Rode NT5 or NT55

[Jonesd90]

Hi guys. Just a quick question.

I've heard a lot about the NT55 being a fairly good mic for the money and I've also heard that in Omni mode it's fairly identical in quality to the Neumann KM183.

I'm wandering about how the NT55 in omni mode stacks up against the NT5 with the omni cap? Is it the same mic just designed differently or is it a completely different microphone all together.

All opinions are really appreciated.

Thanks, Dave

[Jonesd90]

Having just double checked the Rode website it appears both use the same NT-45 Omni capsule to provide omni pickup pattern.

I guess my question now is, is there any difference (other than the pad and HPF on the NT55) between these microphones?

Thanks, Dave

[FreQnic]

Apart from the pad, HPF and extra capsules there is no real difference. They do compare well to the Neumann KMs though I wouldn't say they can match them, but they are half the price so nobody expects them to.

[DAGGILARR]

I have just got a pair of the NT55's and as far as I am aware the only difference is the inclusion of the omni caps and the addition of the attenuation, What I can tell you is the difference between these and and cheaper large diaphragm cardiods is night and day. I have just done a quick test with a guestimate spaced placing for solo acoustic guitar and its way way nicer than than my old XY set up, it can only get better with a bit of fooling, so far luvin these

[mjfe2]

Having just double checked the Rode website it appears both use the same NT-45 Omni capsule to provide omni pickup pattern.

I guess my question now is, is there any difference (other than the pad and HPF on the NT55) between these microphones?

Thanks, Dave

I think I remember once checking this myself on the Rode website or maybe Microphone Data, and the only other difference was that technically the NT5 preamp is like 1dB louder than the NT55, but this probably isn't noticeable!

[matt keen]

No difference

[The Elf]

I've also heard that in Omni mode it's fairly identical in quality to the Neumann KM183.

This is the kind of nonsense you find on some less discerning fora. A meaningless comparison IMO.

The NT5/55 are great mic's in their own right. Use them and love them for what they are.

[Bob Bickerton]

I've also heard that in Omni mode it's fairly identical in quality to the Neumann KM183.

This is the kind of nonsense you find on some less discerning fora. A meaningless comparison IMO.

The NT5/55 are great mic's in their own right. Use them and love them for what they are.

That was probably my fault as I own both and they do sound similar! The Neumanns are a little quieter and have a nicer badge on them, but in most scenarios I'd be happy to use either.

I don't think it degrades the forum by making comparisons with reference mics.

Bob

[The Elf]

Fair enough, Bob. I'm a great fan of both mic's mentioned, but I've made no qualitative comparisons of them. I trust your judgement more than most.

I just get a bit nervous that people tend to read what they want to read, take comments out of context and then run and run with them!

Now which forum site does that sound like?

[Hugh Robjohns]

What I can tell you is the difference between these and and cheaper large diaphragm cardiods is night and day. I have just done a quick test with a guestimate spaced placing for solo acoustic guitar and its way way nicer than than my old XY set up, it can only get better with a bit of fooling, so far luvin these

The NT55s are excellent mics, and all the more so given their price....

But it seems entirely spurious to compare small diaphragm omnis in a spaced array with large diaphragm cardioids in an coincident array.

Of course the difference in sound is night and day! What did you expect?

Hugh

[DAGGILARR]

Of course the difference in sound is night and day! What did you expect?

Hugh

I am on a steep learning curve here Hugh so I did not know what to expect. I was just pleased with the result. I had not intended to offer an expert comparison merely to report my experience.

I am finding the information and advice I get on this forum very very helpful and the last thing I want to do test the patience of those who offer this, so I beg forgiveness for my amateur burbling's.

[Hugh Robjohns]

Fair enough -- didn't mean to come across as a grumpy git. I just found it amusing that you were comparing two miking techniques that are about as radically opposed as you can get!

Yes, it is a steep learning curve.

Spaced mic arrays give a very different kind of sound presentation to coincident ones. I find a helpful way of contrasting them is to liken the coindicent (XY) stereo image to a fine pencil drawing (lots of precise detail), while the spaced arrangement produces stereo which is more like a watercolour -- much less precise and impressionist rather than accurate.

Cardioid mics in general tend to sound a little 'phasey' and unnatural at the bottom end in comparison with omnis.

And large diaphragm mics tend to have a distinctly coloured quality to off axis sounds compared to small diaphragm mics which tend to be much more natural.

Hope that helps

hugh

[mjfe2]

Spaced mic arrays give a very different kind of sound presentation to coincident ones. I find a helpful way of contrasting them is to liken the coindicent (XY) stereo image to a fine pencil drawing (lots of precise detail), while the spaced arrangement produces stereo which is more like a watercolour -- much less precise and impressionist rather than accurate.

One classical engineer I know recommended trying a technique that combines two cardioids in ORTF with two omnis in A/B. You then filter out the omnis' HF (the cardioids have their own natural LF roll-off anyway) and combine the signals to gain the best of both worlds. I haven't tried it myself yet...

[tacitus]

Not grumpy but maybe a touch on the pedantic side, as I'm frequently labelled having reached that age when calling a spade a spade sounds like grumpiness to younger ears. It seems to me though, that these arguments about NT5/NT55s is a bit like counting angels on the head of a pin when probably most of us would make more difference to our recordings by learning more about technique. As I say when my clarinettist wife comes home from a music shop with more gadgets, 'anything to avoid practising, eh?'

Partly as a result of this thread developing I've decided not to buy any more mics until I can get better and more consistent results with the ones I've got, including NT55s, NT2s and 2As, Oktava 012s and more. It's possible I may have cured my GAS problem.

It's a harder road but I believe it will lead somewhere.

Oh, yeah, I forgot say, I can do burning martyr as well as grumpy old git ...

[Jonesd90]

Hi guys, thanks for all the replies.

I'm hoping to use them as room mics for some of the choral recording I do - in various churches.

I'm hoping that these NT55's will be able to pickup some ambience in the church if used in omni in a very spaced pair (e.g. mid-back of church about 5+ meters apart). Do any of you guys know if these will be suitable?

I ise KM184s as my usual microphone for micing choirs, this is just for ambience.

Cheers, Dave

[Bob Bickerton]

I used mine for similar application earlier in the year at a chamber music festival. Used KM183s as a closer spaced pair and NT45s as room mics - nice.

Bob

[Billum]

... the ones I've got, including NT55s, NT2s and 2As, Oktava 012s and more...

Go on then Tacitus, how do the NT55s compare to the Oktavas? I'm poised to buy a pair of SDCs and those Oktavas also get occasional comparisons to KM184s - how do they stack up in your collection?

[Jeraldo]

I'm hoping that these NT55's will be able to pickup some ambience in the church if used in omni in a very spaced pair (e.g. mid-back of church about 5+ meters apart). Do any of you guys know if these will be suitable?

Whether it's suitable depends on what you're hoping to achieve with 5+meters spacing.

[Jeraldo]

Go on then Tacitus, how do the NT55s compare to the Oktavas? I'm poised to buy a pair of SDCs and those Oktavas also get occasional comparisons to KM184s - how do they stack up in your collection?

I'm not Tacitus, of course, but the NT55's, MC012's, and KM184's are all quite different mic's-very different tops, bottoms, and mids-so-I'd say listen before you buy. One could make very nice recordings with any of these. It's simply knowing how to use them.

It also really comes down to what and where you are recordings.

I happen to really like the Oktava's, but please consider two caveats:

1. They seem to require more and more and more power as the factory continues to pump these things out over the years. They need current-lots of it!

2. The quality control is worse-not better-than it used to be, at least with the bodies. I like the mic's and their sound, but owning them can be a real project-and this is coming from a long term, sympathetic, and informed owner! Dependability is definitely not great. If you don't have someone close by in mind to work on them if needed, you shouldn't be ordering them!

Honestly, if you don't need a hypercardioid (and the Oktava hypercardioid is indeed a very nice capsule!), I would encourage you to look at one of the two other options.

The Octava omni has a rather soft boost compared to the 183 and Rode. The cardioid is a bit elevated-enough to increase sibilance, but it doesn't present it in an unnatural way as does the 184. The Rode has on occasion sounded a bit "electronic" to me, but it's situational. The Oktava card has the fullest lower end, by far, and is the warmest sounding, but that isn't always advantageous.

I am certain the the capsule consistency of the Rode and Neumann will be far better than Oktava.

Both Neumann and Rode will be quieter, but perhaps not the NT6.

If you were in the US, I'd say look at the Shure KSM141. Inexpensive here, but somewhat expensive elsewhere. You'd have an end addressed MD with only a collar rotation to change patterns. Superb omni. The cardioid is generally flat (more so than any other mic in this thread), but it sounds like no other and you'd either really like it or really not. The mic has a very thin diaphragm, and you hear it.

The Rode is a high value mic, especially with both capsules.

[tacitus]

Hi, this is Tacitus, and Jeraldo has beaten me to it. I can only agree pretty well exactly with what he says, although my Oktavas are getting on for 10 years old and I have no idea how they compare with new ones. Mine are all Russian ones, and do, to my ears, sound a bit darker than the NT55s - 'electronic' is not a bad description of the Rodes, though it might be more off-putting than it should. Of my 3 Oktavas, two make a fairly good pair and the third is a bit down on output. I've marked the bodies and caps so I know which is which, and I do swap them around occasionally, though I find it terribly easy to confuse myself when I start doing that.

No experience of the Shure mic, but what Jeraldo says seems to be the general opinion; i.e. they're a good mic and better value in the USA than the UK. I don't know anybody personally who's used them.

I've done a few recordings with a pair of NT2s, and I like them as a stereo pair, despite being theoretically 'wrong' for the job. Clients like big mics though, so that's cool. Some are in Cardioid/ORTF (usually choirs), some in spaced omni (particularly for organ). I wouldn't go as far back or as far apart as half way down the church (very scientific and precise measurement, that) and 5 metres apart. For a single pair recording I usually start by finding where it sounds good to my ear and then moving in about a third of the way to the source for ORTF and a bit more than that for omnis. Then do a take and see how it sounds. I'd say too far back and too wide on omnis will make make a recording that's got too much ambience, too little imaging and way too much background noise. If you're not used to recording in churches, just bear in mind that a supposedly quiet church is usually full of all sorts of low-level noise you need to overcome with your mic technique. So much so that if I do a 'quick and dirty' recording of a concert I'm playing in (where I can't be monitoring or moving stuff around) I usually put a pair of omnis spaced about 2 feet apart at the top of a highish stand right in the middle of the band. It's almost always perfectly acceptable and sometimes a lot better than that. I think a lot of people overestimate how far apart omnis need to be to make stereo. Remember the Decca tree outside omnis are only a few feet apart and they have a centre mic further forward as well.

My other secret weapon is the dbx386 pre-amp - sounds nice, keeps you warm in a cold church and it cannot be clipped. Plus it's shiny and has lots of lights on it - always worth a few more quid in recording fees.

[Billum]

Brilliant - many thanks Jeraldo and Tacitus, this sort of real-world advice is priceless, and really hard to find normally (unless SOS have covered the topic, natch! ). Sounds to me like the NT5 or NT55 will be the safest bets, or maybe the MC930 if the budget's there.

Cheers,

[tacitus]

Yeah, can't comment on the Beyers but they do look very nice and my experience of Beyer (headphones and M201 dynamic mics) has been very positive. As I say, I'm trying not to buy any mics until I get better with the ones I've got. It's so easy to imagine that the next purchase is the one that will transform your recordings, but it seldom is.

[Jonesd90]

Spaced omnis to capture ambience in the room with still capturing some stereo width, no matter how small it may be.

I find that the ambience recording is really helpful, especially when I'm asked to mix in odd notes from other takes.

Dave

[richbondmusic]

Sorry to resurrect this thread after so many years, but I'm struggling to find the right answer after scouring many forums.

I'm likewise trying to decide between a purchase of the Rode NT5 (looking to purchase the NT45-O omni capsules at a later date) vs the NT55. However, I'm concerned as it doesn't appear possible to buy matched Rode NT45-O capsules at a later date for the NT5. If I can buy the omni capsules at a later date, and purchase the cheaper NT5s now it leaves me with some spare £ for an alternative LDC for vocals etc - I'm eying up the Aston Spirit!

Anyway, is the matching of Omni capsules as critical as cardioid for stereo imaging? (Or even more so given that it is picking up 'more' of the stereo image!?). Or is the circuitry in the body of the mic more important for stereo matching?

Thanks in advance and sorry if this seems a basic question - again I'm still very much learning the trade!

[The Elf]

If matching pairs are important to you then I would simply wait for the next pay cheque and buy the NT55. Better to take the pain now and remove the question marks from the start. Plus the pad switch of the NT55 is a huge plus, especially if you aspire to recording drums.