RØDE - NT1-A

Came here to say the NT1-a. The top end is terrible for vocals, which is what I always see it recommended for. Also not great for cymbals, guitar cabs, or anything else with a lot of high end.

Try this. First, get an audio interface, which you need in any case. Second, get a quality mic. The quality of the mic will matter 10 times more than the quality of the audio interface, so put your budget there. For an all-round do-anything first mic I recommend a Rode NT1A (and used should be fine, I see one right now for $100; new they're $160 which is a great value.) Personally, I like the Studio Projects B3 for recording acoustic instruments ($200 new) because I can use it in figure-8 mode and I like Mid-Side recording. Third, when recording, use both channels on your interface. Plug the mic into one channel and the guitar's output ("line") into the other. (NOTE: if your guitar doesn't use a battery, you'll probably also need an instrument preamp, unless you can get enough gain from the audio interface. Your Taylor does, so this note is for others.) For starters, record the two channels into two different tracks. After recording a test take, listen to the two tracks separately and hear the difference. Now try lots of different mic positions and repeat the test. The line track will be consistent, of course, but you'll learn a lot about mic positioning. I like close miking, with the mic close to the 12th fret, about a foot in front of me, but that means I can't move a bit during the take. More practical and more common is a few feet in front. Another option (one that I haven't had good results with, but others have) is close to the bridge and just behind and below it -- again, no player movement allowed. Google for lots of advice on options. The farther away the mic is, the more important the room acoustics are, and that's a huge subject. Once you've picked your favorite mic position, record another test take but this time record as stereo. Then, in your DAW (digital audio workstation), on that track, plug in a "Mid-Side encoder/decoder." The one I like is the free MDA VST "Image" plugin ( [https://sourceforge.net/projects/mda-vst/files/mda-vst/mda-vst-src%20100214/mda-vst-bin-win-64-2010-02-14.zip/download](https://sourceforge.net/projects/mda-vst/files/mda-vst/mda-vst-src%20100214/mda-vst-bin-win-64-2010-02-14.zip/download) ). This will generate a synthetic stereo image. You get to decide which side (mic or line) is the main "center" channel; the other channel gets used to generate the stereo-ness, and you can control the width of the image. This plugin has simple controls but it may take a while to get the hang of what they mean. I doubt pros do this. Instead, they record stereo using two mics, if a stereo image is what they want. But for a really easy way to generate a remarkably lush sound with very little difficulty, it's killer. Meanwhile, you get to really hear the difference between guitar mic and line recording.

I have one and I really like it. In general, audio interfaces are pretty much all alike, and even golden-eared people usually can't tell a quality difference between them, when using line inputs. However, mic preamps (which are part of the interface) do vary a lot, and the Focusrites have very good mic preamps. Earlier, I had a pair of Studo Projects VTB-1 preamps, which are still very inexpensive at $90 each. When I upgraded from what I'd been using (a variety of TASCAM mixers and MOTU 828) to the VTB-1, I got incredibly more gain and detail out of my trusty old Shure SM57 mics. The Focusrites are more like the VTB-1 than the standard mixer and built-in preamps I'd used before. Regardless, any decent audio interface will work great. For budget, I think the Presonus ones are the best bet. Even the Behringers are very good. When recording, the audio interface you choose is generally the least critical item, even considering the quality of mic preamps which differs a lot more than the quality of the analog/digital converters themselves.

well there are multiple ways. first of all, dont use a condenser if its that bad. its a mistake I made, bought my rode nt1a without actually knowing it picks up ANYTHING and EVERYTHING. buy a shure sm7b and it basically almost solves your problem. other than that, you can position yourself in a corner, buy some acoustic panels put them behidn you and thats about it, your have to try to position yourself in such a way so the noise is coming from behind your mic. also you can use clarity fx pro, does a pretty great job at reducing background noise.

It’s cold and shrill harshness too. I imagine it’s great for catching interesting high-end stuff on anything, but I’ll be damned if I’m the one that has to pull it out of something

I don't own a SMB7 so i can't really compare the two but the mic does what it is supposed to do for sure. I watched some videos before buying it and liked the sound of it better than the SMB7... But to be real with you i own two mics: The MV7 and a Rode NT1A which isn't much more expensive and i exclusively use the Rode for recording (screaming vocals that is) because i think it has a richer sound...

I have a Rode NT1A, a Shure SM58 and a Shure PGA48 that was gifted to me. The SM58 is definitely better than the PGA48 but for the often noisy songs I make, I can still get decent results out of the cheaper PGA48. As many are suggesting, a DAW like FLStudio, Ableton or Logic will be far easier to get decent results with once you have a basic understanding of them. You will also need an audio interface. I've only used Focusrite Saffire (now superseded by the Scarlett range) and The UA volt ranges. Both were very easy to use. Your ability will improve as your understanding of the DAW improves. There are a wealth of tutorials to guide you on YouTube. I've never really used Garageband, but I know a lot of people that get great results with that too. I suggest maybe searching YouTube for some low cost setups and the results they are achieving. You might be able to get what you want with a setup like this. If you want to go down the route of a DAW and audio interface, an initial larger financial investment will likely serve you better, and for a lot longer. I got about 14 years out of my Saffire 6 usb and only replaced it because I wanted a change.

Rode NT1-A + focusrite 2i2

I never did figure out why, eventually the problem just sort of disappeared for me, but my first condenser was an NT1-A and I also struggled with this humidity issue. 54% seems pretty low to be running into that issue but my studio will often be 80+, even 90+ RH in the summer and until the problem just stopped happening it was basically unusable on a humid day. I don't think it's a common issue necessarily but I do know from my research at the time that I wasn't the only one who ran into it. It's rather peculiar, I've had many, many condensers since then and I've never seen anything like it. Makes me think it's just a manufacturing defect that happens with that mic from time to time, so best bet is probably to email Rode.

Rode NT1-A is my mic of choice.

I have a deeper voice and the sm58 with the mic pres in the Quantum 2626 really doesn't capture it, i'm also looking for a mic i could use, i have a Rode NT1A that i've been using for 5 or 6 years and i'm strating to feel it's a bit restrictive but i wouldn't know which mic to take, i was considering a Neumann TLM 102 but i wouldn't know if it was actually what i need