Budget LDC: AT 4040 versus Rode NT-1

[dg27]

Re: Budget LDC: AT 4040 versus Rode NT-1

Recorded two singers tonight, one male and one female. Very happy with the 4040. Quieter than the Samson (no noticeable internal noise). Not too bright and more natural sounding, in my book warmer. Used the same pop filter and this mic seems less susceptible to sibilants.

Very happy with the purchase.

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Budget LDC: AT 4040 versus Rode NT-1

Cool!

[MakerDP]

Re: Budget LDC: AT 4040 versus Rode NT-1

Wow that's cool that you have access to the B&H comparison room! That would be SOOOO detrimental to my credit card balances if I could regularly visit that place!

Glad you like the 4040. Most definitely an upgrade to the run-of-the-mill budget condensers out there.

[dg27]

Re: Budget LDC: AT 4040 versus Rode NT-1

B&H is great. No one works on commission, so they never try to up-sell.

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Budget LDC: AT 4040 versus Rode NT-1

Yeah, love B&H. Plus their prices are great.

[dg27]

Re: Budget LDC: AT 4040 versus Rode NT-1

Was back there today. I use an MBox 3. Although the preamps are OK, I wanted a dedicated mic preamp. Bought a PreSonus BlueTube DP V2. Tried it out with two singers. So far so good!

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Budget LDC: AT 4040 versus Rode NT-1

That looks like a lot of preamp for the money. How does it compare to the stock preamps in your interface?
It looks like it has been in poduction for a while, too. SOS gave it a nice review back in 2013.

My favourite budget mic preamp at the moment is the Black Lion Audio Auteur preamp.

[dg27]

Re: Budget LDC: AT 4040 versus Rode NT-1

I looked at several and it seemed like a very good deal. I'll need to use to more to be sure (and I can return it within 30 days if need be), but it definitely seems quieter. And there's a tube drive setting I've been playing around with. Will post back once I've experimented more.

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Budget LDC: AT 4040 versus Rode NT-1

I do like the idea of being able to blend the valve into the circuit, that's super cool. I've never owned a valve mic preamp before.

[dg27]

Re: Budget LDC: AT 4040 versus Rode NT-1

That's the primary reason I bought it. Haven't tried it with bass yet, but with vocals they recommend a max of 30% and that seems to warm up the tone a bit. I'm still working on getting right combination of levels (interface and preamp). Trial and error for a couple of days I guess.

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Budget LDC: AT 4040 versus Rode NT-1

Yup. Ideally, you want to have the interface's input gain to be as low as possible so that you are using your preamp to do most (if not all) of the heavy lifting.

[dg27]

Re: Budget LDC: AT 4040 versus Rode NT-1

Thanks for the tip. I wasn't sure how low to go on the interface gain--will have to play around with that.