The "forgotten" rival to the Shure SM57

C

chessparov

New member
When people ask "what's the best all round dynamic microphone for under $100"
the usual answer is the Shure SM57.
However...

Another fine sounding microphone is the Electro-Voice EV 635a that you can
pick up in good condition used for around $60 or less.
It's an omni(!) so it's easier to sing with live or in the studio, than a cardiod
pattern dynamic like the '57. You may just have to "eat it" at about an inch
or two away since it will otherwise pick up more of the room ambience.
It also does a pretty good job on acoustic guitar, not as well as a condenser
for studio work, but can be fine for live.
This microphone is a favorite with the noted engineers, Scott Dorsey and Bob Ohlsson
BTW. Elvis even recorded a couple of his early RCA hits with it, though I wish I knew
the specific titles. Many classical recordings were done with a pair of these in the 60's
and 70's, although there are affordable matched pair SD condensers superior to
the 635a nowadays. This is THE classic broadcast microphone for "the man in the street"
type interviews.

Just thought you may want to know...

Chris
 
agreed

someone on the tape op board posted a few samples of electric guitar through some different preamps with a 635 and a 57.

i like the 635 better almost all time.

not much on top or bottom, but very natural sounding. total lack of boxiness or hype. easy to picture the tracks sitting nicely in the mix.

and you can get them for less than $60! i see them go for $30 sometimes. cant lose.
 
EV has an entire x57 line of dynamics that are decent mics. I have an old EV257 that I use occasionally. They are all pretty good for live mics and comparable to the 57/58's.
 
but on stage

if ur using it on stage with monitors omni mics create alot of negative feedback, something that the 57 or 58 doesnt
 
Suspicious minds, he used them live. My school used to use them for assemblys and shit, till I got them. Rather dishonestly. My bands backdrop was a flag from the local perkins I took as a senior prank. :cool:
 
Yeah, the 635A IS a fantastic guitar cab mic. I first read about it in this interview with Mitch Easter (REM, among many others) - http://www.discmakers.com/music/pse/mic3.html -
He also talks a lot about the Beyer M201, which I've heard fantastic things about for snare use.

The 635A is definitely my go-to mic for guitars - actually, an omni dynamic can be a pretty darn cool thing on a lot of sources.
 
Holy shit, I had no idea! Here's a story. My mom used to do court reporting for a living when I was a kid and had a few 635a's. I inherited them, and a lot of other electronic stuff when she shelved the business a long time ago, including a little Shure 4 channel mic mixer which I pulled out a few weekends ago.

I think I have 3 of the 635a's, and they've been sitting idle for years and years. Not knowing a whole lot about recording and the gear people use, I assumed they were nothing special and really more for spoken voice and that kind of thing.

What a break. Since they've not been used much in such a long time, must be like almost 10years, will their sound quality still be good or will they have aged badly? Can they be refurbished? I doubt they were ever used close to anyones mouth, probably always just stuck on a table, and have always been kept safe and dry.

wee...
 
i think they are invincible

unless they have been stored near kryptonite they should be fine.
 
Another sleeper omni dynamic is the RS 33-1070D (made by Shure). I bought a pair of these a few years ago and they sound very close to a 57, but no proximity effect.

Of course like everything else that RS comes out with that works, they were discontinued.:rolleyes:
 
Ah yes... The 635a... What we call the "Secret Guitar Cabinet Mic"... Used to have 4! Now I have 2 that I won't part with! A no brainer alternative to the 57 on guitar cabs!

By the way... Just used a pair as drum overheads! :eek: ssshhh ;)

In fact, here's a sample of that just for fun!:
http://home.attbi.com/~pjandcompany/index.html

And yeah, the M201, a no brainer alternative to the 57 on snare! I certainly have that guy too!

More no brainer dynamics?

Sennheiser MD441
EV RE-15

I'll own both soon!
 
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I downloaded the overheads sample and was impressed. Tell me more. Of course I'm not an Audio Pro, so it obviously sounded terrible. But I liked it. BTW, I tried to download the snare sample but when I attempted to play it my computer told me the program had done something naughty and that it was shutting down. Any idea why?
 
Recently the legendary Bob Olhsson, who has over 80 top ten hits to his
credit (!), reiterated lately that the EV 635a is a great sounding vocal microphone.
He also said that if they've been dropped, the high end response can get
scewed up. Like any dynamic, however, the quality of your pre will be
critical in getting the best out of it.

Chris
 
You know what else is nearly as cool as a 635A for guitar cabs? Shure SM59 - big ol' clunky looking thing, but it has a flatter curve and sounds very similar to the 635A. Well, sorta close, anyway. NOT an omni like the 635, but, still a great alternative to the SM57.

The 635A overhead samples sounded great! I've never even thought of it. Was that just an experiment, or did you lay down a song with that? Let us hear it, if so!
 
What more do you want to know?

The EV 635a overhead mics were simply spaced about 3 ft. apart and about 2 ft. high over the cymbals, to cover the whole drum set. Preamp was a 32-ch. Mackie VLZ-PRO. Absolutely no EQ on these tracks.

A Studio Projects C3 in Omni was placed at around ear-level and about 8 ft. in front of and pointing down at the bass drum. Preamp was a Mackie VLZ-PRO. About a 6:1 ratio with 8dB of gain reduction was used on a dbx 160X. The only EQ was +5db @ around 1kHz with a wide Q and +4db with the 80Hz Shelf; all with the 32-ch. Mackie VLZ-PRO.

A Neumann TLM103 was placed on the snare about 1in. in and 3-4" above. Preamp was a DaviSound TB-3 (with no compression or the tube engaged). No pad was used. A 4:1 ratio with 3dB of gain reduction was used and then gated, all on a Presonus ACP-8. EQ was +8dB with a 12kHz shelf, +8dB @ around 5kHz with a wide Q, and a 75Hz 18dB Octave highpass filter engaged; all with the 32-ch. Mackie VLZ-PRO

A Neumann TLM103 was placed on the tom pretty much like the snare, but I don't remember exactly its position. Placed so that it's not hit! Preamp was a DaviSound TB-3 (with no compression or the tube engaged). No pad was used. A Aphex 622 gate modded by Jim Williams at Audio Upgrades was used. Absolutely no EQ was used.

On this drum track, we were going for a bit of an "unorthodox" sound; a reason why I chose to use the 635a as overheads. The snare on the snare drum was in the released position but it was still slightly touching the resonant head on purpose. It's also why the tom sounds the way it does. Although, it sounds much better in the song. Also, the bass drum has a "ttthhhmp" sound to it due to the over compression, but I like it as an effect for the song.

Oh, and that's your's truly on drums...
 
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By the way, that snare sample is a one hit snare sample of a Neumann TLM103 about 1in. in and 3-4" above, running through a DaviSound TB-3 (with no compression or the tube engaged) with NO pad. FTPed to the computer from the HD24 recorder. Absolutlety NO processing was used.

It's a 24-bit, 48k WAV file. You need to open it in a program that supports 24-bit, 48k.
 
Dick,

Yeah, a whole song was laid down with them, but the song is still in the works. I'll be sure to tell you know once completed and let you hear a rough mix. Final mixing won't be happening for at least another 6-8 months.
 
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I really do like the sound of the 635A on cymbals. Is there something horribly wrong with me? And why are all the cool looking mics only on the U.S. E-Bay!?
 
Mark7,

No, I personally like the cymbals too...Nothing wrong with you; at least not there... :D

Of course the final result is a combo of the 635s overheads and the far away C3. The 635a mics pickup the stick attack and detail, and kinda give a "vintage sound" so to speak. The far away C3 picks up the ambiance and wash of the cymbals, and give more of a natural sound. Blended together... I find great results!
 
I went looking for the 635A on E-bay but found only three. One of which had apparently been dropped several times by Johnny Cash. Are there any other omni dynamics that you'd say are just as good. But maybe a little easier to get hold of (though I will keep an eye out for these odd looking little mics in future auctions)?
 
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