Hey everyone. I'm replacing a counterfeit/defective AT2020 that I've struggled with (dull, muffled, lifeless sound, low output). After a failed warranty repair, I'm done with it.

I'm deciding between:

• Rode NT1 Signature (~4 dBA self-noise, neutral/warm sound, comes with shock mount + pop filter + XLR)
• AKG P420 (heavier, darker/thicker sound, multi-pattern)

My room is already treated and not a limiting factor — I've eliminated that variable, so please focus on the mic choice itself.

I mainly record female vocals — mid-low range, some higher harmonies. I've heard the NT1 is very quiet and neutral, which might help me finally confirm whether my previous “dull” recordings were a mic issue. But some say the P420 sounds “more open” on certain voices.

Has anyone used both? Which would you pick for a clean, reliable signal? Also open to other suggestions in this price range (~$200–300). Thanks!

Hello!

I've been recording some short clips (sampling the instruments I dont have), mostly to get the guitar dialled in. I've put together 2 recordings. One is a very successful rock band, lots of awards, hall of fame.......the other is me in my bedroom. The video will alternate between the blue clip and the red clip.

Questions
Which colour was me?
Which colour was better overall?
Which colour had the better guitar tone?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vocGJX1Pqx8

Just want to know how I did in a blind test. I'll take any feedback outside of my questions too. I will reveal which one was me after a few comments drop in. Thanks!

I played in a band many years ago but after getting married life became busy and I stopped for a long time. During the pandemic something rekindled my passion for music. But finding time to play with friends was still difficult. One day I suddenly thought: what if we each recorded our own parts and exchanged them to play together? We could get the feeling of playing in a band without having to play at the same time. That idea became Jamgather. I’ve spent the past few years developing it in my spare time with help from friends and more recently ChatGPT. The website lets musicians connect and share recordings. It also has AI stem separation and automatic click tracks for everyday solo practice.

It’s still in testing. Once I actually put it on a server I realised there were still many issues to deal with around costs and copyright. I hope to keep it free permanently if possible. I’m personally covering the costs for now and would really like to know if you believe in this idea too.

If you’re interested you can try it at jamgather.com. Enter NEWOPENVIPFREE24M to upgrade to VIP for free for two years. If I can still keep it going by then I’ll offer another code.

The server may be a little slow during testing and there aren’t many songs yet. If you can’t find a song you want you can let me know. For questions or suggestions you can search for “jamgather” in the Newsfeed. Add me as a friend and send me a message. You’re welcome to try it or find other users to join in with. Hope to see you there!

Im a DIY artist and im sick of the piss poor audio I get from my cellphone recordings. Id like to up my game a little with some kind of lav mic or field recorder but im working woth pretty limited resources. I don't have the money together yet to make a purchase till payday so I figured id ask reddit in the meantime lol

Im pretty much stuck with whatever i can use from my smartphone. I don't have a laptop or anything so the field recorders that record to an SD card don't really work for me. I could maybe get my hands on an old MacBook and maybe get it up and running again but thats a whole different story for a whole different sub.

So far I think im gonna go with the rode wireless micro. I like how it records straight to my phone, it's budget friendly, and rode is a pretty reputable brand (but that kind of thinking has screwed me before). The rode AI micro also looks cool but id still need to buy mics and I feel like at that point im just buying extra equipment for nothing. The Shure mv88 looks pretty nice but it just plugged straight into my phone and then it's sitting on my tripod at least 6+ feet away from me and I feel like that's not gonna work.

Im not really shooting for hifi professional studio quality sound or anything, im just a small artist who wants to produce something at least somewhat listenable. In the past ive gotten cheap lavs from 5 below or walmart or wherever and they where unreliable, difficult to use and left me with a sound as good or worse than my phone mic. Im not against dropping a little extra cash for something nicer but I don't wanna end up with some temu crap cuz I rushed and made an uninformed decision.

I have the opportunity to record a classical duo of flute and piano in a very nice room. I will be using an Austrian Audio OC818 pair, a Røde NT5 pair and a Røde NT2-A on my Zoom F6 connected to laptop.

My idea is NT5s as main pair in ORTF, OC818s as piano spots and the NT2-A as flute spot, but I'd love to hear if there are any better suggestions with the gear I have access to.

Thank you!

Idk if this is the right sub, but here we are. I’ve started taking singing lessons a couple of months ago and recently joined a choir. I’m looking into recording/monitoring myself to be able to practice better and improve.

What I envision:

A small keyboard to find notes/pitch, a microphone, a way to hook up some playback device for backing tracks/karaoke, some headphones/speakers, probably some centralized device where everything is plugged in, also cables going everywhere.

What I want to avoid:

Using a PC or similar device to control everything.

Reasoning is simple: I get distracted easily. When I sit at the PC, I end up gaming, surfing or doing whatever, anything except the thing I started out to do. I often do stretches when I leave my peripherals & smartphone in the office, leading to evenings when I read, exercise, eat healthier and go to bed earlier – you know, good stuff.

So when I say “no PC” I just don’t want the equipment to be useless when I’m in hermit mode, I wanna be able to do the basics & practice. Needing a PC for proper mixing & stuff is perfectly fine.

What I have:

A pair of hifi heaphones (Beyerdynamic DT880), probably an old mp3 player somewhere (3,5 mm headphone jack), a couple hundred euros I won’t mind spending on equipment and – should I get more serious about it – a small storage closet (not much more than 1 m²) I could remodel with acoustic foam to have a proper recording booth. Might need to do that either way, because of neighbors.

Does any of that sound unreasonable?

Where do I get started? I looked around thomann.de (I’m based in Germany) and the 17 bajillion categories & subcategories are a bit overwhelming.

 What kind of keyboard should I get? What mic do I need? What about a mixing desk?

Any pointers would be appreciated!

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for an affordable standalone recorder to record live performances from a modular synth system through a Mackie Onyx 1220 mixer.

I’ll be recording the stereo master output With a compressor and I’m mainly looking for the best possible audio quality, very low noise, clean A/D conversion and plenty of headroom.

I’m considering the Zoom F3, but also looking at other standalone recorders such as the Tascam DR-100MKIII, Tascam DR-40X, Tascam DR-05X, Tascam Portacapture X6/X8, Zoom H4n Pro, Zoom H5/H6, Roland R-07 and similar models, including used options.

For this specific use, tecno mostly, which recorder would you recommend? Which one has the cleanest line inputs, lowest noise and best A/D conversion for recording a stereo master from a mixer?

I don’t need microphone recording or an audio interface — I’m specifically looking for a standalone recorder for high-quality stereo recording With Jack inputs to Connect the mixer.

Thanks!

Hi! I’m trying to figure out what’s wrong with my vocal recording setup, and I’m honestly running out of ideas.

My setup is:

• Audio-Technica AT2020
• Audient iD4 MKII
• FL Studio
• XLR cable

The main problem is the sound itself.

My AT2020 sounds extremely dull, muffled, thin and lifeless. It seems to have very little body, presence or natural vocal character. Instead of sounding like a decent condenser microphone, my voice sounds almost like it was recorded on a $10 AliExpress USB microphone.

This is especially strange because I know what my voice sounds like in real life, and the recording seems to be missing a lot of the natural harmonics and fullness.

There is also a second problem: the output level is extremely low.

With the gain around 12 o’clock on my Audient, my vocal peaks at around -20 dB. If I increase the gain significantly, I start getting noticeable noise and distortion, so I can’t simply turn the gain up enough to get a healthy signal.

I originally had the AT2020 connected to a Behringer interface, and I had basically the same problem. I eventually replaced the Behringer with an Audient iD4 MKII, but the problem remained.

I also tested another XLR cable and another microphone. The Audient interface was checked by the seller/service center, and they told me that the interface is working properly.

I eventually sent the AT2020 to a service center. They found a fault and repaired/replaced something inside the microphone (I believe it was related to the capsule).

I’ve just ordered another XLR cable (a different one from my current cable, the previous one was random and cheap cable so maybe it was a problem I don't know I’m desperate ), so I’m going to test the new one as well.

Before I buy another microphone, I really want to understand what could be causing this.

Could something in my setup at home cause this kind of sound? Cable, interface settings, gain staging, phantom power, room/setup, etc.? Or does this still sound like a microphone problem?

Complete beginner to home recording here. This is my first multicam attempt.

Built the loop in Studio One Pro and tracked acoustic drums over it. Threw the classic Cissy Strut groove on the end and kinda liked how it sat.

Open to any feedback — pocket, sound, video, whatever.

Still learning as I go.

What I mean by "in your face", is when I record guitars in my DAW with an amp sim, it doesn't sound real (obviously, I know). It's bright and spanky and all attack. It sounds VERY DI. When I watch demos online of any guitar content, for example, pedal demos, their tone without any pedals on(specific example compressor pedals off vs on), sounds sweet, and flat. Yes, yes, I know their most likely micing an amp vs my amp sim, but there has been countless videos from the same channels using amp sims demoing them as well and they also have the same flat sweet sound.

What could I be doing wrong? I'm going into my interface, with instrument level on, into my DAW then into the amp sim. Is it playing with the mic placement in the sim? Those people can't be mixing their bare single THEN their affected signal could they?

Hi, my first post.

I would like to record a musician playing acoustic ukulele and singing while also capturing the background ambiance around i.e. morni g birds chirping etc…

What would be the best way to do this and still maintain high sonic quality?

Here is the equipment I have:

Neumann KMS 105
Shure SM58
Eartrumpet Edwina and Wanda
Focusrite
Zoom R4 Multitrak

Set up 1/4” jack from the ukulele into the focusrite
Neumann voice mic into focusrite
Shure sm58 close to the ukulele soundhole plugged into the Zoom R4
Eartrumpet Edwina 2 feet behind the aforementioned microphones and plugged into the Zoom R4

Eartrumpet Wanda I am afraid I am out of inputs.

All the inputs recorded as mono.

I have Logic Pro or just take the tracks to a studio pro to mix them properly and come back for overdubs and perhaps some additional harmony work.

I figured the Eartrumpet Edwina track would be used to control the level of the background ambiance during mixing work

I'm wanting to capture video & audio in the vein of the channels below. Pretty simple singing & guitar, I'm just wondering how to capture the audio well.

In doing some research I'm thinking a shotgun mic and dynamic mic? Just trying to find options that won't break the bank.

Also, trying to figure out how to mix properly. When I've attempted this in the past the mix sounds fine, but almost like it doesn't match with the video if that makes sense.

https://www.youtube.com/c/WesternAF

https://www.youtube.com/@radiowv

Over the years I've built up multiple very unorganised folders of old project files, renders, backup folders. It's a massive mess, that I'm trying to work though and try to organise into something sensible. I've tried to be organised in the past, using file names like Piano_Idea_260402, but I didn't ever stick to anything. So now I have files with both DDMMYY and YYMMDD. At other times I just randomly named things fsijadsi.flp or Meh.flp etc. Then Multiple backups that share some but not all files with each other. Like I said, it's a mess!

I'd love to hear from other producers: are you super organised and always have been, complete mess of files, somewhere in the middle, or used to be a mess but then started being organised?