RØDE Microphones ?

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

Hi everybody,

I was wondering if any of you had already worked with any Rode Microphones ? I'm owning a NT1000 and a NTK and am quite happy with them (though I never owned statics before, so I can hardly compare), and was considering buying more mics from them since they are not very expensive compared to others (a stereo mic NT4 for drums overheads and two NT5 for the hihats and ride).

So what do you guys think ?

Thanks in advance people

Take care

Brett

 

[Andy Sneap]

i have nt4 which I use for a crowd mic and OHs when doing pre production. Wouldnt use it for ohs on an album though, stereo spread isnt good enough.

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

Oh, ok thanks. Three quick questions though :
- Do you know any other stereo microphones good enough for an album for OHs ? I really feel a stereo mic would ease the mic placement a lot (see question 2).
- Don't you ever experience phase problems when micing the overheads with two mics ?
- What is the exact use of doing a pre-production actually ?

Thank you !

Brett

 

[SPLASTiK]

I dont know about the mics you mentioned but I've also used the RODE NTK and it's a great sounding mic.

 

[egan.]

Phase between the OH normally isn't a problem....it's the interaction with every other mic that becomes weird. If you are worried about phasing on your overheads the just use a coincident technique. I think the NT4 is just a standard XY (90 degree) but with two mics you could go wider than that and still reap the benifit of having no time difference between the mics.

Andy, you mentioned before that you like a for every 2 cymbals. Do you use several close mics and then use an overhead pair much higher?

 

[alexrookie]

hi brett and others

never try to use a stereo mic for oh! you would never do this position with two mics - so how can it sound good with a stereo mic? your spread isn't wide enough.
phasing with oh? - i never had this by using condensers on oh and dynamics on the drums itself - i guess you can get phasings by using dynamics on oh, right?
but nevermind - buy some good oh mics that can handle over 120-130 dB, the snare is quite loud on the oh, too

tip: sennheiser mkh 40

bye alex

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

Thanks to all for your answers and help !

So I think I'll rather go for two seperate mics instead of one stereo one. I'm still thinking about :
- NT5 (the cheapest, and I'm pretty sure they are correct)
- Shure SM81 or SM94 (cheaper)
- AKG C451 (Andy, you use this one don't you ?)
* Sennheiser MKH40 is too expensive for me since I must buy a pair.

I guess they must be the very same mics is it right ? Also, should they be cardioid, hypercardioid, or omni (I guess the room must sound great for that) ?

Any other advices are most welcome

Thank you

Brett

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

I've read that the Audio-Technica AE5100 was incredible on hi-hats. Any one knows this one or any other Audio-Technica mic ?

 

[egan.]

hi brett and others

phasing with oh? - i never had this by using condensers on oh and dynamics on the drums itself - i guess you can get phasings by using dynamics on oh, right?

Phasing has nothing to do with the type of microphone you're using. it has to do with "where" in the sound wave 2 or more microphones pic up the same thing. It's caused by arrival time and distance differences between 2 mics capturing a single source. When the 2 mics are summed you'll either get an increase in volume or a decrease-- this of course is an oversimplification tho, b/c phase cancelation will be more apparent at specific frequencies (particularly in the low end) and will be affected by the response of the mic as well as the applitude of each mic. The easiest example I can think of is to mic the top and bottom of a snare drum at the same distance-- this almost alway results in close to a 180 degree phase inversion between the mics and while the snare doesn't disappear it loses a lot (so you phase invert the bottom snare mic).

 

[ashby]

the royer stereo ribbon i've been using lately is great.. depends how much you want to spend. don't have it anywhere near where drumsticks may hit it though not healthy for the ribbon.. but gives a nice image, and you could almost mic the kit with just that (and a good room) for jazzier styles.. also say buh bye to overhead phasing, because you only need the one due to its bi-focal spread..

 

[egan.]

Except that you may still run into width issues with your spread since the mics capsules are placed in a coincindent.

 

[ashby]

the width of the royer hasnt seemed to be much of an issue so far.. the royer is the best overhead option where i'm working atm.. although the neumann's which are coming in will need some experimenting with!
i'd love to close mic all cymbals, but hiring mics(or any sort of gear) is sometimes out of the question.. especially with the low budget demos that up and coming bands do.