Hi Randini. It looks like a nice mic for stereo recording, but if I were you I would try to test it with the VX2000 before buying (if possible). If the mic output levels are at all on the low side then the finer points could be swamped by the VX2000's hissy input stage. Also, since it is designed to be mounted on a stand, check whether there is likely to be any problem with handling noise when it is mounted on the cam.

Richard Hunter

I was looking at the NT4 earlier this summer. Bought the NT5 (stereo matched pair) instead. Nearly same price. I believe they contain the same elements - the real difference being that you can put them close together or wide apart as you wish. Have not used them for real yet, so I can't comment on their quality. Reputation is excellent, though - for both.
Tor

I love Rode (have NT1A for VOs) but please say after me "I will not mount this on a camera"!

This is an X-Y stereo microphone, you'll see these kinds of mics hanging in just about every concert hall. They've been carefully positioned to capture just the right amount of ambience, should be picking up 70% direct 30% reflected sound. You could get away with mounting it on a stand if you can get it in the right place in the auditorium.

You may do better with a midside mic and I think you can get one that's fairly directional which wouldn't be too sensitive to placement. But no mic should be on a camera if you're serious about sound (which we all should be).

You need to be very careful recording live music in stereo, certain mics will give wonderful stereo that literally falls apart in mono. If your material is for theatrical release only, not an issue, for TV it can be a problem. I don't hear this advise given very often but always check you audio in mono.

I picked up an AudioTechnica AT822 stereo microphone on eBay (love that eBay!) for $200 a few months back. I use an isolation mount on my VX2000 to hold it, and I use the Vegas Noise Canceling plugin to remove any traces of the very minimal camera noise picked up by the mic. Very, very, nice sound.

I'm not a pro in this business, but I suspect that by the time you get to this quality level, any additional obvious quality improvements come at a great price. Specs on the AT822 are very good, and I don't know how much better the Rode stereo mic is.

I bought the NT4 for capturing wild ambient sound for my narrative sound design. It does a nice job of imaging a wide space. It probably isn't suitable for a camera since it's stereo field is so wide.

Many camera mics tend to have a bit of a "zoom" in their pattern, compressing more of the L/R sides into the center of the mix. The amount of "zoom" is usually some form of compromise to provide a suitable stereo image for the zoom at all focal lengths. There is even a "zoomable" mic out there somewhere. Not sure where.

Finally, if you believe your sound may be collapsed to mono or you are using a stereo mic to record dialogue (which you shouldn't) consider a side-firing mic instead of X-Ypair.

A side-firing mic has one element pointing straight forward and one pointing to one side. A process of phase correlation derives a left-right image from the two. If you wish to collapse your stereo image to a reliable monoaural image, simply discard the side-firing channel and use the forward facing channel alone.

Michael