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RODE NT4 stereo mic for recording musician strings percussion

Submitted by James B on Sat, 03/29/2014 - 15:16

Hi
I am a 1 man camera crew! (due to budget constraints)
I want to record some musicians(percussion and-or string-guitar) in a small enclosed space( a music store actually).

I was thinking of simply boom mounting a RODE NT4 stereo mic going straight into my Zoom H6.

Opinions? Would a good cardioid mic be a better choice?

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Comments

audiokid

I'm a mixer so my field "mic" experience is far below guru here. But, you might be happy enough with the Zoom H6 ? I've done some wonderful recording with my H4n. They get the room and performance pretty sweet with the built ins. Put them in a spot and leave it. There is a little remote for them too. Surprising sound quality actually.
But, the NT4 might be what you need as it sounds good and can reach in. Also, I have an array of Audix M1280B Miniaturized condenser microphone / caps and carbon booms.
. They work great and are tiny! I don't know your Zoom but I'm guessing its similar to the H4n , The X/Y on mine works great but maybe you might prefer to place the mics differently. Especially for an acoustic.
Check those out too.

Cheers!

Sat, 03/29/2014 - 16:10 Permalink
Boswell

Amongst my gear collection is both an H4N and an NT4, and I have used them together. My memory is that I could detect very little difference in sound quality between the external NT4 and the built-in mics on the H4N. You get more positional flexibility with external mics, but, before buying any, I suggest you try your H6 on its own, using the remote control if for acoustic reasons you have to have to place it somewhere inaccessible.

The H4N is fitted with a camera tripod mount that enables you to improvise a boom using a tripod extension tube, but I don't know if the H6 has that.

If you have very low level sounds to record using a Zoom recorder, then external mics and an in-line booster pre-amp may be necessary, as the microphone inputs of the Zoom units and the built-in mics are not particularly low noise.

Sat, 03/29/2014 - 17:00 Permalink
pcrecord

The zoom H6 can actually record 4 tracks (2 mic included and 2 external). An other faq is that the included mics are removable and you have some mic options you can buy from zoom.
I'm assuming you have the original X/Y. If you have 1 musician, it's good by itself. If you have a percusionnist, a guitar and a bass or a violin, you can use the zoom's x/y for the percussions and the other inputs for the guitar and bass..
Anyway you get the picture.. a good solution for small formation in live situation.

Sun, 03/30/2014 - 06:19 Permalink