Rode M5 Small-diaphragm Condenser Microphone - Matched Pair Reviews

These things are great! Use them for drum overheads in home studio, and they have far exceeded my expectations!

Perfect for those who need overheads drum mics but are working within a budget

I purchased these on the recommendation of my sales engineer, Ian. Finally got to install them and work with them - and I am blown away. Powerful and amazing mics. Using them for auditorium sound input for our online streaming. They are going to be perfect for the task.

We use this microphone for recording sessions, live streaming of performances and boosting of audio levels of child performers and/or acoustic instruments when needed. These microphones give big sound while at the same time being easy to hide in plain sight due to their small size.

These mics worked so well. Audience members actually commented on how well all drum elements were in the mix. Cannot be beat for this price!

I got these for my church's children's Christmas program to pick the kids singing. They were fantastic: good sound, good sensitivity. ! I can't speak to how well they are matched, I just wanted two quality mics for a reasonable price. They definitely did what I needed them to do and I am looking forward to using them in other applications.

This is the best quality microphone in low price.Best for studio recording,live and other circumstances.....and also best for traditional stringed instruments and other over all in my opinion.... thanks Rode....for wonderful product..

Rode has always made nice sounding high end microphones. I was looking for overhead mics for my drums and decided to go with the Rode small diaphragm Match Pair M5 mics. I had heard them used in a nice drum productions and acoustic guitar applications and the sounded great.

I must say they are full spectrum sounding mics, they could be used on just about any instrument and do an excellent job. I was surprised to hear the beautiful low end to the M5's. Adding them as overheads, I used the attenuation switch on the mic and they sound great. In fact, because their sound is so true I set them up in multiple positions to see how the could be used. The overhead Binaural pattern worked very well.

If your looking for a great pair of mics for nearly any application, check out the RODE M5 matched Pair.

I am very happy with these microphones, and even more so considering the price point. I am using them as drum overheads in a live sound situation and the clarity I am able to achieve was a marked improvement over the overheads I've previously been using. They offered a pure representation of the drum kit without artificially coloring the sound and reproduced cymbal sounds beautifully. I'm looking forward to trying them in a studio situation and also on acoustic guitar.

I used a pair of these to mike a piano (in place of an old Barcus Berry transducer system which sounded like garbage.) They are smooth and predictable. Full and flat frequency response. I DID have to buy a separate dual mounting arm. I wish that piece had come with the matched pair, but it only cost $... extra to get.

I bought these because the Rode NT5 matched pairs were back ordered. I thought I would test and most likely return. Happy to report that very happy with these and at less than half the price. I don't know if the NT5s would be that much better, but for what I am doing I am very happy with this sets quality. Running to Motu M2. Bought a clamp and stereo bar so attach directly to the back of the music rack. No stands. Then to Digital Performer. My grand has PianoDisc ProRecord installed so I can bring in audio and midi at the same time. Works really well for great audio and then have the midi if I want to modify and send back to have the piano to play and then record that feed. Also link the M2 up to a GoPro with the media module so can pump out live feed with good video and sound.

Estoy feliz con estos microphone ase unos días los compre y ya los estoy utilizando y son una fiera en el estudio y en vivo gracias por poner una buena erramienta para los músicos

After doing a couple of sessions using these as drum overheads and micing a guitar amp, I am convinced that I made the correct choice with this matched pair. I think this is the deal for this price class. After using them, I don't even care that they didn't come with storage bags. I feel like every dollar went into the microphone build. But, don't take my word for it. Look up the frequency response patterns of these and the others in its price range. In comparison (especially in the mid to high frequencies) the m5s have a very even response. This comes through in the final product. Less "boxy" mids in the 2-3khz area and less of the exaggerated high end colorations (brittleness) which are common with small diaphragm condensers in this price range. Go with these for the price!

I'm using these in my little home studio. My microphone collection is fairly basic (SM7, SM57, AT2020, etc.) but they do the job. I was lacking a set of mics that "matched" for recording the drum kit using the infamous Glyn Johns method and the M5s proved to be a great choice. The drums sound realistic and the high end is much cleaner than I was getting before. They also worked great for acoustic guitar and percussion. Highly recommended.

Oh yeah, I forget to mention the usual superlative Sweetwater service and bag o' candy!!

My Rode M5 Small-diaphragm Condenser Microphone set is amazing. The purchasing process was a breeze and the packaging is always protects my fragile items in a secure manner. Thank you Sweetwater!

I got these to mic my Marshall which has two different Celestion speakers. I didn't want to mic one or the other, because I wanted to capture the sound Marshall created by using the vintage and modern speakers in series in my recording. Well I was amazed when I mic'ed it through my board to the PA. More depth , with, and character. I love the new sound.

I read about these before buying a set. I knew they were great for drum overhead mics and for instruments when I made the purchase. . Since then I've used them for instruments, overhead mics for percussion, and I've even put them on a boom inside a grand piano for concerts. Super clear! I really like the way they preform. If you need a pair of condenser mics for instruments and have a fixed budget then take a look at the Rode M 5's. They're worth the money.

These Rode M5 are definitely a great grab. I am using them as drum overheads in my home studio and they pick up clear, smooth and warm tones of the drum kit and cymbals with great balance.
I highly recommend them for home studio and live performances.

Cheers!

Wow! Drums sound great using these for over heads.I also used them on piano and acoustic guitars.
Get them you'll love them especially at this price. Shout out to Sweet Water for there continues customer
service.

I haven"t had a lot of time with these yet but so far I really like them. I"ve used them on acoustic guitar and random sampling chores and the results have been crystal clear and the fidelity is excellent. They also highlight what a crappy guitar player I am but I knew what I signed up for :-)
Great mics, I would definitely recommend them.

I"m a person who researches extensively before investing. With that being said, I read many reviews, what he"d the Rode production video, and listed to sample recording done with this microphone and am happy to say these mics did what I expected and so much more.

I have a small home studio with the gear it takes for any musician to walk in , plug in, and play. My goal has been to offer the best quality I could to make up for the lack is suze if my space, so I"ve had to really explore what works and what doesn"t. In a studio that is about 15"x15" , solid oak flooring and a well designed sound absorbing design throughout, its been requiring a lot of testing different equipment since 2011 to get the recording quality people expect.

With that being said, I bought the M5"s to use primarily as overheads for a 30 year old Pearl/Zildjian drum set. I"d previously used a variety of microphones for this purpose such as the Audix f15, AT 2050"s, and Blue mics Bluebirds. Each were good mics but all were give and take as to the key overall performance.

After two weeks I have finally settled into the M5"s as the answer I have been looking for. The M5 has a clear definition, smooth upper range with no unwanted harshness in the upper ranger. The lower range is not muddy. Adding the right compression and reverb brings my toms alive and make my 1970 Avedis ride shimmer!

I like that there is no roll off or pad and you can get exactly what is played and nothing more. The sound is clear and concise! I would recommend a matched pair to anyone recording live drums!

Fat Dog Studios

We added a vibraphone to our studio and needed a cost-effective way to get the depth and harmonics recorded. The obvious choice was a pair of the Shure SM81, the standard of vibe players everywhere... about $800 all in. We've got a collection of vintage ribbon mics, mostly B&O, but I wanted something to essentially leave set up and ready to go. We've never owned Rode mics, but had heard good things about them so... we decided to give it a try. They do the job and then some. To my ear, there's not $600 dollars worth of difference between the SM81 and the M5. They're that good. It's only been a week that they've been in service, but so far we're blown away by the price / performance ratio. My Sweetwater sales engineer highly recommends they, now I do too.

A lot of bang for the buck!! So far i've only used them as drum overheads in my project studio. I was blown away at the difference they made. I didn't anticipate the clarity and punch. I look forward to trying them in other applications.

The quality of these microphones is excellent. The casing is solid metal and feels well built and sturdy. The mics are much smaller than I anticipated, which can make trickier placements much easier! The sound is so crisp and clear, and they are very low noise. I couldn't be happier, especially for the price!

I've had this set for about 3 years. I keep them mounted on a small stereo bar, one higher than the other by it's diameter, in an X-Y array about 100-degrees pattern. It's always with me, whether mounted to the shoe of my back-of-house video camera to pick up room tone (and stereo applause) or on-stage to pick up small vocal ensembles.

I shoot a barbershop a cappella show every year, and the mics always seem to be a challenge for the venue to get properly aligned and tuned, or they try to use two mic-stands with SM58s to simulate something they saw done elsewhere (with disastrous results). This year I offered them my Rode M5 X-Y setup, giving all of my technical arguments, plus they are small and black, not getting in the way too much for better stage appeal.Barbershop quartets typically are about arms-length or a little further from the mics, ideally in a semi-circle, but often in a straight line, meaning the outer two singers are further away (not much you can to about that). Often there is a wedge or two on the apron. These mics sounded awesome! No feedback issues, good balance between the tenor and bass vocalists (usually bass is booming while tenor is weak) and no phase issues. Even better (for me, the videographer/photographer) they weren't annoying eyesores! We used them again for the afterglow event (cast party) with great success.

These mics are good for Choir, All I need is one of these for 14 kids Choir and they sounded really great.

I bought the matched pair around Christmas 2016 time . I had been looking for a more natural sound for my Gibson J185ec jumbo. I have always had great sound live but have been searching for a great sound for recording and the M5's have been the best I have tried so far. Especially for my budget! I am a Rode fan and have a 1 NT1-A. It sounded good for guitar, but I was looking for a little more warmth and got it with M5's. Their light weight also is a plus for mic placement. I am sure there are some great mics out there but these provide the sound I like and you can't beat that price.

Doing a second orchestra Recording with these as i type this. Seriouslyblown away im using the along side ldc mics worth $2500 + and for the second time these wind up the primary stereo pair in my stereo image about 6 to 7 feet back on both sides of the instrument section 7-10 feet in from of the choir i mean the strings sound forward almost close miced but sweet and not shrill like some sdc mics do to violins when too close very very worth the money and beyond

The only drums mics I was left to buy were overheads, and when I got these I was blown away at how great these sounded. And for the price, wow. Perfect mics for anyone, for any budget.

Thank you so much for recommending the Rode M5 Matched Pair Microphones. I am totally delighted with them. Wonderful clear pickup!

Recently added a Beta 52, Sm57 and a set of these for our drum set at rehearsal.

I couldnt be happier with my investment. I purchased the whole set hoping they would be able to be used for recording as well as live sound. We all use IEMs for rehearsal and the 4 mic setup more than adequately reproduces the kit. I cant wait to try them out in the studio! Well worth it. I planned to upgrade later but doubt I will have to.

It would be far easier to state what I don't like about then than what I do, but don't take this as a cynical review. These are brilliant mics for the money. I've used them in a Glyn Johns setup around my kit and they really capture the cymbals well. The body of the snare seems to be lacking somewhat, but, then again, I am recording in an untreated bedroom, so take that with a grain of salt. I actually use these for field recording much more than I do in the studio. My only legitimate complaint is that occasionally I'll hear a metallic "tink" sound in the recording from one of the microphones. I do my very best to keep them out of direct sunlight, handle them with the utmost care, store them in a dehumidified case with my other mics. They're $100 a piece, same as a Shure SM57, so I don't expect them to last long. They sound decent, but I do believe the NT5s would be a better choice. $200 for SDCs is laughably impressive, I'll admit.

I've exclusively used these as drum overhead mics and love the sound on the cymbals/room. These are the only Rode mics I've ever used (I use Audix D6 and i5 for kick/snare respectively). Def recommend for someone on a budget trying to get a great drum overhead sound. I've rated 4.5 only because they're the only DO's I've ever used as a pair (previously I was using a large cardiod overhead).

I recently used these mics in 2 different scenarios: first was as a stereo room set to mic up a 3 piece acoustic show and second was as drum overheads in ORTF pattern. In the first scenario, I had them placed on a stereo bar on a mic stand about 7 feet up pointed generally to capture different aspects of the room we were playing in. Guitars and vocals were amplified so I took note to avoid to main speakers. This captured the room and ambience perfectly.

Second was ORTF overheads for drums in addition to close mics. This configuration was mounted to a stereo bar as well. I've used these previously in a spaced pair scenario for overheads as well and was pleasantly surprised at the results. The ORTF was just as pleasant. Nice crisp highs and warm mids. Not overly boomy or shrill. These are great mics for a great price and I definitely look forward to using them more in different capacities in the future. But for drum overheads and stereo room miking, you can't beat them for the price. The mic clips are very solid (even coming with the Euro-threaded adapters) and also come with wind guards for the front of the mics (which I used in the room miking situation). My ONLY gripe with this set is lack of a case or pouch to store/transport them in, so half star taken off. But the box is quite sturdy so I just store and transport them in that. All in all, great purchase and I look forward to getting many great tones from them in the future.

Use them primarily as drum overheads and for acoustic guitar/ukelele. Through some decently clean interface preamps, they sound wonderful; brighter and snappier than my LDCs, but not brittle or harsh. I would have paid at least twice as much as I did for these. 1/2 stars off only because one of them produces a very loud pop when the mic cable is touched. Not a critical issue though

Purchased Rode M5 to mainly use them as overheads for Drumset. Love it. Captures the highs of cymbals beautifully without sounding too bright.

Works beautifully when micing drum set using 4 mic only (bass, snare and overheads).

Used it on percussion and acoustic guitar too and love it.

Have mostly used it during Live/stage situation.

Statisfied with the purchase. Sweetwater sales team is excellent. Thank you Sweetwater!

I have only used these for drum overheads. So, take this review for what it's worth to you. However, I can say that I have been recording drums in the same space for several years. So, I kind of have a baseline idea of how to differentiate the sound of OH mics in my studio. Before I got these, I was using a pair of SM81s. I got the M5s because they were small enough to use on a stereo bar without a lot of fuss and I liked that they were matched. But, I was really more interested in experimenting with stereo bar overhead micing configurations than I was with experimenting with a new pair of overhead mics. And these mics were inexpensive enough to buy just for that purpose. I figured I'd go back to the SM81s when I wasn't using the stereo bar. But, after about 8 months of using these almost exclusively as drum overheads (in a spaced pair and on the stereo bar), I can say I am really fond of them. It is so hard to evaluate a microphone. The source, the room, the player . . . these are all variables that affect a mic's "sound." But since I mostly record myself in the same place, I can say with confidence that these are probably the best drum overheads I've used (and I've used much more expensive mics over the years). They add a certain shimmer and sparkle on my cymbals. Other mics I've used now seem dull by comparison. Some people may call this a "hyped" top end. But these mics don't sound harsh or brittle to me. "Sweet" is the term I would use. I don't eq the top end at all because I think they are perfect on my cymbals and in my space. Meanwhile, the lows and mids are very natural sounding with a sweet top end. That's how I would described these mics: natural sounding with a sweet top end.

We just used a matched pair of Rode M5 microphones at a recent string quartet concert. Sound was excellent distinctly picking up each instrument's output. The 2 microphones were placed in front of the quartet in cross position using a slide bar mounted on a microphone stand.

Doing live sound at a music venue in suburban Chicago, I needed a pair of overheads. I love my 451's, but I don't like dragging them around with me to bars and night clubs, so I needed to buy something that performed, but wouldn't find me throwing my power tie over a rafter in the garage if they got lost, damaged, or stolen. Did a lot of reading, and found these. Have been hearing good things about Røde. Not expecting a huge surprise, I was very pleased when I got one.

They have a higher noise floor than I like in a microphone, but for the application, it was manageable, given the levels. And the high 140db headroom made short work of setup, with an S/N that is quite respectable at this price point. Could benefit from a roll off switch, but that's a small matter. The response is smooth, with just enough presence rise to lift the position in the mix, and the top end is detailed without being overbearing. A touch of shelving, a bit of gate, and we're off to the races.

Stereo recording is very easy. With nice detail, smooth mids and bottoms, and a fairly unencumbered sound. For field recording these are a good choice.

They handle well, don't take up much room in the kit, are small enough that they don't distract, visually, on stage, and the matte finish lets them blend well into the back ground despite spotlighting.

And the high headroom makes them a good, general purpose microphone. Another pair will be added to the kit this spring.

Good performance. Excellent value. Right price. Why woudn't you?

I've been working with a rock group for awhile and we needed something for overheads and a couple of acoustic guitar tracks. These bad boys are sweet, they pick up the snare better than the 57 we've got on the underside of it. A lot of band for the buck. Thanks Justin!

Good for the money. Don't get overloaded too easily with cymbal crashes. I wish the mics were a bit thicker so they could fit into a standard Shure clip, but they are good mics for the price.

This is the third pair of these that I've purchased.

They would be good sounding, useful all around, small diaphragm condenser mics at twice the price.

One of the best microphone bargains out there.

Gotta say these mics are insane for the money especially running into a good quality pre like the Audient ASP800.

Was looking to get a nice pair of microphones to record some acoustic guitar and just be able to record more sources in general. I looked at the Rode M3 and some other matched pairs, but at their price point these seemed to shine and having 2 (good mics) for stereo applications at this price seemed almost too good to be true. Honestly thought I would have to spend more money to get the good quality; however these do the trick. Sounds great on acoustic, stereo pair or single mic; sounds decent on vocals.

Using these mics for a group of 10 singer so needed a sensitive condenser. These sound great.

I've had these for several years and I've literally never had them end up on any final product. They are noisy, they will pick up radio frequencies, they aren't the best sounding, but they are cheap. So two stars instead of one for the price.