Rode NTG-1

Bill Campbell · Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007, 15:12 (GMT) Post subject: Rode NTG-1

Here's a sample of a Rode NTG-1 shotgun. For $250 it works pretty nicely for VO and sounds very good on females.

Diane Havens · Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007, 15:47 (GMT) Post subject:

Thanks, Bill -- I've been thinking about perhaps buying an additional mic, have a condenser and was thinking shotgun -- sounds good for the price!

Bill Campbell · Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007, 17:16 (GMT) Post subject:

I tested it side by side with the Sennheiser 416 on a male and female talent. The 416 is a little more aggressive sounding and produces more sibilance. The NTG-1 is a little smoother, yet still upfront sounding. It's my best sounding mic for commercial VO.

For narration, I would probably use a regular side address
large condenser mic.

A side benefit to a shotgun is that it's front address and doesn't get in the away of your copy. Unless you're going for an effect,
you can work a shotgun 5-7 inches away from your mouth.

With good mic technique, you don't even need a pop filter or foam filter.

Anyway, I just thought some might be curious as to how this NTG-1
sounds. Even if price was not an issue, I would have chosen the Rode over the Sennheiser for my needs.

Lance Blair · Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007, 17:46 (GMT) Post subject:

That Rode sounds very good Bill, thanks!

Stefan Chinell · Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007, 18:48 (GMT) Post subject:

Agree, this mike sounds OK. However you have some audible room ambience.

J.S. Gilbert · Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007, 19:07 (GMT) Post subject: Sounds good to me

I've noticed quite a few of the pro studios here using the Senny 416's and I never really get a good answer when I ask them why they switched over from 414's and U87's My understanding was that they put them in so that they can record narration and other spoken audio to match up with video based projects that usually captured sound via shotgun.

One of the things I have noticed is that in a very quiet room, shot guns can make a voice sound a little more "lively" as opposed to some of the big tube mics.

I think that a little bit of "room ambience" is really part of the overall appeal of the sound of these mics. Curious to other thoughts here. I've come about one click away from buying a 416 on eBay. I currently do not have any shotguns and one of my major reasons to own ia 416 is that I can often position using my own studio to record in if I can mic it to match everyone else. (other talent going in to a pro studio)

I'm also curious, since my own voice tends to be a tad sybilant if anybody sees much of a difference using shotguns.

I happened to like Bill's sound here from his Rode quite a bit. I do own a Rode NT1 (totally differnet beast) and while I don't use it very often, it does sound quite good.

I think the ROde's overall are pretty nice mics and they seem to really care about quality control.

Bill Campbell · Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007, 12:31 (GMT) Post subject:

Because the shotgun mics are so focused, they almost sound compressed. They do give a close, upfront sound compared to most mics.

I tried the 416 (a friends) and the NTG1, and liked the Rode better.
Less sibilant, yet easily EQed.

A little room ambience is a good thing. It's always there in real life. It always sounds odd talking to someone in a "dead" studio
doesn't it?

I further reduced my "echo" with additional curtains on another wall in my studio.

Here's another sample of the NTG1, after more room treatment.

Bobby Knight · Posted: Sat Dec 08, 2007, 00:34 (GMT) Post subject:

I mentioned the Rode shotguns in a thread some time ago, and I remember someone dismissed them as not being in the same league with the Sennheiser 416..All I know is that I like what I heard in your demo

Would it be possible to hear both for comparison?

J.S. Gilbert

So, it would seem I am going to be aquiring some video gear soon, most probably a Panasonic HVX- 200 or 500 and SO I'll be looking for a mic that can serve me well capturing in the field and then coming back in the studio if need be for v.o.

I got Sweetwater and B&H's catalogs and I had no idea there were that many shotguns out there. <wow>

So now I talk to some of the video guys and I'm hearing "go for the SOny ECM-678" and Schoeps 5U and another guy who swears by the Neumann KMR81 shotgun, which he says is also an incredible studio microphone, which only requires rolling off the top end a little.

So, it looks like I'll be auditioning microphones for a little while here, and of course I'll include the Rodes in there and probably some others that nobody has mentioned. I've also heard some great things about Earthworks. The interesting thing is the disparity in pricing of these mics, which range from $400 - $2000 or higher. I'm really curious to see if the higher priced mics really do offer anything special for the increased pricing.

So - a new world for me as I have zero experience with shotguns.

I'll report back as I progress along.

Thanks for everyone's input. Love to hear more of your experiences with shotguns either with studio or field applications.

Bill Campbell · Posted: Sat Dec 08, 2007, 21:11 (GMT) Post subject:

Hey peeps...this might help.

http://dvestore.com/theatre/mics.html

Bill

Bobby Knight · Posted: Sat Dec 08, 2007, 21:26 (GMT) Post subject:

OK,..for my ears,..the 416 jumped right out of the speakers, and the ME-66 also sounded good..It's also worth noting that the Rode that was tested wast the NTG-2..NOT the NTG-1

J.S. Gilbert · Posted: Sat Dec 08, 2007, 22:50 (GMT) Post subject: well...

It's hard to take these little tests to heart too much. A factor could also be simply the order in which the v.o. talent is reading and whether they had a sip of water between reads, etc.

I have to say that with the exception of a couple that sound really bad and one that was just a little bright for my tastes, the others sounded very similar. The Rode NTG2 I was surprised in this test anyway was the one I overall liked the best.

Thanks for posting the shootout.

j.s.

Emmanuel Soussan · Posted: Sat Dec 08, 2007, 23:07 (GMT) Post subject:

Ed Gambill · Posted: Sat Dec 08, 2007, 23:46 (GMT) Post subject:

JS

I listened and like the heat that come from the 416 but the NT sounded very nice. It would have been a real test if the Mic were arranged to record the same dialogue on each mic at the same time, then slated. Any time different takes are used it is highly possible for inconsistency to come in to play that can hurt the value of the test.

When it comes to a short shotgun, I have always depended on hyper cardioid instead. I use a Shure SM89 for long shotgun work and an AKG 451EB/CK3 I also have a CK9 which is a long shotgun capsule for this preamp. Then there is this combo AKG C480Amp/CK69Cap. http://www.guygraphics.com/GGPROD-28.html I confess I haven’t heard this combo, I do have a C480/CK61. It is very strong and I have used it on over head boom work. Either on a Getzo 12' , Vdb12’ or Vdb 16’. The Vdb’s are carbon fiber and if memory serves me right I paid $600.00 for the 16 footer, and $400.00 for the wind screen and about $750 for the SM89. It’s just so much more affordable to do studio work than location sound work. Just the proper microphone support apparatus is a killer on price.

The Schoeps Hyper have for many years been favored by film mixers, they are a bit hotter than the AKG so I just up the gain in post. The hyper cardioid were used because they cut down of the reverb that a shotgun will pickup. The standards of the industry are not as standard as they were. Years ago AT’s were favored by the Mixer of Hill Street Blues. The Russian Octava was use a lot by may highly regarded mixers.. You had to hand pick them to insure a quite unit but it was worth it to many Mixers. BTW Mixer is the name given to the recording person on movies. In the old day they had the responsibility to mix in real time several sources together, now when multiple mics are needed they use multiple channels most mixing is done in post.

If you are doing ADR work then the need is to match the sonic quality of the location mic. The 416 was use a lot as were the Schopes, AKG and others.

Now then JS you are going to need some good Lavs, Trams TR50 is what I use and the Sonotrim are good as well. Let see some vampire clips and then there is wirless. I chose the Lectronic Sonic line … Really if you are getting into Video and want good sound there is a whole lot needed more than a good shotgun. I just looked it up and I have over 10K invested in my field production kit for location sound recording. Now if you want to do ADR on every thing you do then any good mic will be great because you won’t be matching anything else. Forgive me for going deep, I just assumed that you would want to take a fully professional approach to location sound.

Bill Campbell · Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007, 00:36 (GMT) Post subject:

FYI; The NTG-2 is the same as the NTG-1, but with a battery option for 48v.

The 416 does jump out. She was pretty far off mic. I chose the NTG-1 because the 416 can be a little crispy, especially on some females. My VO partner is a female with a fair amount of essss.
The NTG-1 sounds great on her.

It's easy to add a little presence and high end with EQ, it's tough
to get rid of sibiance cleanly.

I thought that was a pretty fair test. I think you could EQ just about any of those mics to sound good on any voice.

I like the shotgun mics because they're small and don't get in the way of your copy/stand.

Incidently, almost all shotguns sound better and more airy without the big foam covering all of the side ports. I bought a very small little foam filter that just goes on the end of the mic. No pops!