As a full-time voice coach, I take singing pretty seriously. I really like having a reliable workhorse microphone to hand whenever I need one – enter the Rode M1. If you’re looking to pick one up, here’s a direct link to Amazon for the M1.
Summary: Want/need a workhorse mic but find the standard SM58 too muddy/indistinct? The Rode M1 is the answer. A very modern sound, solid lows, a beautifully thick yet sweet midrange, and crisp top end.
Full Story
A while ago I was on a shopping binge to kit out my studio with some new gear, and decided to treat myself to a new general purpose dynamic mic. I already have a great mic – the Electrovoice N/D 967 – but it’s a little aggressive in the upper mids. This works great for cutting through a live mix with electric guitars, bass, loud drums, etc, but it’s a little aggressive and ‘in-your-face’ for some more acoustic styles of music or low key settings. I wanted something smoother in the top end, but still with an extended silky top end. Based on various clips, reviews and recommendations I opted for the Rode M1.
What did I think?
I had a solid testing experience with it the week I got in. I performed with it live in the morning, out again performing in the evening (it’s the afternoon right now), and I did some recording for an hour or two that afternoon to test it out running direct. Here are my initial but reasonably detailed findings.
My opinion: Someone on the Rode website gave a review that it’s like the illegitimate love-child of an SM58 and a Shure Beta 87A – to my ears, this describes it pretty darn well. It features the smoothness and musical compression you might associate with an SM58, but without the muddiness or muted top end you might associate with an SM58. It also features the clarity, crispness and tonal even-ness of the Beta 87A, but without getting harsh or fatiguing. It’s also beautifully meaty, no wooliness like the SM58 can often be accused of.
Live: This was leading at church, varied songs, but nothing heavy. To give you an idea of material, it was leaning very much towards acoustic emotive pieces. The mix on stage wasn’t great, but my feeling on the whole thing was that M1 sounded (and physically felt) very solid in the low mids, with a smooth and controlled top end (never got harsh) but still carried over clarity and nuance in the upper mids and treble frequencies (something I feel the SM58 doesn’t do to my tastes). In short, I felt it performed well… I certainly felt good using it… but I can’t be particularly analytical on the live set because of the nature of it.
The evening meant we had some more time to fiddle with the EQ to fit it in with the band, and the only things that needed to be adjusted were due to quirks of that room and that system. Really silky top end. Again, it felt really solid to listen to even from onstage.
Recording: I wanted to record some dry vocals to get a feel for what sort of signal the M1 sends out, i.e. what is the sound desk getting and how much do they need to tweak to get a workable mix for a given style. So, to get a feel for how it would respond to different styles, I recorded single takes of some varied songs: Queen ‘Hammer to Fall’, Daniel Bedingfield ‘Nothing Hurts Like Love’, AC/DC ‘You shook me all night long’ and George Michael ‘Kissing a fool’.
In short, I’m really impressed by the versatility of the microphone. It responded more like an instrument than a tool, in that it responded to the nuances of each song to give a rounded take that would fit each style. The only one I thought could be improved with some added warmth would be ‘Kissing a fool’, but I think that is my fault as for something that croonerish I should’ve gone for added proximity effect. Again, the fault of the musician (me!) rather than the instrument.
I’m particularly pleased with the sweet but clear top end of this mic. Almost condenser like, but smoother than that, and useable in an onstage live environment more easily than a handheld condenser. Really captures top end harmonics, but makes them sound fat and juicy, rather than harsh and brittle. Adds real weight to your voice, but not unnaturally so. Certainly not boomy. In fact, the top end is so good on this mic, I don’t think I’d have any problem using this in the studio for recording.
To conclude the longer recording section, I can hear this mic working for more or less any style of music. It’s a true singer’s mic, one where if the vocal performance/track doesn’t cut mustard, the issue will be the performer… not the mic. That said, I don’t think it’s an overly unforgiving mic, though the clear top end means it is far more honest than an SM58 or other dynamics, so certainly less forgiving than some dynamics.
Build: Feels industrial. Solid metal body. Robust grille. Heavier than an SM58, but I like that – feels like a real instrument. There’s also ‘something’ about the XLR connection point. It looks and ‘feels’ far more secure and solid than others. Not that I’ve ever thought others looked inferior, but something about the M1 (not sure what!) stands out to me as a cut above others I’ve seen and used.
Overall: As stated above, if you want a workhorse mic that is useable for most everything, but without the muddiness/indistinctness that some people dislike about the SM58, then the Rode M1 is the answer. Quite honestly it’s got (IMO) the perfect sort of balance I look for in mics.