I love the shure SM-57.

Fojar

New member
My god, if I had to choose one mic to use from now on, it would be this one. It's so freaking versatile, and so freaking durable.

One of my older ones fell off the stand today and cracked against a hard metal thingy and the top part broke completely off, a wire (I think) popped off and a metal thing sprung out. I just taped the top on and it worked perfectly.

I love you Shure SM57.
 
agreed!

... the sm57 is a classic. just about every high end studio in the world most likely has at least a few amidst their expensive mics. the inexpensive 57 is an opportunity for all of us starving artists to own a time tested quality piece of gear.
i love'em... use'em in the studio, and i sing on one live... probably always will.
peace - jv
 
Glad you guys love the 57, I have only one and never use it.

I have had a 58 too, but I gave it away.
 
I have six but it's been a few years since I've put one up. I have a 545SH that sees a lot more duty. Still, they ain't a bad mic. Seldom brilliant but they never totally suck.
 
a little dirt can be a good thing

... i liken the 57 to a well built old beater guitar, that sounds a little crappy, but in a cool way... ya know?
 
very nice indeed

... i don't think i knew what a 57 really sounded like till i heard it through a neve channel, and more recently through a great river mp2nv. man, michael, that is a great combination with that api pre(57+jensen transformers seems to be great).
this is a shot in the dark, but did you by any chance used to live and have a studio in ft collins colorado?
thanks for the clips - jv
 
No. Must be a different Michael.
Yep, the 312's are fantastic pres, and at roughly $500 per channel, its a no brainer for me.
I just bought 2 more off e-Bay.
I'm working on rounding out a "six-pack" for a drum kit.
Through in a pair of API 550b EQ's... damn near a dream channel!
 
I have a bunch of SM57 doing performance recording through a RAMSA console to Alesis ADAT, and they sound great. I run 'em on hat, snare, rack tom, and in front of the Marshalls.

ATM25 are for kick, floor tom, and bass cabinet.
 
michael,

... yeah, i looked around and found a picture of ya. i knew a michael jones who ran a studio in ft collins and moved to austin a while back... seemed worth asking.
good luck on getting more pre's on ebay. i unfortunately have to stick with lower end gear to own at home, and get to use the really good stuff in other studios.
peace - jv
 
Good question.
I have an MD441, but only one, so I wouldn't be able to do any stereo recordings with it to check it out.

I do have a pair of SM7's that I could run through the API's just for fun...

I did try the SM7's thru the 35102's (very nevesque) pres that I have and I just wasn't that impressed with them on piano. On voice, the SM7's are frickin' incredible!! I would expect the MD441 to be similar; great on vocals, but... maybe not so hot on piano.
Guess I have some playing around to do.
 
Michael, I have used 441's on a grand and it didn't sound bad at all. But recording piano has a lot to do with placement.
 
Re: very nice indeed

johneeeveee said:
(57+jensen transformers seems to be great).


That seems to be the key, at least from my observation. Something about teaming it with a quality transformer makes it sound a lot better.

I'm still not one to go singing zippity-doo-dah through the streets over it. I still think it's the most over-rated mic of all time. It's a decent mic -- very good, in fact for the price -- that has occasional flashes of brilliance. Which can pretty much be said of any mic, really.
 
Han said:
Michael, I have used 441's on a grand and it didn't sound bad at all. But recording piano has a lot to do with placement.
Placement; yeah... tell me about it! I'll get to re-learn all my placements when I get into the new studio.
Harvey has been instrumental (pun intended) in helping me with placement on my piano.
I think I've got it down pretty much now, at least for my style of playing, and my mics, and my gear, and my room, and....
 
I agree with Han and Chessrock that the 57 is highly overrated. I am also unwilling and unable to buy a $1000 per channel pre to get it to shine. I think it's good on snare and good on amp, but I also have mics that beat it on both sources.
 
cominginsecond said:
I agree with Han and Chessrock that the 57 is highly overrated. I am also unwilling and unable to buy a $1000 per channel pre to get it to shine. I think it's good on snare and good on amp, but I also have mics that beat it on both sources.

...i agree that by most industry standards, it's a pretty low rent sounding mic. i just happen to be one of those nutjobs that digs low rent. i also agree that a lot of the sound (obviously), comes from the source. for some reason, the 57 has quite often been the mic that captures my sound.
different strokes for different strokes and all that. we all dig what we dig and do our best to reproduce what we hear in our heads.
i mentioned this once in another thread, but i play a danelectro. i love the way that crazy idea of a guitar sounds. someone could offer me a paul reed smith for my dano, and i wouldn't even think of it. take from that analogy what you will.
i think the best thing about this forum is that we can all chime in with our two cents, and i hang out here to read all the other perspectives i can. i am all ears.
peace - jv
 
Interesting discussion about a mic that's so much loved by so many.
It's an el cheapo mic that sounds kind of decent on almost everything, but I've never heard a great sound of it.

It sounds great on snare? No, not great and the hat bleed sounds plain bad on it. A Beyer M201 sounds a hundred times better on snare.

But it sounds great on a guitar amp then? No, a Senny MD421 sounds way better on any amp, not to mention a 441.
A Beyer M88 or even an M69 sounds so much better on amps too.

But what is it good for ? Like I said, I never use it, but it's a good mic for PA jobs.

What I still don't get -and you'll find this on any audio forum- , is the overrating of a mic like the 57 and on the other side the underrating of a mic like the C1000S, which is too expensive for it's quality, but can sound pretty good in a number of applications.

Have a nice day!
 
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