The Rode NT3 has proved itself an excellent interview mic. Directional and warm, I can place it on my small floor mount, discreetly out of sight of the camera and still capture rich warm sounds without the hassle of trying to fit lapel mics onto talent with time restraints and often very noisy clothing! I also used this mic for a location shoot for the Newcastle Permanent Building Society and it proved itself very useful in less than ideal environments acoustically.

My new RSM2 long ribbon mic was trialled in the boot of my car and in the studio, producing rich open sounds on male voices. I can't wait to try it in a singing vocal situation in a big open room. I have also built a specialised Blumlein mount for my lollipop mics to capture coincident stereo sounds and we are planning a live accoustic session shortly to capture the performance in a live direct mix to stereo. "Jim Pike live at Kalang Road" will be the guinea pig and we will hopefully post the results here in the coming weeks. David Chapman is keen to experiment with my collection to capture the perfect acoustic guitar sound, a session that promises to go late into the night and involve some quality red wine I am told! I might sneak in my Rode NT4 and try out an X/Y arrangement, after recording Katie Noonan's piano this way I have been waiting for the right opportunity to break it out again musically.

Stay tuned for some experimental sound files to hit this site soon! Rode NT4 photo courtesy of Freefoto.com