Rode NT-4 + Rode Blimp = Love

Field Recording with Rode NT4 and Rode Blimp

The Rode "Dead Wombat" mic kit used in the field with a group of actors

We've posted earlier about our love of recording on location, but we wanted to pause to gush a little bit about our preferred kit: the Rode NT-4 loaded with the Rode Blimp and Fishpole.

We've been using the NT-4 since 2007, for our first field recorded production Dark Passenger, but in those days our shock-mounting came from a DIY homemade style contraption made from a pencil case holder, painter's roll, several elastic bands and a feather boa. It looked something like this:

Mad props to sound man Randall Farr (pictured), who built the device which served us well for locations including beaches, woods, and lighthouses in Southern Maine. This wonderful prototype met its end during the recording of The Troll of Stony Brook and we found ourselves looking for a replacement.

It was actually Randy who suggested the Rode Blimp to me, and since I have a fondness for the brand (I had earlier that spring recorded some delicious M/S tracks with two NT2A's for The War on Poverty), I began my research on the Blimp.

Reviews from Sweetwater were rave, and I found myself buying a boom kit that cost nearly as much as the microphone (~$428 with free shipping).

Two things made me decide not to go the DIY route again:

1 - The thing is backed with a ten year warranty so I consider this basically a once-for-life kind of investment (as opposed to recorders, computers, ProTools, etc. which I upgrade every couple of years)
2 - I really wanted to look professional on the set. I had some really top talent with me this time and I wanted there to be no doubt as to the professionalism of FinalRune.

To be honest, with the Rode kit and my Marantz recorder (recently upgraded with new Oade brothers pre-amps) we were recording with a very similar kit to what I had worked with on a BBC Radio 4 production a few months earlier. The only difference was that the BBC's kit retailed for a little over $8,000 whereas ours, even after the Blimp, was around $1,500. So, I took the plunge.

Sweetwater delivered it in a matter of days with loads of candy. Yum. Now to get the thing unboxed.

While the Blimp is clearly intended for shotgun-style microphones, we find it works just fine with NT-4 after deciphering their directions (this video helped). I had to do a little hack to get the cable routed through the handle, but within a matter of minutes everything was hooked up. Then, to go out and record stuff.

Our first recording with the Rode NT-4/Blimp combo was in September, 2010, for the pilot of our new serial, The Cleansed. We were at a regional airport with steady breezes all day, necessitating the wombat to come out and play on some occasions:

I'm not sure how to vouch for the quality of this set-up other than to share some comments on our production:

"The quality of your location production is breathtakingly stunning" - Roger Gregg of Crazy Dog Audio Theatre

"Having done a few location recordings, I know how much time & effort goes into it, and all the quirks one has to deal with including unwanted extraneous sounds etc. Super job. I am impressed." - Tom Lopez of ZBS

"In so much drama it's just about the voices. Here you connect with the sheer physical effort. You can sense the actors sweating." - John Dryden at BBC Radio 4

So, yeah. While we could have gotten results with inferior equipment, I was proud to run 30 hours of sessions knowing that we had real quality gear behind us.

In fact, I've enjoyed the kit so much that I've been taking it places it probably doesn't deserve to go, such as outside of my house in the middle of a good ol' Maine Nor'Easter this winter:

Maine Winter Recording with Rode NT4 and Rode Blimp

Here's the sounds of our results:

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That load 'clack clack' ing, by the way, isn't the sound of handling noise, that's pine trees snapping under heavy snow load. Awwwww yeah.

This bit of fan love was not paid for or subsidized by Rode in any way. However, we do hope that maybe one day they will send us some schwag. Like the Videomic. Or the Procaster. The BH Photo Video links will support us if you clickthrough and end up buying something. We hope you will.

With itchy impatient hands I finally got my anxiously awaited Zoom Q3 video recorder…

The Zoom Q3 is just a tad bigger than the Zoom H2 and packs in some decent video

Yes, this is the one that has bitchin’ sound and video in a really portable and easy to use format.

For an audio drama guy, it seemed a no-brainer; I live and die by my Zoom H2 but have often thought it would be fun to be able to capture a little bit of video, too… everything from behind-the-scenes footage of FinalRune shows to how-tos on various pieces of recording equipment.

I’ve yet to get my teeth into the product but thought I’d share some initial thoughts upon looking at the product, especially compared to the Zoom H2 since I use the H2 extensively. I kind of thought the Q3 was going to be H2 + video but it isn’t, exactly.

A few observations:

Sound quality seems to be about the same. The H2 has a lot more options. The Q3 has a way bigger screen and is more friendly.
Video (to me) seems just dandy. Obviously I have a strong bias to good audio. The picture is as good as I’m going to need it and I’m really excited about the possibilities once I start putting this thing to work.
The Q3 SD card door is flimsy and will eventually break off. They clearly did not design it for people who are going to be hot-swapping SD cards in the field. Um, hello?

The Zoom Q3 doesn’t come with a tripod, but the one from the Zoom H2 works like a charm

Accessories for the Q3 are really basic. I was kind of hoping for more from a $250 device. You get a wind screen, some RCA cables, and a 2GB SD card. No AC adapter, no tripod, no handhold (I haven’t tested handling noise but it’s terrible on the H2). As you can see, the mic stands from the H2 work fine with the Q3.
A really disappointing oversight is that you can’t use the Q3 as an audio or video interface. What the heck, Samson? One of the most powerful features of the Zoom H2 is that you can use it as a field recorder OR audio interface depending on your need. I was really hoping to be able to use the Q3 for talking on Skype, but now it seems I will need to jerry-rig something using the RCA cables. I hope they are able to add this feature on with a firmware update. Just foolish

Overall I’m really excited about the recorder and, as I said, can’t wait to put it to work. I wish it was about $50 cheaper and that I could use it for Skype, but having the capability to capture video and decent sound in such an easy format is priority #1 for me.