Review: RØDE NTG-3

Rode has waded strongly into the fiecely protected waters of the film and television industry in recent times with the launch of the NTG-1 and NTG-2 shotguns. Now the powerbase is complete with the arrival of the impressive new NTG-3, a shotgun that’s aimed squarely at its ‘legendary’ competitor – the Sennheiser MKH416. Housed in what looks like a shell casing, Rode clearly means business in the battle ahead.

When reviewing shotgun microphones, it’s inevitable at some point that they’ll be compared to the 416, the benchmark of the ‘booming’ industry. But with the Rode NTG-3 looking so uncannily similar, comparing the two is unavoidable.

STANDARD ISSUE?

The NTG-3 is a little more ‘industry standard’ than either the NTG-1 or NTG-2. But the NTG-3 also takes into account the shifting sands of the industry towards more modern, on-the-fly mic techniques. Film and television productions are far more demanding and diverse than they were when many of the ‘standard’ shotguns were developed. Today there’s far greater emphasis on versatility, ruggedness and a ‘capture it at all costs’ mentality. In short, the mic needs to be a little more forgiving, and that means width.

In many ways the NTG-3 is the stunt double of the 416. It weighs about the same (the Rode the ‘biggest loser’ by two grams, coming in at 163g). They’re about the same length (the Rode an extra half centimetre longer at 255mm). They both handle 130dB of SPL and offer a frequency response of 40Hz – 20kHz. Both have anti-glare finishes and both are RF biased. So how do they differ?

Well, apart from the obvious difference – the NTG-3 is silver and the 416 is black – the main distinction is in the Rode’s aforementioned ‘width’. Reality TV has changed television sound considerably – the action usually only happens once and it can happen in the Amazon jungle, thousands of miles from the closest sound stage. The Rode NTG-3 caters to this pressure-cooker environment by giving boom operators a greater chance of capturing Take 1, by providing a more relaxed polar pattern. It’s this spontaneity of action, and the limitations of a single take, that calls for an increased angle of high frequency capture. Although more dialogue is being captured by wireless microphones these days, the boom operator’s job remains critical as ever.

The Sennheiser MKH416 has a very tight pattern, picking up high-frequency detail to about 12 degrees off axis, before rolling off in the high-end quite quickly. The Rode NTG-3, by comparison, spreads itself a little wider, reaching about 20 degrees before there’s any noticeable drop in high-end detail. What this means is the NTG-3 will likely deliver better consonant articulation between spaced sources, making it a formidable dialogue mic when you can’t afford to miss a beat. It’s also a little more forgiving on set when the boom drifts on a single source. The trade off, however, is that the mic captures a little more spill in noisier environments.

BLIND FREDDIE

As for the tone of the two competitors, the NTG-3 is uncannily similar to the Sennheiser. In a shootout between the NTG-3 and two 416s conducted in an overdub booth, virtually no difference could be detected between them. Both offered the same degree of voice articulation and deep bottom end. In the wash up, blind tests proved that no-one could pick one mic from the other with any confidence. All that could be noted was the difference in the aforemetioned width. Indeed, switching between the mics left everyone in the control room scratching their heads, one engineer even suggesting that if he hadn’t known beforehand, he would have thought he was listening to but one mic.

It was clear from this test that any tonal distinctions between the Rode and the Sennheiser are subtle indeed. Rode has obviously developed its NTG-3 with the 416 squarely in the cross-hairs and it’s done a remarkable job matching this tone.