Shootout of my Large Diaphragm Condensers

Chadfish

Chadfish

Veteran
So how do you rank these? I know the best/worst to me are obvious, but the 2 in the middle of my ranking are neck in neck. 4 Mics. I recorded them at 10db gain, but level matched them in post so louder won't read as better.

Mic 1 Rode NT2000
Mic 2 Audio-technica AT4050
Mic 3 Rode NT1
Mic 4 M-Audio Sputnik

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/attachm...ootout_nt2000_at4050_nt1_sputnik_16bit44k.wav

I don't see a way to attach audio on this site, so I had to link outside....
 
Wow, tough call. They all sound good to me. The NT1 seems like it might be a bit cleaner and the Sputnik sounds like it has a deeper bass response. Not sure how I would rank them given my crappy speakers. Thanks for your effort in making that Chad. I'm sure others will find it useful.
 
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Thanks for that Chad. In fact, I would like to thank you for all your recent testing efforts. The only problem is it feeds my gear lust and hurts my visa bill.

Grant
 
Hey guys. It is really hard to tell any difference on little speakers. Aside from the NT1, I think the mics are similar generally speaking. I would say short of having studio monitors, a nice set of cans will do you much better to hear the subtle nuances.

I'm going to do a more thorough test with guitar/vocal, and I've cut the NT1 out on what I did yesterday - a 3 way between the NT2000, AT4050, and Sputnik. GCo, the NT1 is pretty "Essy" in the highs IMO, and I have ruled it out as a viable option for me to use for VO. But I may put it up along with an AT4033 and the others in a future "Mic Test" number I have to check mics. For me to do this right I need to get the mics all really close together and do the tests with all mics recording the same performance. Not an easy task in my tiny studio. Also I will not announce the name of the mics.

Thanks for listening guys. I know I'm not too scientific with my tests/demos. But I figure I just put stuff up there as it would be used by a normal person (not a machine to test specs - that's another person's job), and do my best not to molest the sound with any processing so you can hear what the various mic sounds like on me or whomever I get on the mic. Hopefully it helps. At least that's what I want when I'm looking for a mic - just to hear recordings using the gear.
 
I stopped doing any tests with digital audio! give me an MCI JH 500 console and Urei 811B Speakers in a recording studio and we can do the test.....everything else is a waste of time IMO, sorry....
Even with my metric halo ULN-8 @ 192 KHz I am not satisfied, and dont ask about the speakers....
 
timbook2 said:
I stopped doing any tests with digital audio! give me an MCI JH 500 console and Urei 811B Speakers in a recording studio and we can do the test.....everything else is a waste of time IMO, sorry....
Even with my metric halo ULN-8 @ 192 KHz I am not satisfied, and dont ask about the speakers....
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Your choice but I think it depends a lot on what you are trying to achieve.

If your into some "mine is bigger than yours" battle then yes go for the top of the line everything. But that assumes your ears are up to the task.
And IMHO it's kind of pointless.

This isn't a list about the latest and greatest or even about music recording. It's a list about sound for video/film. So with that in mind testing in the highest end etc. is kind of a waste since the recordings are likely to never come close to anything like that. Real life tests are on the other hand quite possibly useful. All tests suffer from the same problem in that they are not testing the way you are going to be recording, they can't because they don't know how you record. At least with tests like these they are likely to be closer to how you are going to record. YMW(ill)A(lways)V.

VO mics are closer to a studio (music) situation but it's still different. It's not going to end up being listened to over and over (generally). You don't have the time to tweek it forever, it has to be pretty voice friendly to a variety of people etc.

The bottom line is it is a lot more important that it sounds good over a real or home theatre than it does for it to sound good over a multi thousand dollar studio system. If you have the studio go for it but just because you don't doesn't mean you can evaluate equipment.

For VO's you might also look at the Heil PR40.
 
For me, this and the next test I'm doing is for my own edification. I have a Motu Traveler and JBL LSR4328 speakers, and I am just figuring out what mic I like best for my voice and my Taylor acoustic. I'm looking to just hear the different character of each mic as they compare to each other, and how they may or may not complement the sounds I'm making. So I'll rig up 4 mics and do one performance on all simultaneously so all mics are on as even a playing field as I can get. And hey if anyone is interested in checking that out it will be available. I know that's the kind of thing I'm looking for when I'm deciding how to spend my hard earned. But really mics are so subjective. I don't think there will be a "winner" as much as a clarification of the differences so I can make informed choices.
 
Chadfish said:
I'm going to do a more thorough test with guitar/vocal, and I've cut the NT1 out on what I did yesterday - a 3 way between the NT2000, AT4050, and Sputnik. GCo, the NT1 is pretty "Essy" in the highs IMO, and I have ruled it out as a viable option for me to use for VO. But I may put it up along with an AT4033 and the others in a future "Mic Test" number I have to check mics. .
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Yes the NT1 was pretty noticeably bright in a not terribly nice way. The others were really close.
 
Nice test, but you missed a real secret weapon of the large diaphragm world - the ADK-A51 (or Area 51 as it's sometimes called). You can get 'em for $169 or so new, and some vendors sell a 2-pack of the A-51 and the small-di SC-2 with cables for $199. (I sold my AKG C451 B after comparing it to the small ADK - the little ADK was more lush & less brittle). Really was a sensation when it came out, amazing mic when you need a big guy.
 
Well I wouldn't say I "missed" that A51. I suspect it is a "good for the money" type mic if it goes for 100.00. But hey I could be wrong. This test is a shootout of my mics only, and my mics are more mid-level I think. The AT4050 is very popular as an all around mic for many studios. I'm hoping the NT2000 proves to be the same. My brother did just bring by one of his AT4033a mics over, so I'm going to see if I can get the AT4033a, AT4050, NT2000, and Sputnik together before my girlfriend gets home and starts making noise.
I'll try to get some VO voice going along with the guitar/singing, but I'll have to be back further from the mics than I would for real VO work, since I'm trying to get the same performance on all mics.
 
I had expected the Sputnik would whack the rest, but that wasn't the case to my ears. I only listened about three time, and to my untrained ears, thought the AT-4050 was best (most pleasing to my ears) by a very small margin. Anyone else care to stick their necks out?

Grant
 
I prefer the AT4050 out of the bunch. While I've personally owned a pair of NT1's before and borrowed an AT4050 for quite some time, the latter certainly sounds a lot smoother overall. I was heavily into the NT1s for their low noise specs for nature recording (circa 2002), but never liked their 10kHz brightness. Compared to my MXL 990 LDC, yes I actually bought one, I prefer the 990 over the NT1. I've never tried the Sputnik and have demoed a NT2000 at a studio maybe twice, I'm going for the AT4050. Thanks Chad.

Update Jan3111': NT1A I'm talking about.
 
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Chadfish said:
Well I wouldn't say I "missed" that A51. I suspect it is a "good for the money" type mic if it goes for 100.00. But hey I could be wrong. This test is a shootout of my mics only, and my mics are more mid-level I think. The AT4050 is very popular as an all around mic for many studios. I'm hoping the NT2000 proves to be the same. My brother did just bring by one of his AT4033a mics over, so I'm going to see if I can get the AT4033a, AT4050, NT2000, and Sputnik together before my girlfriend gets home and starts making noise.
I'll try to get some VO voice going along with the guitar/singing, but I'll have to be back further from the mics than I would for real VO work, since I'm trying to get the same performance on all mics.
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You'll think the 4033a may sound good, but still bright to me. Have your girlfriend make noise in or around the kitchen to see how these perform for their off-axis response. It'll tell you a lot.
 
Chadfish said:
Well I wouldn't say I "missed" that A51. I suspect it is a "good for the money" type mic if it goes for 100.00. But hey I could be wrong. This test is a shootout of my mics only, and my mics are more mid-level I think. The AT4050 is very popular as an all around mic for many studios. I'm hoping the NT2000 proves to be the same. My brother did just bring by one of his AT4033a mics over, so I'm going to see if I can get the AT4033a, AT4050, NT2000, and Sputnik together before my girlfriend gets home and starts making noise.
I'll try to get some VO voice going along with the guitar/singing, but I'll have to be back further from the mics than I would for real VO work, since I'm trying to get the same performance on all mics.
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I have a 4033 and a 4050 - I always prefer the ADK unless something is really dark. My experience with the 4033 is the highs are pretty harsh - just no "silkiness" to the mic, my particular copy anyway. It's on my eBay pile but was my first "real" mic like a decade a go, maybe I'm attached to it. It does look kinda cool. Just too harsh IMO.

The sub-$200 price on the A51 is meaningless (well, it means you could mic a whole drum kit with 'em I suppose). They were constantly compared to the U67 when they hit the scene, I think the hyperbole has died down a bit (it sounds like a $1200 mic, not $5k).

By the way, their "Vienna" and "Hamburg" mics show up on eBay for $250 or so often - crazy, crazy good mics. My next will be a tube model though.

From my mic-shopping folder:

EM review: I got great results recording female lead vocals with the A-51s. The A-51s also really shined on acoustic guitar. It’s response seemed custom tailored for this application, too, and again I was reminded of a Neumann U-67. he bottom line is, these mics are just too good and affordable not to have a few on hand.
“I’ve Used the A-51 on vocals, guitars, and drums. They remind
 me of very expensive German Mics I have tracked with before.”
- Adam Kaspar - REM, Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Cat Power`

I don't work for the guys (though if you email a question, Larry, owner and chief engineer, usually sends a chatty reply) but this is one of the few pieces of gear I try to spread the word on.

Twice a year or so I email Larry and ask if he'd do a film sound shotgun. Crossing my fingers.

BY the way - if you're on a budget, try a Cascade Fathead ribbon for under $200 - really kills on guitar cabinets.
 
Cool test.

Microphone choice for voice overs can be heavily dependent on the voice over talent. A mic that sounds the best for one person might not be the same as another person.

Also, is that a Rode NT1, or a Rode NT1A? I have three Rode NT1's (not NT1A's) from back in the mid 90's. I haven't compared them directly to the NT1A's, but from what I understand the NT1A's are brighter sounding.
 
robotsound said:
Cool test.

Microphone choice for voice overs can be heavily dependent on the voice over talent. A mic that sounds the best for one person might not be the same as another person.

Also, is that a Rode NT1, or a Rode NT1A? I have three Rode NT1's (not NT1A's) from back in the mid 90's. I haven't compared them directly to the NT1A's, but from what I understand the NT1A's are brighter sounding.
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Thanks for pointing out. For me, I'm referring to the the NT1As.
 
The NT1 is just an NT1, not an NT1a. It the "a" model is brighter I wouldn't like it. I did like my NT1 when it was all I had, but it's way too essy for me. I'm in the midst of doing a more scientific shootout. I have dropped the NT1 and put in the AT4033. I've rigged up the 4 mics really close, and I'm capturing one performance for all 4 mics. I only have 4 inputs on my MOTU Traveler, so I can't do 5 mics. Also it's really hard to get even 4 LDC mics really close! I did guitar last night. Vocals too but oops - the 4 tracks were accidentally routed to the same mic! So I'm doing that part again. I'm hoping for rain too to catch that out my window...

I'll put up a quick file like the one in this test, but I'll try to make available all the tracks too so if someone wants to put them in their DAW they can switch between the tracks and really get an instant idea of the differences.
 
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