So.. is my Shure SM57 DOA?

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wolverine1190

New member
Hey there, this is my first post on the forums.

So I decided I wanted to record some stuff with my guitar by micing up the cabinet instead of using some type of effects processor and going directly into my laptop. I did still want to go directly to my laptop however. So I purchased a Shure SM57 and a XLR to USB adapter. In a nutshell: one end of cord plugged into mic, the other end plugged into my laptop.

So I hook it all up, everything looks dandy. To test the mic I talk into it. Nothing... So I scream into it... Nothing. I scream into it again and then add 40 db of gain (in Audacity). Behind all of the insane hiss, my scream sounds like a whisper.

The adapter to go from XLR to USB has a gain control on it, so I think "Oh it must need more gain, that's all." The gain was maxed out. So I then figured, hey, it's a dynamic mic, and it needs more volume. That's all.

So I put the mic in front of my guitar cab and gave the amp some volume (this is a 50 watt tube amp). Nothing was being picked up by Audacity. I crank the amp, and all I hear is some annoying fizzy noise that supposedly is my guitar.

By this point I figured something is broken, whether it be the adapter I'm using or the microphone. My first guess was the adapter. I uninstalled and reinstalled it and tried different USB ports to no avail. So I then decided to see if the adapter was NOT broken. My amp head (Marshall JVM205) has an XLR out on the back of it. So I ran a cable from the amp's out into the adapter, and then into my laptop. Wahlah. Sound.. not good quality, but there was sound.

So I guess what I'm wondering is if this means my Shure SM57 is a lemon. I just bought it today, brand new. Or if I'm a complete newb (this is my first try at recordng this way) and I'm doing something really stupid... I really hope its the latter. Thanks for any help in advance guys. Sorry the post is so long.

EDIT: It would also stand to reason that the mic is NOT broken because it is indeed picking up sound, although extremely quietly. I'm baffled.

EDIT Again: So my volume pedal wasn't completely depressed when I cranked the amp before. This time I made sure it was and put the amp to about 5/10 on the MV and I do get sound. It sounds pretty good. I guess I didn't think it would take a 50 watt tube amp with the master volume at noon or higher to record. Is this normal or no? (sorry for all the edits, I'm experimenting as I go :P )
 
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  1. Take the SM57 to anyone with a PA, and try out that new mic. If it still works well (as I suspect), be thankful.
  2. Try your laptop on any site with audio, like YouTube. If the audio still works reasonably well, leave that horseshoe up your butt, no matter how uncomfortable it may feel.
  3. Get any decent interface. Now record properly, and enjoy.

The more I think about it, everything should actually be OK. It takes a preamp into the laptop to get any decent signal out of a microphone. That's why you need an interface. Well, other than using a cheap USB mic. So I doubt you overloaded anything, but you never know. Check everything twice, and feel lucky.
Use any interface, and get better tone, and almost no latency. Just plugging in will have a lot of delay when you overdub, and that will drive you freakin' bananas. Even the best factory desktop uses an audio card with maybe 18¢ worth of parts. Aftermarket cards can be great. But laptops use the absolute worst. You can't add an aftermarket soundcard to a laptop, so you are stuck with the crud they give you. That's why you use an interface as a glorified soundcard. But the headache is learning how to disable the internal card and use the interface as your soundcard every time you want to record.
 
Thanks for the reply. I guess I am just undereducated when it comes to recording. The microphone and the adapter are fine, from what I can tell. I think the adapter has a preamp (as it has a "gain" slider, but maybe that doesn't imply that?). I guess where I got confused was the volume required to get a decent signal from the microphone. As I said, the master volume on my amp has to be at 4/10 or 5/10. I figured this must be wrong since the microphone can be used for acoustic instruments and vocals... and there's no way they get as loud as a 50 watt tube amp. If a person ever sings that loud I don't know what I'll do ... lol.

Anyway, I'm assuming now that an "interface" or preamp are needed in order to use the microphone for vocals or acoustic instruments. Without an interface, the signal is much weaker, hence the reason I have to move so much air with my amp to get a good signal. With an interface/preamp, much less volume is needed. So, say I wanted to record my 12 string guitar. What would I need in order to do so? There's no way it's getting as loud as my Marshall haha.
 
I use a Lexicon U42S and it works well with my 57 on my marshall. Just recorded some Overtime tracks last week (BG vocals and guitars). Check it out on my link. I find I need to crank my U42S to get a decent signal into my DAW from a dynamic mic..
 
Hm.. ok I guess I just had misconceptions about how much volume was needed for decent levels from a microphone. Do you know what the type of increase in level the preamp in your Lexicon gives at max gain? There IS a preamp in the XLR to USB adapter I'm using, but I'm assuming it's a pretty weak one. The Shure model of the adapter has a preamp of 40 db and from what I read, that's not that powerful. I'm using an offbrand adapter so I'm assuming the preamp cant be any more powerful. From what I understand now, to be able to record an acoustic guitar or vocals using the sm57, it would require a more powerful preamp to boost the levels. Is this correct?
 
You have a problem which needs to be solved. At the moment, you're speculating on possible causes for the poor signal you are getting.

Wondering about these causes may result in you figuring something out, but I think you're at the stage where you need to do some testing.

Ranjam has provided a neat selection of things you can try, so it is worth your while now doing some of them to help eliminate (or confirm) some of the things you've been speculating about.
 
The adapter brand is Hosa Technology (really lame no name brand). Here's a link to the product page. It's very uninformative:

ht tp://w ww.hosatech.c om/product/340284/USX-110/_/Tracklink_Microphone_to_USB_Interface,_XLR3F_to_USB_Type_A,_10_ft

I'm a complete newb with this stuff so sorry for not being able to help out by giving more details. I'm just using that adapter, a Shure SM57 (as said before) and my laptop. That's it. In regards to ranjams tests, I don't know anyone who has or have access to a PA system, so I cant really do that. However, I have checked every single possible thing that could be causing the error from the laptop / adapter end and am almost 100% positive it is niether of those.

I recorded a video showing the hardware/mic and did some quick recording with it. It'll be on youtube soon and I'll get the link here as soon as it is.

(had to put some spaces in the URL linked above as it won't let me post links yet. Just delete them when you copy/paste it)
 
Yeah that's it ^^^ thanks for doing that. Bought it at a local Best Buy. Youtube video almost done uploading. Will be posted soon.
 
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It looks interesting, but there isn't a lot of info on it. It looks like it does have phantom power and some type of amplification. But it looks more like it is an A/D converter, and only 16 bit at 48KHz. I can't find if it compatible with USB 1.1, but does anyone still use 1.1? It might be OK, but I still think without any interface there will be latency. And the interface will let you select sampling rates and have more gain. For simple podcasting it might be awesome, and of course there's a YouTube video of it; YouTube - Hosa Tracklink Review by Acoustic Randall.
 
See if you can rent or borrow any condenser mic, preferably a large diaphragm type. If that works, then there's the answer. It might be a unity gain thing, and the volume control is more for volume limiting. Geez, for $50 you don't get something all that useful to you.
 
Alright I'll see what I can get access to. I know my neighbor has a mic (he plays / records guitar also) but he's out of town, it's our university's spring break this week. So it'll be a week at least before I can try and grab that from him. So I'm trying to make sure I understand this all completely. It MIGHT (but its not likely) be the microphone so I need to try some other ones. But it's probably not the microphone. So if I picked up a preamp with say... 100 db gain, would that do the trick? I still want to hang on to the XLR to USB adapter because I still want to go direct to PC. But if I got a preamp I could use that for my clean gain and then keep the gain on the adapter relatively low. Does this sound correct?
 
40dB of gain with regard to power is 10,000 times the power, with voltage it is 100 times the voltage, and be 16 times as loud. I'd have to do the math for 100dB. But you have the idea; any preamp is usable for this experiment. Even a cheap interface, since you have to spend maybe $500 or more on a preamp to get something noticeably better than a cheap interface. A $50 Tube MP would work for now. $100 buys you the M-Audio Fast Track. Something. Sure you can still use the cable, but I am still going to say I would expect latency when overdubbing. With say a podcast you don't overdub, so this cable would be fine, if you didn't have a dedicated USB mic. But an experiment or three will tell you more than I know.
 
Try this:


Control Panel >Sounds and Audio Devices:

Adjust the USB Audio Codec volume.

If you're not seeing that as an option you may need to install a new driver, or possibly just select the USB Codec under the Audio tab as your recording device to get that option to appear.

Also, from the Youtube clip I didn't get the idea that your amp is all that loud. 50-watt amp turned halfway up should peel paint off your walls. Your voice was much louder on that clip than the amp. Are you sure you have the output impedence on the amp set to match your cab???
 
c7sus said:
Try this:


Control Panel >Sounds and Audio Devices:

Adjust the USB Audio Codec volume.

If you're not seeing that as an option you may need to install a new driver, or possibly just select the USB Codec as your recording device to get that option to appear.

Also, from the Youtube clip I didn't get the idea that your amp is all that loud. 50-watt amp turned halfway up should peel paint off your walls. Your voice was much louder on that clip than the amp. Are you sure you have the output impedence on the amp set to match your cab???
Click to expand...

It's loud. When I'm talking I'm using the microphone built into my webcam. When I talk into the Shure you cant hear anything I say, as you see in the video. I should have clarified two different mics were being used. Believe me, I had the amp very loud when I put the mic on the cab. Also, the adapter is a driverless device :/ It's "supposed" to be plug and play. I have all the sliders maxed.
 
Everything has a driver. Did you check the volume in CP > Sounds and Audio Devices?
 
Sorry, I didn't mean it was "driverless." It just takes a generic windows driver. There is no driver made specifically for the device.
 
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