The Rode M3 is a small diaphragm condenser microphone that is suited for a variety of purposes. It can be used in the studio like any mic, but also is great for bringing on the go for location recording and whatever else you might want to use it for. I'd say it's best suited for location recording for a few reasons. First off, it can run off of a 9 volt battery instead of using phantom power and has an indicator to show when it's running low. It also has a high pass filter at 80 Hz, a three setting pad (flat, -10 or -20 db), a cardioid pick up pattern, and the ability to pick up frequencies in the range of 40 Hz to 20 kHz.

OVERALL OPINION

The Rode M3 is a great all purpose microphone as it's flexible and sounds good almost anywhere you use it. While I've only used the mic inside of the recording studio, to me it seems best suited for recording on the go. I was definitely surprised to see the low price tag on the M3 considering all that it's good for. It definitely has a clear sound quality, picking up a lot in larger areas without almost any noise. In the studio I've tried the M3 for recording vocals and acoustic guitar at the same time, using it mostly as a mono room microphone. This is the only use that I've personally tried it for since a client brought the mic in to the studio I work at and wanted to use it for this purpose. I thought it sounded pretty good for this application as you got a nice and full picture of the performance even though it wasn't right up on any one thing. I still think it's best for recording on the go because of it's feature and the fact that a lot of condenser microphones will do a good job as a mono room. It's worth checking out for those looking for a single microphone on the cheap for their home studio or location recording.