Rode N-T1A

[Cryton_Valance]

Ok, let me first say I'm a complete noob in the home recording department. I have a Rode NT1A mic connected through the audiodock of my 1820M E-MU card. Now for some reason, I seem to be getting a better recording quality through the inbuilt mic on my macbook than through the Rode, both for vocals and guitar. Everything sounds drowned out, and there's more apparent background noise through the Rode. It's hard to ask for assistance as I'm not too aware of the technicalities but if there's anything anyone could perhaps suggest I could do to increase performance it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[JuliánFernández]

Check that you´re facing the sound source to the "front" of the mic... (it has a golden circle)... If you use the mic the other way i´ll sound like shit...

 

[pikingrin]

Wow, that just doesn't sound right for some reason. Out of all my mics, low budget as they may be, my NT1-A is the sweetest one I have. Maybe it's the preamp??

 

[DAS19]

Yeah I have no clue what the audiodock emu thing you said is you might want to get a real pre and interface.

 

[Cryton_Valance]

This is what I was referring to DAS http://www.emu.com/products/product.asp?product=9871

 

[scrubs]

I don't know what the quality of the preamps are in that emu interface, but make sure the mic is functioning correctly. The NT1 (& condenser mics in general) is very sensitive and will pick up a lot more room/background noise than other mics. Compensate for this by miking close to the source and trying to eliminate as much "white" noise as possible.

 

[tdukex]

The TFPro preamps are supposed to be pretty decent. Actually the 1820 and the Emulator X got very good reviews in several recording mags.