Audio-Technica AT4021 Cardioid Condenser Microphone Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a sweet little small-diaphragm condenser. It is near-ruler-flat from 20-20KHz. Getting those extremes -- 15K-20Hz and especially 20-50Hz -- is unusual in an affordable cardioid SDC.
I like this mic for general acoustic ensemble or instrument recording because of the extended low and high-end (really sweet lows). It is very popular on acoustic guitars, and wherever you want to capture the shimmer up top (choirs, drum overheads). I've gotten agreeable full-range jazz drum kit tracks by setting one up level with the top of the kick, a foot out in front of the kit.
Another mic to consider at this price/performance point is the Shure SM81 Instrument Microphone (it has just the slightest bit of color compared to the 4021, and a narrower frequency range, but it is a classic clean bright sound for this kind of thing). You can find sound samples of this and other comparable mics by searching for SDC microphone shootout on the web.
You may also be weighing this against Rode NT5 Matched Pair Recording Condenser Package (or you were back when this was $250). I think the 4021 sounds a tad better than the NT5 as a single mic, a little less hyped upper mid. But if you are planning on using two as a stereo pair, you might prefer the NT5 matched pair, because its off-axis response is more suitable for stereo recording. The off-axis response of the 4021 is pretty interesting -- it stays flatter for the mid- and higher-frequencies, and drops off for the lows. That's backwards from many mics. It means it's more forgiving about placement for something like an acoustic guitar or cymbal. But it also means your stereo image will smear towards the center with coincident stereo miking techniques, except for the low frequencies (exactly where coincident imaging is less effective anyway).
So if you use a pair of these for stereo, set up non-coincident, ORTF or even as you might place omnis. I get really pleasing results with a 4021 pair inside a grand piano, in an ORTF configuration nearly centered inside with one pointing to the high hammers and one pointing to the low strings at the back of the piano.

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