Rode NT1A Review

When it comes to building microphones that are both well designed and affordable, Rode has the market more or less figured out. Their designs tend to prioritize performance over features and the NT1A exemplifies this, making it a great choice for anyone looking for quality sound on a tight budget.

Quick Facts

Manufacturer: Rode Microphones
Model: NT1A
Type: Large Diaphragm Condenser
Pattern: Cardioid
Price: $250 USD

Performance

The Rode NT1A is well designed, and is one of the few microphones intended for those just starting out that I have also seen find a home in professional studios. This alone should speak volumes about its quality. For the price, the NT1A has a more detailed sound than most competing microphones from other manufacturers and captures the small nuances in a performance surprisingly well. It has the characteristic bright sound that has come to be associated with many Rode designs, and this can be traced back to a significant boost in the microphone’s frequency response between 3-15kHz. From a technical perspective, the NT1A boasts some pretty impressive statistics for a microphone costing $250 USD, including incredibly low self-noise and a relatively high sound pressure level tolerance.

The Rode NT1A is a large diaphragm condenser microphone and features a 1" diaphragm.

In my experience, the best uses of the NT1A tend to vary greatly between home and professional environments. I’ve seen it used on pretty much everything in a home studio because of budget considerations and the fact that it's relatively flexible. The NT1A's brightness makes it a good candidate for recording vocals, piano, acoustic guitar, or anything else that requires clarity and presence. However, this same high-end boost causes it to be prone to sibilance issues when being used as a vocal mic and this becomes especially apparent with singers that have raspy voices or aggressive vocal styles. In professional studios, I have usually seen the NT1A used as a drum overhead because of its frequency response or placed on guitar amps because of its high SPL tolerance. My personal favourite use for it is as a second microphone on a clean Vox or Fender amp, where I often blend it with a Shure SM57 (you can read more about this technique in my post Recording Guitars Like a Pro from September 2016).

Features

The Rode NT1A in the shockmount with the pop filter attached.

By design, the Rode NT1A is very basic. There are no switches for filters or pads and the front of the microphone is marked with a simple golden dot. A proprietary Rode shockmount is included with the NT1A, which the microphone screws into via threads near the XLR connector, and this holds the microphone firmly on the stand. While I found that the shockmount does a good job at supporting the microphone, its design sometimes proves problematic because even after the pop filter is removed there is still a small protruding metal piece where the pop filter attaches to the shockmount. This can make placing the microphone close to a sound source somewhat difficult and leaves the microphone looking aesthetically ugly when the pop filter inevitably needs replacing. However, this is at most a minor issue and, depending on how heavily you use the NT1A and what you record with it, you may never encounter it.

Value

The NT1A comes as part of a kit that inlcudes many of the essentials that you need to start recording.

Sitting at approximately $250 USD, the NT1A is a great microphone for budding audio engineers or musicians looking to record themselves at home and can hold its own in a professional studio. It strikes a very good balance between price and quality at the cost of excluding some features that other, more expensive microphones have. Most of the problems that I have with this microphone are relatively minor and may not be encountered depending on what you use it for. While there are much better microphones out there if you have the budget for them, I’ve heard some pretty good work from people with an NT1A and proper audio engineering technique. The NT1A can also be conveniently bought in a kit that contains a cable, shockmount and instructional DVD, which is a huge asset to someone just learning to record.

Conclusion

The Rode NT1A is a great microphone for beginners and may suit the needs of some professionals. It sounds better than many other competing microphones at its price point and what it lacks in features it makes up for in quality. It’s cheap enough for professionals to buy even if they only use it on one or two sources (like I do). For those just starting out, the NT1A is excellent bang for the buck and the instructional DVD and package that it comes with is the icing on the cake.

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Rode NT1A (click here for Canadian Price)