hi, im about to buy either a rode NT1a or an NT5 set. it will be the 1st condenser purchase ive made and i need a lot of versatility. i will be recording everything from vocals, violins, acoustic guitars, piano. would i be better off saving a bit more until i can afford two NT1a's? at the moment the vocals is the only thing stopping me from bying the NT5's. any opinions would be welcome. thanks.
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Would NT5's work for vocals?
- Thread starter Astriaal
- Start date
Richard Monroe
Well-known member
Short answer-No.-Richie
thanks for the reply but could you please explain in a bit more detail why the NT5's wouldnt sound very good on vocals? the nt5's have a pretty flat response so wouldnt i be able to use an eq to make them sound good? as you can no doubt tell im still fairly new to all this...
If it worked like that, we'd all just be buying those $20 Behringer measurement microphones and EQing to taste.
There's much more to microphone character than what an EQ chart tells you. Go down to the local store and hear for yourself.
And read everything here: http://www.hr-faq.org/
There's much more to microphone character than what an EQ chart tells you. Go down to the local store and hear for yourself.
And read everything here: http://www.hr-faq.org/
Richard Monroe
Well-known member
In general, small diaphragm pencil mics, unless they have a fair amount of color,and are fairly dark, are pretty useless as vocal mics. The low mass of the diaphragm, which responds so well to the fast transients of instruments, especially percussion, tends to cause the microphone to reveal every annoying detail in a vocalist- lip smacking, wavering, breath noise, and the sloshing sound of a wet tongue, phlegm, the whole nine yards. They are also very prone to popping. Now here, I'm referring to close mic'ing. At a distance, these issues are minimized, and small diaphragm mics are fine for ensemble or choral work, in fact, desirable. Now I've got a pair of Neumann KM184's, which are what those Rode's wish they were, and the last thing on earth I would do is sing into one of them.
Here are a couple of exceptions to the rule- Oktava MC012, because of it's color and darker frequency response, can be a fair vocal mic, but I put 2 pop filters in front of it, and never get closer to it than 12". Another is AKG C2000B, a SD mic in a larger housing, making it look like a LD mic. This reduces the popping, for whatever reason, and it comes out pretty good on vocals, if the singer is good, and is also good on acoustic, drums, and as an overhead. Like the Oktava, it has a fair amount of color, and is a little dark.
In general, acoustic guitar and vocals present very different needs, but I would rather record guitar with an LD condenser, than vocals with a SD. This is particularly true of SD's that are on the brighter side of the equation, such as MXL603, KM184, and those Rodes. YMMV.-Richie
Here are a couple of exceptions to the rule- Oktava MC012, because of it's color and darker frequency response, can be a fair vocal mic, but I put 2 pop filters in front of it, and never get closer to it than 12". Another is AKG C2000B, a SD mic in a larger housing, making it look like a LD mic. This reduces the popping, for whatever reason, and it comes out pretty good on vocals, if the singer is good, and is also good on acoustic, drums, and as an overhead. Like the Oktava, it has a fair amount of color, and is a little dark.
In general, acoustic guitar and vocals present very different needs, but I would rather record guitar with an LD condenser, than vocals with a SD. This is particularly true of SD's that are on the brighter side of the equation, such as MXL603, KM184, and those Rodes. YMMV.-Richie
thanks heaps for the information so far. how hard is it to get a matched pair off LD condensers? it wouldnt be too far out of my budget to get two NT1a's. i dont have a huge budget and i live in australia so rodes seem like a reasonably priced choice. ive been to a studio that used a pair of NT1's (not NT1a's) and they diliberately bought consecutive serial numbers. would this mean theyre pretty close to matched (due to mnimal differences in the manufacturing?) ? thanks again for your help guys
Richard Monroe
Well-known member
Matched pairs are usually (not always) SD mics, as the applications for which a matched pair are used (stereo recording), usually favor a SD mic. As you get into higher priced mics, it often becomes less important, as build quality and QC are better, and the mics vary less and less from one unit to the next. IMO, unless you are doing coincedent stereo recording of delicate and critical signals
(a string quartet, say), having a truly matched pair is not really necessary. I agree it's nice for acoustic instruments, but unless the mics are really different, most people, including engineers, can't hear the difference. It is important, though that the mics be fairly similar in output, and have similar frequency response. This increases the price, as the mics must have very consistent build quality, or the mics must be matched manually after production. For instance, 2 random Oktava MK319's (a pretty good vocal mic) will cost you $140.00 at Guitar Center currently. A carefully matched pair with good quality control from The Sound Room will cost you $588.00. Whether that's worth it depends on your budget, and your recording needs. For my purposes, I prefer a pair of Studio Projects C-4's, a versatile matched pair for about $320, and a separate vocal mic.-Richie
(a string quartet, say), having a truly matched pair is not really necessary. I agree it's nice for acoustic instruments, but unless the mics are really different, most people, including engineers, can't hear the difference. It is important, though that the mics be fairly similar in output, and have similar frequency response. This increases the price, as the mics must have very consistent build quality, or the mics must be matched manually after production. For instance, 2 random Oktava MK319's (a pretty good vocal mic) will cost you $140.00 at Guitar Center currently. A carefully matched pair with good quality control from The Sound Room will cost you $588.00. Whether that's worth it depends on your budget, and your recording needs. For my purposes, I prefer a pair of Studio Projects C-4's, a versatile matched pair for about $320, and a separate vocal mic.-Richie