Quote:
Originally Posted by entheon
rethinking of the whole thing...
I'm actually probably gonna get a Rode NTK... so that sorta puts the Mini-Me out of my price range atm...
Please, please (falling to knees) PLEASE don't do it!
I really hate audio snobbery but it's not that long ago that I went through the same start-up process as you do and looking back I must admit that in some cases I really fell for hype-prosumer hype that is.
The RODE NTK looks really nice, it's a TUBE design, Musician's Friend loves it....
But believe me, it's hype and hype only, and in a literal sense. The NTK has a heavy upper midrange lift that might spell 'clarity' or 'sizzle' to newbies. And while there are places where that can be fine (The NTK actually isn't bad on something like a compressed drum room or too-mellow acoustic guitars that need to cut through a track), you'll pretty soon realize that taken on its own i.e listening to the mic rather than looking at it, it's a very mediocre thing that's actually way overpriced for what it is.
'A tube mic for way less money', that's the marketing hype.
'A shrill-sounding big mic that needs a even bigger power supply to run and tubes to change for about 5 times the price of a great sounding dynamic mic that will fit in your pocket.' that's more like reality.
When I started out I got 2 57s because that's what everybody says you should have. After a while I started to realize that there's a reason a lot of pros, some with million dollar mic lockers, swear by the 57.
It took me a while to even think of trying it on acoustic guitar. And you know what, I just finished a full CD production where almost all acoustic guitars were recorded with a single 57. (And if not, it would be a Shure SM7)
The 57 is great on guitar amps and snares, works on a lot of vocals (especially rock). It's a great room mic, takes EQ really well, the list goes on.
Chances are that as a 'start up' you won't have a perfectly designed and treated room. And you know what, the 57 will be tremendous because it will 'blend out' a lot of background noise, weird reflections, etc because of it's focus. With a prosumer condenser like the NTK, you'll end up with a lot of room sound/reflections that you will have to get rid of eventually.
I guess it should be clear by now that I rather like this little mic. A good pre like the Mini-Me would really help too.
Like Max said, it makes so much more sense to get a decent pre like the Mini-Me and a 57 instead of a 'pseudo tube mic' and mediocre pres that will make your recording sound like, well, home recordings.
If you're into new age or classical, then the 57 won't be the right choice but for everything else it's a no-brainer.
And there's an added bonus too: Once you're updating your gear (and it'll happen faster than you'd wish, be happy should you not be familiar with the term GAS yet

) you'll realize that the 57 only gets better with great pres, comps, EQs, etc. You might add all kinds of fancy condensors but chances are that you'll keep the 57s forever.
You'll have to get used to the fact though that the 57 needs a lot of gain. This is not an easy thing to learn as so many people equal gain with power/impact or hi-end response with 'quality'.
A track recorded with a 57 might not sound stellar and audiophile on its own but more often than not it will fit very nicely into the mix and give you a very organic sound.
Enough talk, I'd happily sell you my (pristine) NTK for a real good price (it's going to e-bay soon) but while there's nothing like personal experience there are also things that you don't need to go through and the doomed 'why spend thousands on a vintage Neumann when there's this great affordable tube design here for a fraction of the price' theory is a classic example.
Good luck
Andi
www.doorknocker.ch