty good.

As for the shootout, it's not a problem for me either way, however I did find a couple of tracks lying around my harddrive from a sesson last year (I get lazy when it comes to deleting stuff).

It's not the best recording, the client only wanted to have a listen to themselves (she was 13). There's four tracks, one was a Beta 57 (b57.wav) which was used for tracking in a close-mic position (you can hear the vocals in the background)
The other tracks are an NT-2000 (nt2k.wav) in close-mic position, and an NT-4 to pick up the room (2 tracks, nt4l.wav and nt4r.wav). The song is pretty basic and repeditive, but they're all over 2.5 minutes so there's a fair bit to listen to.

Like I said, it's not the best recording. Due to the lack of time I didn't bother setting up the room properly, so the NT-2000 is really muffled and lacking the high-end I was looking for, but at least you'll be able to hear how the NT-4 sounds on an acoustic, plus have something to compare it with. You may have to sum the 2 NT4 tracks to get a better picture, but there you go.

I've got a mate who's looking for an excuse to do a bit of recording, so if you want better samples, just let me know.

The URLs:
http://www.shagtech.com/shootout/b57.wav
http://www.shagtech.com/shootout/nt2k.wav
http://www.shagtech.com/shootout/nt4l.wav
http://www.shagtech.com/shootout/nt4r.wav

(PS: these are the original 16/48 tracks, so each is 15 meg, but by now everyone should have broadband... if you don't, then what's wrong with you?)
 
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