There are many reviews of the Australian RØDE M5 microphone, but all for instrumental or choral applications. That’s why I decided to try it for more typical voice/vocal use for radio/TV and audiobooks. I love the results, especially when combining with a “foreign” accessory, the enormous Shure A81WS windscreen/pop filter which has been used for decades at US presidential inaugurations and I have covered previously. Fortunately, the RØDE M5 is among the very few available microphones with an appropriate diameter to fit, and quite perfectly. Ahead I’ll tell you more about this great sounding mic, which is only available as a pair for ≈US$200, so they cost ≈US$100 each. You’ll also get to hear an unprocessed recording, as well as the processed ones from my recent episodes.

About the RØDE M5

The RØDE M5 (Amazon — B&H) is a condenser microphone that requires phantom power.

It has a standard cardioid pattern, and its frequency response is nearly flat from 20 Hz to 20 kHz.

As indicated in the introductory paragraph, the RØDE M5 is only available in a matching pair, and comes that way in a single box. Although it includes two mounts and two thin windscreens, I didn’t use any of those. Instead, I used the accessories covered ahead.

About the Shure A81WS

As I have covered in past articles, the A81WS (Amazon — B&H) is an enormous windscreen and pop filter that I love, both for its pop protection and esthetic look. The A81WS has been used in US presidential inaugurations for decades. There are very few microphones that have the appropriate diameter for the A81WS, and the RØDE M5 (Amazon — B&H) is fortunately one of them!

Recordings and what I used to make them

The above is an uncompressed mono WAV file, so it is substantially heavier than the other two below. For this untreated test recording (other than normalization), I used the the RØDE M5 microphone (Amazon — B&H), the RØDE SM4 shock absorber (Amazon — B&H), the Zoom H5 recorder (Amazon — B&H) and the Shure A81WS (Amazon — B&H) enormous windscreen/pop filter.

For the BeyondPodcasting episode above (light MP3), I used the RØDE M5 (Amazon — B&H), the RØDE SM4 shock absorber (Amazon — B&H), the Heil PL2T boom arm (Amazon — B&H) the Shure A81WS enormous windscreen/pop filter (Amazon — B&H), the Tascam US-1×2 interface (Amazon — B&H). Cielo de la Paz used a Blue Yeti microphone and we connected via Cleanfeed.

For the Tu salud secreta episode above (light MP3), I used the RØDE M5 (Amazon — B&H), the RØDE SM4 shock absorber (Amazon — B&H), the Heil PL2T boom arm (Amazon — B&H) the Shure A81WS enormous windscreen/pop filter (Amazon — B&H), the Tascam US-2X2 interface (Amazon — B&H).

Both Tascam items are interfaces (preamplifier and A-to-D converters) which I’ll be reviewing soon. As you probably imagined, the Tascam US-1×2 (shown above, Amazon — B&H) only has one microphone input (since I was alone in the studio and conversed with Cielo de la Paz via Cleanfeed for BeyondPodcasting), while the Tascam US-2X2 (shown below, Amazon — B&H)

has two microphone inputs, since Doctora Monsterrat was in the studio with me, using the matched RØDE M5 microphone and the same windscreen, shockmount and boom arm. The voices used in each show’s opening, bridges/bumpers and closing were pre-recorded separately and I don’t know what microphones were used for them.

During the recordings, I used the brandable isolating CB-1 headset from Status Audio (reviewed here, Amazon).

Conclusions

I think that the RØDE M5 (Amazon — B&H) and the Shure A81WS (Amazon — B&H) work great for close range vocal/voiceovers. What do your ears say? Let me know in the comments below.

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FTC disclosure

No manufacturer is specifically paying Allan Tépper or TecnoTur LLC to write this article or the mentioned books. Some of the other manufacturers listed above have contracted Tépper and/or TecnoTur LLC to carry out consulting and/or translations/localizations/transcreations. Many of the manufacturers listed above have sent Allan Tépper review units. So far, none of the manufacturers listed above is/are sponsors of the TecnoTur , BeyondPodcasting or TuNuevaRadioGlobal programs, although they are welcome to do so, and some are, may be (or may have been) sponsors of ProVideo Coalition magazine. Some links to third parties listed in this article and/or on this web page may indirectly benefit TecnoTur LLC via affiliate programs. Allan Tépper’s opinions are his own.

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