TICKING ALL BOXES

Unpacking the large 5th Generation NT1 box is quite a journey of discovery. Inside are a number of smaller boxes containing a redesigned shockmount, pop screen, digital and analogue cables, dust cover, and finally the mic itself. Everything is beautifully packaged in white cardboard and carefully laid out, the lack of a supplied flight case perhaps the only obvious concession to the mic’s budget price point. Apart from the matte black finish (silver is also available if you so desire), the new NT1 is essentially visually unchanged from the older NT1A. The body is the same size, the signature Rode gold dot still indicates which side to sing into, the silver mesh grille even has the same patterning. The old and new mics are more or less the same weight, remarkable given the new mic houses a preamp and digital converter. The USB connection is cleverly housed alongside the three XLR pins and the overall socket housing is a standard size, making the new technology very discrete indeed.

The new shockmount has a clever adjustable pop screen holder fixed to the front of it. The supplied pop screen easily screws into the holder and can telescope upwards if desired. This is a great feature for vocal recording but I would have preferred it if this whole extra housing could be detached from the shockmount when recording other sources as it does protrude outwards a little. This minor gripe aside, the whole package is beautifully manufactured, looks great and is astonishingly good value at street price of around A$399.

MAINTAINING TRADITION

Before testing out the digital side of things, I wanted to give the NT1 5th Generation a good work out in traditional XLR mode, and I gave it a multitude of studio tasks on a variety of projects. Its first gig was on female backing vocals by the wonderful Janie Gordon, then onto strings and percussion for the upcoming Harry Hookey album. Switching from a solid-state preamp to a valve one, I followed up by distance-miking some guitar amps, then came back in closer on double bass, acoustic guitar and banjo. The mic did great work capturing and presenting the sounds on all these tasks and I never felt the need to reach for one of my much more expensive condensers. The female vocals were smooth and sweet, the double bass rich and mellow, the banjo detailed and well balanced.

Finally, I tested its layering credentials alongside an older NT1A. I had the two mics as close together as possible through two matched channels of a Universal Audio 2108 and tracked multiple acoustic guitars, drum overheads, double bass and male vocals. By grouping the two mics’ tracks separately I could easily switch between the two sounds over the whole composition, giving me a really good sense of the similarities and differences to be heard between them. Here are my thoughts:

GUTS & GLORY

Back in the ’90s I was one of those aforementioned ‘impoverished musicians’ and owned an original NT1 for quite a few years. I really liked it as an all-round studio tool and I’ve subsequently used quite a few NT1As on various projects. I’m well acquainted with the sound of these mics and it was a real pleasure to delve back into the NT1 world again.

It was quickly apparent that the new NT1 is a worthy heir to the earlier versions, and while some of the sonic signature of the old model remains, this new version presents sounds in a more sophisticated way.

Most notable to me was a subtle but discernible increase in the lower midrange and bottom end. The signature top-end sheen and clarity bump is still there (as borne out by the 3-4dB rise at around 11kHz on the frequency response graph) but it is now more evenly matched by the lower frequencies and feels more balanced and ‘true’ as a result.

Toggling between the previous-generation NT1A and the new NT1 recordings I could hear a lot of similarities in the top end but the fundamentals and midrange guts of the new mic’s sounds take a step forward and present an image with more depth and dimensionality. The differences were not day and night but they were there, and I think Rode has done an admirable job, striking the right balance between familiarity and enhancement with the voicing of this microphone. The new NT1 is a fairly sensitive microphone: -32dB re 1V/Pascal (25mV @ 94dB SPL) ±2dB @ 1kHz, but handles louder sources with no trouble at all. Overall, the revamped NT1 delivers all the versatility and ease of use of the original while noticeably upping the ante in terms of its sonics.

REVOLUTION WILL BE PODCASTED

Having had my trip down memory lane I decided it was time to investigate the future. Setting up the NT1 5th Generation for USB recording was a fairly simple process. Rode’s step-by-step guide is very helpful (in my case for the Pro Tools platform but almost all platforms are supported). It took me about five minutes to create a new aggregate device and get a 48kHz, 32-bit floating session up and running with the mic plugged directly into the back of my iMac via the long, supplied USB cable.

Sample rates up to 192k are achievable but Rode recommends 48k for laptops. The simplicity and portability of this configuration lends itself to podcasts and quick location recording tasks where a laptop would be the weapon of choice, so I wanted to hear the quality at that resolution.

At 32-bit/48k the sound quality of the built-in Revolution preamp and A/D converter is clean and musical, with my Martin guitar coming back richly detailed with all its sonic complexity intact.

The digital sound doesn’t perhaps have quite the same euphonic sheen as when using expensive external preamps, but the tonal balance and the detailed presentation are all there and the fidelity at the higher resolutions is excellent.

In what is quite a significant innovation, you can track without worrying too much (or at all, really) about gain settings. If a track recorded via USB at 32-bit floating point is playing back with clipping, a simple normalisation render will rein the overall level in and the clipping will disappear. This is due to the very high dynamic range offered by the analogue-digital converters on-board the NT1 5th Generation, so the clipping is only present at playback, not embedded in the recorded audio. If a track is recorded too quietly, simply normalise it and it will play back louder without any appreciable lifting of the noise floor. It’s like magic!

Most significantly, you can grab an NT1 and your laptop and go just about anywhere to make great sounding recordings. Goodbye external interfaces. Goodby power supply and connection issues. Goodbye fretting about gain settings, noise floors and clipping. On-the-go recordists and podcasters can henceforth concentrate on their subjects, getting their recordings down and worry about level adjustments in post later on. Expect a great deal less digital clipping from your favourite low-budget podcasters very soon!

FIRST PAST THE POST

Speaking of post production there is a wealth of other back-end value-adding that Rode is offering as part of the NT1 5th Generation package. Firstly, there’s a suite of processing tools from Aphex, a brand owned by Rode, including compressor, noise gate, two-step high pass filter, Aural Exciter and Big Bottom effects. These processing tools as well as setups for configuring and saving the mic’s gain settings and downloading firmware updates are available via Rode’s two companion software programs: Rode Central and Rode Connect. Using the latter, up to four NT1s can be connected via USB to a single computer, but up to eight can be connected using the aggregate device function on Mac, or Rode’s custom ASIO driver on Windows. Buyers can also download Rode’s Unify software, a simple high-grade platform for streaming, mixing tracks, routing and creating separate monitor mixes. 

STICKING UP FOR THE LITTLE GUY

Rode’s ethos has always included empowering the budget conscious. In more recent times it has also brought some incredibly well-made, innovative and user-friendly technology to market that challenges and enhances the way audio tasks are done. With the release of the 5th Generation NT1, Rode combines these two spheres of influence, delivering a great sounding mic that borrows from the past and steps boldly into the future. Frankly, if I had tested this microphone in just its XLR capacity, blindfolded, with no knowledge of brand or antecedence, I would have comfortably placed it at a price point somewhere around twice what Rode are asking for. The fact the new NT1 comes cleverly packaged with so many additional digital features and capabilities makes it a knock-out deal. If you’re looking for an affordable workhorse condenser that can also lighten your load when on location and keep on giving with bundled digital add-ons, the NT1 5th Generation ticks all the right boxes. Best of all it’s a great-sounding, cutting-edge piece of kit made to extremely high standards, here in Sydney, and comes with a 10-year warranty. 

DARK BY DESIGN

A mic’s performance on acoustic guitar is always telling. The first time I plugged the LS-308 in was to record my Martin acoustic. A deep, warm and rich tone leapt from my monitors upon playback of the first test recording, which I put little effort into as far as mic positioning goes – about 15cm pointing off axis at the twelfth fret. My immediate impression was that it sounded like a ribbon microphone with a characterful and understated top end, yet without lacking detail. I’ve recorded my guitar through many, many microphones over the years, but I genuinely think the LS-308 produced the most instantly pleasing recorded tone I’ve ever heard.

I’ll admit that could be because I’m a little tired of super-bright acoustic guitar recordings. My next favourite acoustic guitar option is a Royer R-10 ribbon mic, and that’s saying something of the Lauten. Don’t expect sizzling highs or lots of ‘air’ from the LS-308 – it’s a dark sounding mic. You’ll see the pronounced downward slope from 4kHz plunges steeply at 15kHz. That’s the tradeoff for superior isolation characteristics. 

Partly for this reason, the LS-308 favours low end – I’d even go as far to say ‘bass heavy’ – and it pays to be conscious of its proclivity to emphasise rumbly frequencies when tracking certain instruments. For example, I couldn’t place it anywhere near the soundhole of my acoustic guitar or else pounding lows would hijack the recording. Vocals too – a mild plosive easily overwhelms the capsule.

BASS-IC TRAITS

Of course, this low-end leaning can be taken advantage of, which for me, led to exceptional results. I poked it into the soundhole of a cajon to catch as much boom as possible. The Lauten didn’t disappoint, yielding smooth and tight sub-rattling bass which was a perfect complement to the dynamic mic I aimed at the snare wires end of the cajon. 

The same effect worked a treat on the high gain channel of a small tube amp. Thanks to the diminished high end, all that nasty fizz that can ruin a distortion guitar tone was outright ignored and instead I ended up with a flattering, chug-happy tone that made the amp sound deceptively beefier than it really is. 

In all cases where I didn’t want sub frequencies (i.e. most of the time), I kept the mic’s high pass filter engaged on the 120Hz setting although there’s a 50Hz option too. Two low-pass filters at 8kHz and 10kHz give you more options which are handy when tracking extra bright sources like strings, cymbals or wind instruments. I find it interesting that Lauten Audio built these LPFs into the LS-308, essentially to make an already dark mic sound even darker. A high shelf boost may have made the mic more versatile. But it shows Lauten is secure in their decision to make the LS-308 more of a niche product rather than a jack of all trades.

In all my tests, the mic’s isolation properties were evident. I made several recordings in an untreated, boxy-sounding room in my house but with the LS-308 you’d never know. The value of this extends all the way from untreated home studio rooms to live recordings with a full band to sessions on location.

FIT THE ROLE

On vocals, the Lauten Audio LS-308 produces a warm tone not dissimilar to a dynamic podcasting microphone like a Shure SM7B or EV RE20. The big low end gives a broadcast-y vibe to spoken word while harsh sibilance and gritty trebles are tamed by the capsule’s inherently muted high end. As mentioned, the mic is incredibly prone to plosives so I highly recommend using a quality pop filter for any voice recording application. Be aware, the lack of highs can make a voice sound woolly and dead when unprocessed. Only after a substantial 8-12dB high-shelf boost around 12kHz did the high end begin to match the sound of some of my other mics. After a few weeks with the LS-308, I arrived at the conclusion that its forte is on instruments rather than vocals. 

We all love our ‘Swiss army knife’ mics but the LS-308 isn’t meant to be one – it’s a ‘match the tool to the job’ mic. It excels on bright sources that risk sounding thin and brittle when captured by more conventional condensers. In a live recording scenario, the LS-308 will impressively reject bleed from around the room. And that bold bass response will give your subwoofer a workout on kicks and bass amps. Solid build quality and good manoeuvrability set it up for success in the tracking room. From bedroom recordists to studio professionals, the Lauten Audio LS-308 will be a terrific addition to the mic collection.

MORE OR LESS

Perhaps less striking but still quite significant is the three-position gain switch. The middle position is neutral or you can opt to cut or boost gain to the capsule by 10dB. The cut is a fairly standard feature on many mics but the boost is much more unusual and allows the user to not only boost low output sources but also to push the input circuitry of the preamp downstream. More gain structure options means more ability to shape a source’s character and the gain boost allows for some interesting saturation and distortion possibilities. Combining the voicing and gain switching capabilities of the Atlantis means a great many tonal effects are available, and experimentation can lead to wonderful and quite unique results not readily available via other microphones.

FIRST BASS

The Atlantis had not long been out of its box when I roped it into some session work on a singer-songwriter project. Its first job was actually one of the most challenging applications to be found in my studio, namely recording my old double bass. This is a slightly banged up but beautiful instrument left to me by a friend who sadly passed away and, despite a tone that is annoyingly hard to capture in recordings, it will continue to be my instrument of choice. It sounds good in the room but when recorded lacks clarity, especially in the upper frequencies. I’ve used absolutely every mic and mic placement under the sun to try and get this bass to shine, including very expensive, through to very cheap condensers, ribbons and dynamics and many combinations of the above. In every case I’ve ended up with a tone that is warm but lacks presence and often ends up needing a lot of EQ and compression to help it along. I plugged the Atlantis into my go-to preamp, the Retro Powerstrip, placed it about four feet out in front of the bass pointing around where the neck meets the body, set it to omni in Forward mode (to capture more of that elusive definition) with no gain modification, said a quick prayer and hit record. Listening back, my jaw nearly hit the floor as I finally heard the sound I’d been chasing all this time. Nice chunky bottom end and lower midrange complemented by a clear and defined top end. The sound had a cohesion and integrity to it that I’d never heard from this instrument in this room before… hallelujah! 

TESTING TIMES

From this experience I immediately understood that the Atlantis FC-387 was something that could reach into sonic corners where other mics perhaps couldn’t and I was very keen to hear it on more sources. This ability was later confirmed for me when the Atlantis also delivered excellent results on my two other ‘problem’ instruments: the high-strung arch-top guitar and the Chinese violin. 

Over the following days and weeks the Atlantis and I covered a lot of ground. Could it do a nice earthy piano sound? Tick. Could it capture the energy and the subtleties of a valve amp played at volume? Tick. Male and female lead and backing vocals? Tick, tick. Acoustic guitar? Percussion? Strings? Tick, tick, tick. Okay, you get the picture. Everything I tried it on came up really nicely and I always felt that I was being given something extremely usable with a consistently pleasing sonic signature centred around a sweet lower midrange, whether that be ‘wood’ in an acoustic guitar, or percussive thump in that old double bass.

CHARACTER WITNESS

The Atlantis is not a transparent mic nor does it aspire to be one. It definitely has its own colouration and tonal signature in all three voicings. The sound of the Atlantis FC-387 is thick, rich, gutsy and characterful and there’s none of that metallic zing that plagues the sonics of many a cheaper condenser on the market. There’s a realism that the Atlantis delivers which, to my ears, makes the whole process of recording very satisfying. Where you need that realism, the Neutral setting and a gentle gain structure deliver a lovely meaty tone with full-spectrum detail but no harshness. Where you need old-school body and depth, you can roll things off a little via the Gentle setting and get some ribbon-like smoothness. If you need crunch and attitude, the Forward and +10dB settings really take you there. 

The mic takes EQ and compression well and multiple overdubs stack very nicely without any exaggerated tonal build-ups. I really like the omni polar pattern on this mic too. It seemed to represent my room in a very flattering way while the cardioid kept things fairly tight and focussed. The figure-8 delivered excellent side-lobe rejection and a more noticeable proximity effect which can be handy on certain sources. 

On vocals the choices available for tuning the mic to the singer worked really well and I could as easily record a soft indie-folk male singer as I could a sassy female soul voice. Another big tick in the box is this mic’s ability in drum room applications. I captured a fantastically energetic sound with all the stops out (Forward tone, +10dB gain) using the omni polar pattern and just needed a little kick and snare to get a great overall drum sound that sat perfectly in the mix. 

DESERT ISLAND MIC?

Lauten has done much more than offer a viable alternative or update to older FET designs. It’s basically re-invented the large diaphragm FET condenser as a super versatile studio beast, replete with some extremely handy tone-shaping features that give the Atlantis FC-387 tremendous range as a recording tool. While it is a great all-rounder, its characterful tones are really enhanced in context with other contrasting mics such as valve condensers and dynamics. I’m extremely reluctant to return the review mic as it’s very quickly become a favourite here, and time and again has proved to be the archetypal ‘tool I didn’t know I needed’. The fact is that the Lauten Audio Atlantis FC-387 is a genuinely great-sounding microphone that, with its robust tones and versatility, is perfectly adapted to 21st century digital recording.