Rode NTK

I've been recording since high school, back in '77', long enough to know I suspect. My problem is I play Bass, Guitars, Drums and percussion, Sing and love recording, so it makes since that I record and learn that aspect too.

I'm just a lowly project studio, with a few mackie boards and a G4 running MOTO DP5 with a couple i/o 2408 MK2 through PCIe cards.

Also I have a few mid price pre-amps going direct.

I listen with my ears and an old set of Event BAS 20-20 monitors that have been tweaked to the room. I re-listen with a set of Dahlquest speakers that my ears knows so well.
This mic is built like a tank, and the power supply is more than you would need for 10 tube mic's but I guess thats why its so very quiet.

Alright it has no shock mount, but guess what, I don't care and I don't think anyone else in there basement will either, and to keep the cost down I'd just as soon get a 14.95 chinese E-Bay model and save the extra cash.

I've had this mic for @8 months and put it through its paces most every day and I know its sound very well at this point. I have in excess of 20 different mics and I know them all, This is my first tube mic, I have been preferring to get my tube sound from a very clean mic and a tube pre amp but I now go with this and a solid state pre and have really liked what I heard.

I've only reviewed a few pieces because I don't have too much time, but I'm home sick today so what the hell, I apologize if I bore you but I really am a snob about my equipment choices and if I really love something I tell people.

The Rode NTK is a fantastic mic for vocals and being that I'm a basement project studio the fact that it only has one cardioid pattern is irrelevant. As stated in other reviews it is a tube mic with a thirty foot cable to an extremely quiet power supply, so quiet in-fact that I did not think it was on when I first turned it on ( no exaggeration). Then I got out of my chair and the light on my pre amp flickered I put on my head phones and heard my self clear as a bell from the control board. I've pitted it against my other mics and in 90% of the time it has won hands down. These include a AT 4033cl, Shure KSM 32, AKG c3000, and my rebuilt secret mic the Octava MK 319, Don't laugh, If you get one rebuilt they really are superb low cost mics. They just need a good pre-amp.

With the NTK as well as any mic I do recommend a pop filter in-front of it when doing vocals and bring the vocalist right up to it to get the presence that a good tube mic brings. I also love it for acoustic and classical guitars( 12" from the bridge) and as a very fine overhead for drums ( Above the Drummers head say 8' or so).

I didn't know I was going to buy another mic until I was in guitar center and found this used and in perfect shape, Also the fact that the previous owner wanted a multi pattern mic and hardly ever used it was a big plus. 'He" was the sales guy I always talk to and have a very good rapport, and the fact that he bought the K2 in its place was my clue that this was a good linage mic and one I should try out. I was right. Also for my 375.00 he gave me a new groove tubes tube case he said he thought it would make it even better. I'll have to wait on that option because to my ear the sovtek 6922 that came with it sound fantastic and clean and in my mind doesn't need replacing. And he threw in a very nice 20' gold end mic cable, I think it was a Monster cable, very very nice.

Not to put my studio down but I'M CHEAP and unless its an extremely good buy and super quality I won't bite. Been around long enough to know expensive names mean nothing, its the final project that means everything. Also to all the newbies Please wrap your head around the notion that this stuff is made to last a LONG time and don't buy junk. In the long run (30 years or so) you will realize that you still have an instrument that is as faithful and loved as the day that you purchased it.

Rode has been around for a long time now and they have a slew of awards, and major studio's use them as work horses everyday. This mic gives me the quietness of a tranformerless design, with the warmth of tubes and has all the detail I could ever wish for. This mic did-not fall short at anything and could be used as a only mic studio. It did everything from bass to guitar cab. to classical extremely well and as stated the hardest to record is vocals and it passed with flying colors. If you try it out I think you will buy it.

I have been making music for 17 years total, and recording for the last eight. I have owned a home studio since 2000, and have recorded local hip hop artists, metal, country, psychedelic, worship music; both live sessions and overdubbed. My "studio" is really more my equipment than a location though, I usually have to kind of make due with the room I have. I use a G4 Macintosh running Cubase 32. My soundcard is an M-Audio Delta 10/10, and I have a Mackie 1604 board. I use AKG K240 headphones and/or Event powered monitors for mixing.

This is a large diaphram condenser mic that is tube driven. I have used this mic in multiple applications with very good results. It has primarily been used for vocals, which I believe it sounds excellent for. Very clear and detailed. I usually use a pop guard a couple of inches away from the mic, and position the singer 6 to 8 inches from the pop guard. I don't use a mic preamp with this mic, and have had good results so far. It is pretty sensitive.

I have also used it as a drum overhead mic, and been able to get all of the cymbals and the floor tom by positioning it over the floor tom, and putting the cymbals somewhat close to each other near the mic. I also used this as a room mic for a guitar track with LOTS of reverb from a vintage Epiphone Galaxy amp and a vintage tele setup. I had another mic close to the amp, but the two together really set the guitar in the mix well. Sounds like it's "IN SPACE".

My favorite thing about this mic is its sensitivity and detail, and my least favorite thing about this mic is it's sensitivity and detail.
It's a plus when you want to hear every nuance of an instrument, but it can pick up ambient noise readily and you can definitely hear the room. It will also bleed really bad in a live situation. I recorded three amps with it at once (I was running out of time and channels on my board) in a live situation, and they sounded accurate, but you could also hear the drums pretty prominently on it. For this reason, I give this mic an 8, but trust me, if you take care in how you use this bad boy, it is money!

I've been making music since i was 5 in one way or another, been recording since the age of 14, im 20 now. I am co-owner as well as an artist on independant lable Menace Records, www.menacerecords.co.nz

The Rode NTK is definately worth the money, nice warm clear sound, i've previously owned the Rode nt1-a, the rode nt2-a and the rode 2000 but none of these compare to the NTK. Excellent professional quality recordings.

I record in Digi Design Pro Tools LE 7.3

Primary listening equipment are two M Audio moniters.

I use the Rode NTK vacuum tube condensor microphone run threw the M Box 2, recording into Pro Tools LE 7.3.

I believe, after using alot of different microphones, that this is the best microphone in in the $0 - $1500 NZD price range, hands down.

The only let down is the fact that it is necessary to carry an additional power box in order to power the vacuum tube, which the earlier rode microphones don't come with. This makes it harder to set up and more difficult to move around but is a small price to pay for the sound quality it delivers.

9 / 10

I've been making music since I was in 8th grade, which makes it a little over 6 years.
I've been recording for approximately 3 years, starting out in high school, my band director made a class basically just for me and bought equipment for me to learn how to use, that year we bought a mackie onyx 1640 and a ppc g5 iMac

Now that I'm a college student, I have a macbook 2ghz core duo running DP (I'm not totally fond of DP) and an original motu 828 for 8 analog ins.

This is your typical tube driven cardioid condenser. I've had this microphone for about 2-3 months, and I've mainly only used it on vocals (i've been finishing up my band's EP) and its a great microphone, it definitley adds probably too much air, i think i'd like it even more if it was deliberately flat, because a de-esser or corrective equalization is definitely called upon in the studio usually. Other than that, this microphone sounds quite good and is definitely sensitive enough for ANY home studio.

The first thing I did when I got this microphone was set it up in the basement of my house, turned the gain up all the way, and recorded into DP, then I walked up to the 2nd story of my house (so there were two floors and all sorts of walls between me and the microphone, and about 25 feet or so of distance. I clapped a few times, and went back down stairs and stopped recording and played it back.... the microphone picked up the claps CLEARLY.

So anyway, if you're thinking about getting this microphone, then you basically should.

...Been playing guitars and writing my own music for 30 years, or so.
Home studio for 8 years.
I have a MOTU 408 mk11, into a PC (Sonar/Cakewalk)
Mackie board, Lexicon reverb, Event monitors, headphones, projects are checked on home and car stereos.

RODE NTK, condensor, comes with it's own power supply, and heavy toolbox -like carrying case, (big enough for a hammer drill!),cardiod pattern. Shock mount is NOT included!

I've only owned this mic for 2 days. I returned a Audio Technica 4040 finding out that mic returns are frowned upon. Guitar Center Gilroy accepted the return.
So far, I've re-recorded some vocal and acoustic guitar pieces.
Vocally, it captures my voice warmly. I'm very self-conscious of my own voice. and have been very happy with the results. I sing mainly tenor and alto range.
Recording my concert grand acoustic has been beautiful. I point it at about the 12th fret, 12" away. Apply a bit of reverb, voila !
Rich beautiful sounds from a small bodied guitar! I love it!

It did NOT come with a shock mount! What, another $45?
I was concerned that the power suppl would be noisy, but it's very quiet!

I have been making music for 15+ years, and have tried several microphones from many vendors (including the N word). I went to school for Audio Engineering for a short time. I am currently recording using CubaseSX 3 onto PC and listening with Tannoy monitors.

I had my heart set on a Neumann KM86, when I heard a Rode NTK. I knew OF Rode, but never tried on out. I heard it, loved it, and after reading many reviews, I bought one.

I am using the RodeNTK primarily for Vocals, but performs equally well on Guitars and Pianos, and brought out a very warm yet raw sound when recording brass instruments. When recording vocals, the only thing I needed to do was place some acoustical foam behind the singer, compress 2:1 and go. No EQ needed!

Generally I place the top of the microphone at nose level to the singer, popfilter about 2-3" back, and the singer 3-9 inches from the filter, depending on how close and loud they are singing. One sound I really really loved is I had a male singer sing loudly at a close range (mouth just an inch away from the filter)into the NTK. The sound I got is hard to explain Rich... Raw... a GREAT microphone I would have gladly paid double or even triple for.

This is not a good microphone for Cymbols and higher percussion instruments, but with a DB Peak of 150+, usable on snares and other drums.

Been making music for more than two decades. I wanted to improve my recordings so I attended RMIT University for Sound Production.

I record in a home studio, using Adobe Audition 1.5 for PC. I've got an assortment of mics, condenser and dynamic, and listen through Alesis Studio Monitors and Audio-Technica StudioPhones.

This is a valve (tube) condenser mic with a cardioid pattern. The pattern is not switchable, as it is on other Rode models.

I use this mic to record acoustic guitar, but primarily use it with a pop screen for vocals.

For years, I used SM57s and SM58s for all of my recordings. At RMIT, we used Neumanns, and after that, I couldn't go back to using my Shures for recording. I'd read about the Rode NTK all over the place, and it had the blessings of everyone but the Pope. So, I went to a big music store and had a bit of a try-out. I liked what I heard, and bought one.

In a home recording environment, it performs beautifully (though I do sometimes cut a bit of the 10kHz "air" that the mic adds in). A Neumann would not perform any better under these conditions, though in a studio with zillions of dollars worth of signal processing equipment, that may be different (personally, I think Neumanns are overrated and overpriced).

There have been heaps of "budget" studio-type condensers flooding the market in the past few years, but I don't have any experience with them, as I already have the NTK. I remember that while I was still at school, a Russian studio mic started hitting the market when I was first looking to buy a studio condenser. I asked the recording engineers who taught us if they knew anything about those mics, and they just laughed derisively. That was answer enough for me.

The NTK has performed well for me, and I would replace it if it were stolen or beamed up by aliens or something.

AxellaJ
http://www.axella.com

Making music since 20 years, in bands, some prof. studio experience but today more in private low budget studio.
I cannot understand the incredible comments and bad rating from Lemke. My experience: Rode NTK is very professional sounding and closely comparable (sometimes better) with Neumann mikro products (difference is price only! and guess, which price is the better one!!! NTK is half the price of Neumann competitive mikros)
Very good mikro for vocals !!!

Private Studio, experience on vocals only. Very rich and truth sound. Often equalizing is not useful or necessary, because NTK is given the best sound "naturally"!!!

I can highly recommend this mikrophone.

Sorry for my bad english (i am german)

Making music from 1986. Started recording about 1995. Now using the DAW with Luicid fromt end and Quested monitors.

LD condencer with cardioid pattern.
Bought it, tried to use it, didn't like it, got rid of it.
Built in preamp stage isn't really tube - it is solid state with starving tube in the signal path which is common these days.
The sound of human voice recorded with NTK has unnatural distorted component at around 7-8 khz, it does not sound like valve artifact at all. Also the mic is hissy like all cheap r0de products.
I don't recommend it.

been playin drums for 7 years and enough guitar to produce my own music, also sing...i have four sound cards in my computer..just 16 bit ones..but each is divided into two channels for a total of 8 siultainious tracks at once in adobe audition
i have an art tube mp, sound craft sx 20 channle mixer
audix fusion mic set for drums
oktava mk 319
sony v600 head phoness
and an sm 57
and my rode

tube condensor..used it so far on me playing acoustic and singing live, tried it on guitar amp and acoustic guitar..but i didnt mess around too long so i dont know what sound i can get
i chose this because i saw the reviews and jumped at the price i found it on ebay for ..350 used when the guy bought it in march, so its still under warranty i have the card and his recipt and everything
i dont know if its the rest of my equipment or what..but i cant really tell much difference between the rode and other mics i have..sounds better to use one of my over head audix condensers on my voice so far..but i havent messed around too much. i'll see..i've heard clips of other bands use the rode and it sounds amazing, this one band called the john shipes band has all the same mics that i have but they got everything to sound way better. it may be the room that im recording in, its just a bedroom, thats probably the main factor. from the samples i've heard others get with the mic, i highly recommend it. maybe later i'll be able to achieve that quality