Rode NT5 Condenser Microphones
We have been on a search for some new piano mics. We really didn’t have anything in stock that worked well, though I tried just about everything we had. Though the piano was up on the stage, it wasn’t really in the mix. Occasionally you’d hear a few notes break through, but that was about it.
In the past, I’ve used some good mics on pianos, the AKG C414B for example. Those sounded great, and I really like the switchable pickup patterns. But at nearly $1,000 apiece, they were out of our budget. After some internet shopping, I came across a recommendation from Sweetwater—The Rode NT5s.
About 10 years ago, a good friend of mine was a Rode dealer. He started letting me use some of the mics to “demo.” A few we ended up buying because they just sounded so good. So I was familiar with the company. Then there was the price. At $429 for a matched pair, it almost sounded too good to be true. But hey, Sweetwater will take it back if you don’t like it so I ordered up a set.
The mics come packed in a large blow molded case, about the size that a cordless drill would come in. It’s a little on the large side if you ask me, as the mics are only about 3” long. Still, it’s a nice way to keep them safe. Inside the case are the 2 mics and 2 mic clips.
The initial feel and quality of both the mics and the clips is very high, typical of Rode in my experience. True they’re not a U87, but for the price of one of those I could have ten NT-5s. The mics feel substantial despite their small size. Initially impressed, I decided to give them a try.
Sweetwater recommends putting the mics over the hammers. If you divide the keys into thirds, the mics should go where the dividing lines are, about 4-6” off the hammers. I had the piano player play a bit, stuck my head down over the piano in those areas to find the sweet spot (which was pretty close to the imaginary lines), and set the mics there.
Back at the board, I flipped on phantom power and opened up the channel. I was not prepared for what I heard. As I said, we’ve never really heard our piano in our room. When I opened up the faders, the piano practically jumped off the stage. Heads turned to see what was going on. It was amazing. The mics have a great sense of presence and clarity to them without being harsh. Transient response is quite good, picking up far more subtleties than I’ve heard in a long time.
The player who played that night uses a lot of dynamics and at times plays quite hard. At no time did the mics distort or become shrill. Rode claims a maximum SPL of 143 dB. I have no way to test this, but I don’t doubt it either. The output is quite hot (+13.9 dBu according to Rode) and at rest the mics are very quiet.
Since I don’t have a set of 414s to directly compare them to, I really can’t say for sure how they stack up. I do know that in the other church I used 414s in, the piano didn’t sound this good. But there are a lot of factors that go into that, so it’s not a fair comparison. I am happy enough with the mics to keep them, however.
We played around with placement a bit more as the night went on, and came up with this as the optimum setup for our piano. Your mileage may vary, but ours sounds pretty sweet.
At this point, I’ve not used them on anything else, but I suspect they would make brass sound really good. I wouldn’t hesitate to record an acoustic guitar with them, but I’ll stick with DIs for live because our stage tends to be a bit loud.
 The Verdict:
I really recommend these mics. The price performance ratio is excellent, and they sound great. The case is a bit of overkill, but I can forgive that. Perhaps our Worship Arts Pastor can sum it up best, “We’ve never had a piano in our ministry center before. It looked like a piano, but it didn’t sound like one. Now we have a piano!”
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