I generally steer clear of microphones specifically marketed for vocals. Past experiences have taught me that vocal mics are typically not “my thing,” as many in this category tend to be fairly bright and aggressive in the high end. There are obviously exceptions, but I personally prefer a neutral-voiced, warmer-sounding microphone for vocalists, and I only have one in my collection that’s pretty open and bright in character – and I went through a lot of different options over the years trying to find just the right one to round out my mic collection.
I was ecstatic when Nordic Audio reached out to me about their new NU-24K microphone that they were about to release. Although I’d had the chance to briefly audition a few of their microphones in other studios over the years, it felt ideal to finally spend some time with one in my own space. They were purposefully vague on the details, as they wanted to hear my feedback without any bias, only saying that it would be a more budget-friendly, cardioid-only microphone designed for vocals. That last part was slightly discouraging. I figured – worst case scenario – it would probably sound really good but maybe not the best fit for my taste.
Nordic Audio requested that I film my initial reactions the first time I plugged in the NU-24K. The video of this moment is on their website, and mirrors all of the thoughts written here as I play a very familiar acoustic guitar in front of it. The first thing that stood out to me was definitely the mic’s noise floor. You can see me pause a few times during the video, as I couldn’t quite articulate what I was hearing. Not only was the noise floor really low, but it was somehow different. Martin Kantola (Head Designer/CEO) later explained to me that many FET microphones have a bit of an ugly, shrill hiss to the noise floor. Martin had somehow shaped the noise on the NU-24K to mimic that of a Neumann U 47 with a very “happy” VF14 tube inside. He described it more as an ocean in the background rather than hiss, and that’s the perfect illustration. I’ve never heard anyone talk about actively and consciously shaping the noise floor like that on a microphone, and it’s brilliant in both concept and practice.