Thoughts on "RODE NT2000" microphone anyone?

[pennitentiary]

Let's try this again by asking a more direct question:


Please give me any personal advice, experience, or knowledge of this microphone:

Rode NT2000

http://www.rodemic.com/?pagename=Products&product=NT2000


This microphone will be mainly used to record rap vocals. It's future uses would possibly be some r&b work, acoustic guitar and adult contemporary singing recordings. But as stated it's main use will be for rap vocals and that is it's most important use. It's main residence will be in a home studio, though it will also be carried out for use in professional studios (rarely).

 

[roadwarrior]

I've owned just about all the Rode's except that $1400 Tube model. Frankly the NT2000 is a NT2-A with the variable pattern and rolloff adjustment added. it's the same capsule, and same electronics. Considering the NT2-A can be had for $399. The NT2-A "should" be all you'd ever need. I prefer it for my own vocals frankly. It has a nice open upper mid and great bottom end. It has non existant self noise. I sold my NT2000 for a new K2. I wanted a mic with some different character as I already have a NT1-A and NT2-A so it made perfect sense. That's what I'd do if I were you.......

 

[pennitentiary]

Great response road warrior. What would be the best reasonably priced pre to get that would compliment the NT2000? I still like the NT2000 for the fact that I can do much more with the knob settings. I travel a lot so the case would be beneficial, and of course I would want the custom made shockmount. The NT-2A does'nt come with anything but a zip pouch and a clip. Though I don't know what the clip is for.

More advice is useful. So join in people.

 

[kojdogg]

It's a garbage mic.

yes!!!! where have you been?!? i wasn't sure if you logged in or we had to summon you!!!

 

[kojdogg]

Great response road warrior. What would be the best reasonably priced pre to get that would compliment the NT2000? I still like the NT2000 for the fact that I can do much more with the knob settings. I travel a lot so the case would be beneficial, and of course I would want the custom made shockmount. The NT-2A does'nt come with anything but a zip pouch and a clip. Though I don't know what the clip is for.

More advice is useful. So join in people.

i think the sm-2 (rode shockmount) fits the nt-2a and you can get it for like $40, so if you get the nt-2a and the shockmount (i'd double check if that's the model sm), you still save about $150 you can put to the preamp. for vocals you'll probably only use the cardioid pattern on the mic.
the clip is just to mount the mic on a stand, but it doesn't isolate the mic from vibrations coming through the stand like a shockmount will.

 

[pennitentiary]

Originally Posted by hindustudiosgod

It's a garbage mic.

That doesn't tell me anything. State your claim and write why the "Rode NT2000" is a garbage microphone. It's the worlds first multi pattern mic. I would think that it would do great for rap, and other music as well. You really didn't state why this mic is bad. I'm asking for more experience... Maybe you just don't like the brand and cannot give a reason?

Originally Posted by kojdogg

i think the sm-2 (rode shockmount) fits the nt-2a and you can get it for like $40, so if you get the nt-2a and the shockmount (i'd double check if that's the model sm), you still save about $150 you can put to the preamp. for vocals you'll probably only use the cardioid pattern on the mic.
the clip is just to mount the mic on a stand, but it doesn't isolate the mic from vibrations coming through the stand like a shockmount will.

I rather have the shockmount and it's variable patterns as it may prove useful for acoustic guitar. The mic clip with the NT-2A does'nt seem like a good choice against NT2000's custom made shockmount. I need it to absorb vibrations or outside noises. I don't know much about the NT2000 that's why I still want to ask about it. Me reading up about it is one thing. Your personal experience and expertise is another thing.


So what would be the best affordable pre to go with the "Rode NT2000"?


More advice is useful. So join in people.

 

[kojdogg]

That doesn't tell me anything. State your claim and write why the "Rode NT2000" is a garbage microphone. It's the worlds first multi pattern mic. I would think that it would do great for rap, and other music as well. You really didn't state why this mic is bad. I'm asking for more experience... Maybe you just don't like the brand and cannot give a reason?

More advice is useful. So join in people.

different mics vary so much that if you really are interested in this mic, you might just want to go down to the local guitar center, sam ash, or whatever's local and try it out. no one's opinion will matter more than yours on this. you might want to try it out with preamp combinations too. depending on your budget, popular ones might include the sp vtb-1 (about $100), the rane m1-b, the 2-channel m-audio dmp-3 (about $175), the 2 channel art mpa gold (about $275), the 2 channel fmr rnp (about $450), the 1 channel grace m101 (about $550), the 1 channel ua solo/610 or solo/110 (about $800 each). if you search those on this forum, you'll find tons of opinions and also see how subjective and different people's opinions are because people are going for different sounds, have different voices, different combinations of gear, etc.
you might just want to narrow the list and go audition these things yourself.

 

[pennitentiary]

Originally Posted by kojdogg

different mics vary so much that if you really are interested in this mic, you might just want to go down to the local guitar center, sam ash, or whatever's local and try it out. no one's opinion will matter more than yours on this. you might want to try it out with preamp combinations too. depending on your budget, popular ones might include the sp vtb-1 (about $100), the rane m1-b, the 2-channel m-audio dmp-3 (about $175), the 2 channel art mpa gold (about $275), the 2 channel fmr rnp (about $450), the 1 channel grace m101 (about $550), the 1 channel ua solo/610 or solo/110 (about $800 each). if you search those on this forum, you'll find tons of opinions and also see how subjective and different people's opinions are because people are going for different sounds, have different voices, different combinations of gear, etc.
you might just want to narrow the list and go audition these things yourself.

Well written response. I've never bought a microphone before for myself that is why I ask. I have helped other people build studios before. So I do know my share of information. I mean I have helped other people buy microphones before. But it was merely me and others going off of what the store recommended. I see... Never knew you could actually test them out there at the store. But I'm scratching my head. I mean to truely know what the sound would be like with all the hardware together wouldn't I have to test drive all of these at the same time at the store:

- Mic
- Pre
- Soundcard

I'm obiviously not going to buy all of that to test it out. Do stores actually do that much of a "chain" testing that you know of? (ie: mic, pre, and soundcard)

I would hate to just test the mic and pre, or any other addition from the three I need and not be able to hear what it would really sound like altogether.

 

[tnjazz]

That doesn't tell me anything. State your claim and write why the "Rode NT2000" is a garbage microphone. It's the worlds first multi pattern mic. I would think that it would do great for rap, and other music as well.

World's first multipattern mic? It most certainly isn't. Who told you that?? Please also explain why you would think it would be great for rap and for other music. Have you heard it? What do you base this statement on?

That being said, I think it's a terrible sounding mic. I've tried to use it on a couple of different sources in the past and have always gone with something else in the end. It's harsh and unpleasant to my ears.

Of course I never tried to rap into it or anything, so maybe you don't want to consider my opinion of it since I never used it the way you intend to.

 

[pennitentiary]

Great reply. I'm just basing it on what I've read online and on it's site. So no I don't have any personal experience with it. Is there any kind of site where I can go and hear samples of mics? If not i guess I'd have to go to the store and test it. Well that leads me to my previous question:

Well written response. I've never bought a microphone before for myself that is why I ask. I have helped other people build studios before. So I do know my share of information. I mean I have helped other people buy microphones before. But it was merely me and others going off of what the store recommended. I see... Never knew you could actually test them out there at the store. But I'm scratching my head. I mean to truely know what the sound would be like with all the hardware together wouldn't I have to test drive all of these at the same time at the store:

- Mic
- Pre
- Soundcard

I'm obiviously not going to buy all of that to test it out. Do stores actually do that much of a "chain" testing that you know of? (ie: mic, pre, and soundcard)

I would hate to just test the mic and pre, or any other addition from the three I need and not be able to hear what it would really sound like altogether.

 

[kojdogg]

More advice is useful. So join in people.

First of all man, I just want to state that I'm happy to help out here, particularly because I don't like how you were responded to by some members here, but you come off a little condescending with your replies (I don't think it's intentional) and you may want to tone that down a little.
You can hear some samples of mics of various prices and types through various preamps of various prices and types at www.thelisteningsessions.com and go to "The Sessions" link. Keep in mind that the uses of these chains here will vary greatly from your intended use.
Many places will let you try out a microphone and preamp (if they have demos in their recording/pro audio room) in the store with headphones into a mixer or something. I doubt that anywhere will let you try out a soundcard. What's your budget on the soundcard/interface? When you think of budget you may want to consider if the pieces of the chain you are considering to buy are short term or long term solutions. For example, if you're going to buy a cheap soundcard or preamp this month because that's all you have left in the budget this month, maybe you just want to save up for a little longer for something better. That's a lesson I've learned from years of buying gear.
The NT2000 is the first continously variable pattern mic, not the first multipattern mic as Tnjazz noted. There are many multi-pattern mics. My opinion of this feature is that it would be fairly useless to you for most of your intended uses.
Again, on the subjectivity of what's good for you vs. good for others, Snoop loves it (by your report) and Tnjazz apparently hates it. You're the one who's going to end up using it, so do as much hands on research as you can. Call the local stores and see if they have a demo you could try out in the store and see what else they have that you can try. Also see if there are any local pro audio rental businesses in the area. They might not have an NT2000 you can rent (then again they might), but they might have other mics that you could rent and try out to see what kinds of things you're looking for.

 

[bubbagump]

The one thing I haven't heard from you is what sound do you want? Syrupy? Warm? Accurate? Transparent? You keep asking for "best" and I really don't know what sound you want.

That said... if you just want to get good accurate/fairly transparent vocals with out coloration... pick up an AT4040 with a DMP3 preamp and call it a day. Nothing fancy, but very versatile. I think you may be at the point where you don't know enough of what you want to be able to articulate it, so throwing out a "can't lose" suggestion might be what you need most and as you grow in this you can better judge what it is you want in a few years.

As for a sound card, that would be the least of my worries. At your budget, they will all more or less give you reasonable results and until you spend significantlt more, you won't notice much difference. I would spend my time looking for a sound card with a proven track record in regards to good drivers and stability. Again, at that budget, I don't think you can lose with something M-Audio or EMU. I personally think the EMUs with the M convertors sound better.

 

[Minion]

It's the worlds first multi pattern mic.
B]

Well that isn"t true by a Long shot as there have been multi-Pattern Mics arround since there have been more than one Pattern...One thing it does seem to have from looking at it which you might be refering to is that you can seem to blend patterns which seems like a neat feature that I have never seen before...It also looks like you can dial in the ammount of Pad you want which I also haven"t seen before.....

It looks like a well designed Mic but for $1500 it better be......


I guess it would be worth it to try it out for a few days before commiting to buy it like Maybe rent it and a few other to compare them and take the one that sounds best because $1500 is a Lot to spend sight unseen or unheard....


Cheers

 

[tnjazz]

Well that isn"t true by a Long shot as there have been multi-Pattern Mics arround since there have been more than one Pattern...One thing it does seem to have from looking at it which you might be refering to is that you can seem to blend patterns which seems like a neat feature that I have never seen before...It also looks like you can dial in the ammount of Pad you want which I also haven"t seen before.....

It looks like a well designed Mic but for $1500 it better be......


I guess it would be worth it to try it out for a few days before commiting to buy it like Maybe rent it and a few other to compare them and take the one that sounds best because $1500 is a Lot to spend sight unseen or unheard....


Cheers

Actually almost all the remote boxes for the old AKGs, etc. have the variable option as well. I went to RODE's page and it appears that what they're trying to say is that it's the first one with variable pattern where you can dial it in right on the mic itself (as opposed to on the remote box). Why this is a big deal I'm not sure, except that you don't need the remote box I guess.

 

[chessrock]

That said... if you just want to get good accurate/fairly transparent vocals with out coloration... pick up an AT4040 with a DMP3 preamp and call it a day. Nothing fancy, but very versatile. I think you may be at the point where you don't know enough of what you want to be able to articulate it, so throwing out a "can't lose" suggestion might be what you need most and as you grow in this you can better judge what it is you want in a few years.

I think that's actually a pretty good idea.

Without the fore-knowlege of how your voice will react to the various options out there ... if you go with something safe and mostly neutral, you can learn how your voice sounds when recorded, and what you might need more or less of, and have a better idea of what you're looking for when you shop for your next mic -- if that's even necessary.

.

 

[roadwarrior]

You'll have to excuse this poor depleted moron for his comments. Anyone that would say the NT2-A is junk needs both a change of their meds and some new ear drums to go along with it. In regards to pre's, unless you're spending some REAL money you aren't likely to beat the overall performance of the budget DMP-3. For $179 I can't imagine it NOT doing the job for ya. This other guy needs to get a life however.....comments like that just expose the fact he is either a 14 year old slamming our board, or is a crack head in need of help.

 

[Caotico]

World's first multipattern mic? It most certainly isn't. Who told you that??.

The "world's first" comes from the rode website... of course they do say it's the worlds first continuously variable multipattern, but I can see where he made the jump to thinking it was the first multipattern ever. As noted, there are other multipatterns available in the price range, if you want multiple patterns.

As for the dials and the "continuosly variable" thing, I've never used it. I have used multi-pattern mics, but I can't really imagine why you would want to be able to select in between patterns. I haven't heard the results though. The variable pad knob could be useful if you just wanted to cut a few decibels.

It's probably a good mic. I think it has been well marketed though, and that makes it hard to know. As I hear a lot of people saying, "I hear that mic is great, you should get it," without any personal experience with it. I was looking into it, but I ended up going with a different mic.

 

[Caotico]

fyi, when I was looking into it, rmcaudio.com offered it to me for 450$ (you have to email them, and then they email you a
quote). It was a pretty tempting price. There was another site that had it for 469, but I can't remember which one it was.

 

[chestwick91]

uhh...only one thing to say...u got the money...buy the mic

 

[tnjazz]

That said... if you just want to get good accurate/fairly transparent vocals with out coloration... pick up an AT4040 with a DMP3 preamp and call it a day. Nothing fancy, but very versatile.

I can't comment on the DMP3 as I've never tried one, but the mic recommendation is a good one for sure.

I think as a "starting off" point, just about any of the LD mics by Audio Technica are a wise choice. They may not have the glamour and bling of some other brands, but they are solid and get the job done.