Audio Media - September 2008 - (Page 22) RØDE promise much of its most exciting mic, but can it live up to the boasts? JERRY IBBOTSON decides to put it to the test. here are some bits of equipment that quickly become essential weapons in your audio arsenal: a decent set of monitors, a location recorder that never lets you down or a set of headphones that just keep getting better with age. I’ve got a pair of beyerdynamic shotgun microphones that I’ve used for sound effects recording for years now, and they’ve been lashed to the roof of a giant fire engine, strapped to motocross bikes, and have recorded more rally cars than is sensible. My motto: have shotgun, will travel (and earn money). So I was particularly interested in getting my hands on the RØDE NTG- . The Australian company claims that it’s one of its ‘most exciting microphones’ and is the result of years of development. RØDE’s claimed aim was to provide audio professionals with an affordable yet uncompromising microphone. It’s a shotgun mic that boasts of being able to withstand adverse environmental conditions, of having less self-noise than most of its rivals, and of having a high level of immunity to RF interference. Take it out of the box and the first thing that hits you is the build quality: it’s nice. Nice in the way that a BMW feels better put together than a Fiat. The body is finished in a brushed steel colour (we debated this in the studio – I wanted to say dark alloy, but was overruled) and, even though it’s quite petite, feels solid and robust. I spent some time just studying the XLR pins because they look so well put together. Sad but true. T stuff to a sound designer. I was using our Edirol R pro, set to mono mode and recording at kHz, bit. The RØDE did a grand job of isolating the background noise. The manual says it had a wider than normal pattern for a shotgun microphone to make it more forgiving. But it still managed to leave the recording focused on the machine and no general background noise on the base. The gruffness of the huge diesel engine came across well, as did the moaning and whining of the hydraulics and servo motors. The other military vehicle that we recorded with the RØDE was a Chinook helicopter. It had landed at an army barracks near our studio and I persuaded the guard on duty to let us record it taking off. The sound of the turbine engines firing up and turning the enormous blades on this eleven tonne beast was phenomenal. Equally amazing was the amount of downdraft generated. My colleague Adam ended up gripping the Rycote with both hands to stop it being blown out of his grasp. Some of the recording was spoiled by the vast amount of wind noise but this was about as extreme a scenario as I can imagine. The RØDE captured some amazing sounds of a stunning machine taking off. No mic clipping, no hiss, and no distortion. Now for something completely different: recording interviews in various locations with some quite softly spoken individuals, including one bishop and one retired archbishop. I’ve used a range of mics for this in the past, RØDE NTG 3 Shotgun Microphone Also in the box is an aluminium storage tube for the microphone. It looks like the body of a Maglite torch and has sealed end caps that screw into place. The inside is padded and the idea is that the mic can sit in there while in transit or storage, keeping the nasty elements at bay. You also get a stand mount, a zip pouch, and a foam windshield. To make my comparison with my existing gun mic easier I choose to use a Rycote Softie and grip when out and about, although RØDE do their own brand of full-on windshield systems. including a DPA lavalier. The RØDE was used either hand held or on a stand. The results were the best I’ve ever achieved in this situation. In virtually silent rooms the amount of hiss was very low indeed and in one location (the chapel at the rear of a church) the directional pattern of the RØDE reduced the amount of reverb and echo to acceptable levels. Some of the interviewees had very bassy voices and the mic also reproduced these brilliantly. The end customer, an ex BBC colleague of mine, was stunned at the quality. THE REVIEWER JERRY IBBOTSON runs Media Mill, a York-based audio production company started in 2000 that specialises in sound for video games. Prior to this, Jerry was a BBC journalist for ten years, ending his spell with the Beeb as a reporter and newsreader at Radio One Newsbeat. The ways in which I put the Røde through its paces can be broken down into two main areas: war and religion. War covers military vehicles that we had the chance to record while the RØDE was on test, and religion refers to recording interviews on location for an audio CD project we were working on. Imagine a Radio Four theology programme on a disc. The two contrasting uses would be a good test of the microphone’s flexibility if nothing else. War. What is it good for? Actually it’s quite good being near military bases because you get to record things like enormous mobile rocket launchers. A friend who’s in the army was responsible for overseeing an open day at York’s Imphal Barracks and, as he knows my fetish for all things noisy, managed to get me on the parade ground a few hours before the event kicked off. The reason: a huge tracked vehicle with a massive rectangular crate on the back that pivots upwards on hydraulics so it can fire rockets. I had the chance to record it driving round in a circle and then lifting and turning the rear unit. All useful The Big Issues The NTG- is an excellent bit of kit: superbly made, supplied with some useful accessories and capable of working in extreme conditions. It’s also quiet in use, from both hiss and handling noise points of view. After just a few weeks of use, I’d rate it as an essential bit of kit. ∫ I N F O R MAT I O N Needed, O r Just Wanted? £ GB£382.93 (exc.VAT) A Rode Microphones (International), 107 Carnarvon Street, Silverwater, NSW 2128, Australia T +61 2 9648 5855 F +61 2 9648 2455 W www.rodemic.com E info@rodemic.com A Source Distribution, Unit 6, Pembroke Buildings, Cumberland Park, London, NW10 6RE T +44 (0) 208 962 5080 F +44 (0) 208 968 3218 W www.sourcedistribution.co.uk E sales@sourcedistribution.co.uk 22 AUDIO MEDIA SEPTEMBER 2008 http://www.rodemic.com http://www.sourcedistribution.co.uk
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