<<I can get the NT1A locally for a good deal, but they only have
singles, not the matched pair. How important do you think it is to get
the matched pair? I've researched here in the group posts but am still
not sure.>>
I don't believe Rode does stereo matching. It's a laborious manual
procedure (if done conscientiously) & something that can be absorbed
into the premium price of Neumann, Schoeps or Sennheiser mics, but not
really in the market which Rode inhabits. All mics of a given model
have some slight variance from each other. The expensive brands are
expensive largely because the variance is minimal. Rode has been
around long enough & put in the effort to move from being a rebrander
of inexpensive Chinese clones to doing everything in-house, & their
quality control has accordingly matured. I suspect at this point any
two NT1A's will match well enough to not be much of a concern. The
lesser rebranded Chinese lines (Nady, MXL, Samson, CAD, etc,) can be
counted on to not match particularly well at all. I'd say buy a pair
of the Rodes & do a simple set up with both mics facing the same
direction, capsule to capsule, & make a dual mono test recording. In
your studio simply play back each channel separately while listening
for any discrepancies in sound between the two. If they both seem
interchangeable they are well matched. If not return one to the dealer
& try the test again with a new unit. I feel stereo matching is more
crucial with orchestral recording & that's a world where poorly
matched pairs generally don't get put to the test to begin with.
Scott Fraser
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