Rode NT1 vs Lewitt LCT 440 Pure - I Finally Found a Microphone I Like Better (Budget Mic Review)

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Today we check out how our beloved Rode NT1 compares to the new kid on the block, the Lewitt LCT 440 Pure. In this budget microphone review, lets see how this all plays out...many of you guys know how I feel about these two mics....so this is going to get interesting :)

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[AudioHaze]

I forgot to mention, Lewitt DID send me this mic to review. This hasn't had an effect on my perception though, I've been a fan for years.

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[BillAnciaux]

I’m with you and went with the Lewitt myself. Comparable mics from great companies. You bring something fresh to this space on YouTube. Love your Channel.

[coffeehigh]

omg dude I dont' know whats doin' here, but I like watching you talking about mics as you actually talk into the one you are talking about while simultaneously explaining the mic you are mixed

[Neverwho]

I've recently picked up 440 pure (and thank you for covering that mic, helped me a lot to actually decide to go 440 route), and dang i love that thing. Really nice tone and man was I impressed with room/background noise rejection it provides. I live right next to the road - and a pretty noisy one i must say - so i always avoided condensers due to them being really sensitive. But right now it sounds like I get more outside noise with my sm7b compared to lct 440 pure. Maybe it's just me, you know, "loving the new one better".

But yeah, I would agree that shock mount is a little bit underperforming. So apart from living right next to the road, I live right above the subway line, so when train passes, I can hear it on recording, even though tapping on the stand or table doesn't get transferred to the recording. When it comes to pop filter, yeah, it could've been better, but I'm fine with trading a bit of effectiveness in favor of convenience and really slick looks :)

So once again, thank you for your videos! Helps a lot!

[axelmont]

Thanks a lot, man! I'm about to buy my first "good" mic, and I've been checking out a lot of your videos, they really helped.
I've been jumping from the AT2035 to Rode's NT1 and NT1a, to really liking the LCT 440.
I think this video was what I needed to finally make a decision. I'm going with the LCT 440.
It seems to fit perfectly with my circumstances: I have a low-mid baritone voice (not quite as deep as yours), and no acoustic treatment where I'll be mostly recording.
And in my country there's a considerable price difference, the NT1 is at least 70.000 ARS while you can get an LCT 440 for 57.000 ARS.

[walterhenry]

His well explained theory helped me understand his point and draw my personal concussions, definitely one of the best YouTuber on this kind of thing, I have had the incredible privilege to come across! Became a subscriber & fan, about four days ago, never regretted it, with any video watch.I love descriptive converters. questions rarely even come up!😪👏🏾

[SinnedToy]

The Lewitt sounds like a winner. However, the one thing I noticed (and the singer mentions this) is that the dynamics aren't as strong. Almost like the Lewitt has compression built-in.

[sonusaurelius]

I like that you interviewed the artist about the mic. A perspective often missing from reviews.

[CharLessMajorMusic]

I like how the lewitt rejects the room in the singing test.. and I think that makes it easier to eq in a mix than the nt1. Can’t wait for mine to arrive..

[nicolastartaras]

This is a great review! I have been looking for a new mic and I think this made me choose the Rode though, I've been torn between the 2 for ages

[MelborneMoon]

Thanks for another great vid! Both the NT1 and 440 Pure are wonderful mics. You may or may not remember, in your review of the Neumann TLM 102, I commented that I owned the NT1 and was interested in either the TLM 102 or 103. One thing I neglected to mention, was I also own a 440 Pure. I had convinced myself that I slightly preferred the NT1 on my voice. Anyhow… mildly interesting story… I did end up buying the TLM 103. It’s a beautiful mic and I loved it. HOWEVER… just for kicks, I put it up against the 440 on my voice. Put the capsules right next to each other and then recorded both at the same time. I did this on two different songs, in a fairly well-treated room. Results? On one song, I, ever so slightly preferred the 103. But, on the other, I clearly preferred the 440. It sat in the mix effortlessly, without eq. Long story short.. while I still think the 103 is wonderful, I returned it and am now using the 440 most of the time. One other perhaps interesting thing… on the one song that I slightly preferred the 103 on, I tried some simple eq to see if I could get close to the 103 sound. I boosted approx 3db around 100hz and cut approx 3db around 4K. I then set up Ableton to easily A/B them and closed my eyes while doing so. Basically, I couldn’t tell the difference between them. I even guessed wrong a couple of times. I learned so much from this experience. Thanks again for the great vids!

[BlasiusKarachus]

The difference in the two guitar recordings is amazing. The Lewitt sounds much better!
I guess, i have to get this.
Thanks for the comparison.

[timothymchugh]

I feel like the Lewitt would have been the winner in the guitar recording for it's detail, but there was a weird, distracting rumble. Do you notice it? Maybe it's to do with the shock mount issue you mentioned. On Ursula's voice the Rode, to my ears, sounded much more natural and flattering. The Lewitt was just too sibilant for her particular voice. It does sounds good on your voice, though. Good vid.

[yona]

Using a pair of dt 900 pro x’s and it’s interesting how it plays into the strengths of the 440 pure. The dt 900s are quite dark and you hear every last detail if the room something was recorded in, so when the song at the end started it was always immediately obvious to me which mic was which, even though I was kind of just letting the video play in the background while doing something else. (I already have a 440, no beed to convince me it’s good xD) It was such a huge difference I was actually surprised enough to write this comment. The main difference to me really is the room rejection, the 440 just handles that so incredibly well. Great review as always!

[mykehart]

The Lewitt was way too boomy on the guitar with some weird background noise. On vocals the lewitt was a bit too bright and plosive (needs a better pop filter). I think the NT1 was better. NT1 would require less post processing in the final mix. I would do probably a high pass and low pass roll off on the lewitt plus some mid high freq tweaking, as with the rode NT1 I would just do a little bit of tweaking as it sounded pretty good out of the gate. I think the NT1 wins for her voice and guitar, based off the highly compressed youtube audio and using AKG k371 and k361 headphones. Great video and much appreciated.

[teashea]

These are both excellent microphones. Good video. Organized and articulate.

[ESSHfact]

As you can see from my channel, I have songs I recorded with mxl 990 but my voice is in a dark tone. I want to switch to Lewitt 440, but will its brightness turn out the darkness in my voice? And what kind of change would it be, I wonder if it's worth it? What is your suggestion, the reason why I chose lewitt catches my eye in more modernist works.

[ghal]

LCT 440 is an incredible mic for the money. Anyone who doesn't know much about this stuff and just wants a fantastic sound for minimal fuss should grab one. I spent countless hours/days/weeks/months messing around with other mics for voiceover, ranging from a Yeti (which sounded like ass) to an SM57 (which sounded very good but had a hundred finnicky drawbacks like picking up hum and needing excessive gain and complicated EQing... and still at the end of all that didn't sound nearly as natural as the 440). Bought a 440, spent about 10 mins applying the simplest of EQ and some expander to catch mouth noise and breathing, spoke 30 deg off axis (but still centered on the mic's polar pattern) to avoid plosives and take a bit of the edge off... amazing results. Easy and done. This is what mics should be but so rarely are unless you spend thousands. Can't recommend it enough. The only down side is that the mount and pop filter now appear to be plastic, not metal. But at this price I'm amazed they were ever not plastic.

[hellenicissues]

All the Lewitt's to me sound rough in the high frequencies more like a dynamic mic. The Rode NT1 wins out on both vocals and guitar for me. Try putting them up against the AT 4040.

[kevinmusso]

You have an excellent sounding voice. Resonant tone. You sound like a broadcaster. I know, because I am a radio/TV personality of 38 years.