Mic Evaluations in Church Productions

Sound Advice by Brent Handy Contributing Writer September 19, 2011

Audio Technica AT-4041:

"Great on hi-hat, over heads, cymbals, etc. Great at capturing metal brushes on snare."

"Flute was reproduced faithfully. Handled the peaks without distortion."

"Big woody bottom on acoustic guitar. Flattering to the nylon stringed guitar."

"Piano from 440 up was very bright, sparkly. The attack of the strings was very detailed, and will punch through a dense mix."

"Captured and reproduced the trumpet without sounding harsh at 2kHz, unlike others tested".

Rode NT4

"Super easy to set up. I wish the top pivoted to a 90 degree angle."

"It does what it says it does. Faithful stereo image on anything in front of it."

"Handled the dynamics of the ensembles and the men's group."

"Faithfully reproduced all the room's sound."

"Flattering top end response worked on the percussion table items, and the cymbals over head."

"This mic and a mini DAT would be great for convenient location recording."

Rode NT-1A and NT1000


"Versatile mics."


I don't want to short you on any information about the Rode mics. I honestly didn't write much about these mics. It wasn't because I thought that they were undeserving. Quite the contrary, as I used these mics as my "safety" mics, just in case something crashed in Pro Tools land. I thought that they were pretty great. Both of them have a smooth, un-edgy, open sound to them. I found their boosts to be very musical. In my opinion, the NT1000 could be the modern day Neumann U87 (read as Swiss Army knife of microphones) for the church on a budget.

ADK Area51 TL

"Very nice on piano. Big, warm sound! Very detailed top end above 440. Bottom, below 440 is very flattering through this mic. Very exciting sound!"

"Distant ambient mic-ing applications are very realistic, very nice. So many patterns. so little time."

"M/S and A/B Stereo techniques yielded great results. They never sounded harsh when the SPL's got high. Thin male and female voices sounded thick and smooth."

"Acoustic guitar detailed on top and full in the middle. Thickened up the 12-string without adding to much mud."

"Nice, smooth top end on strings. No shrill kitty-cat noise."

"VERY nice on close, intimate tenor male vocals! Can make a thin man sound thick."

"Great alternative to the Beyerdynamics MC740. I would try this on anything once."

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