Dysfunctional Shure PG 57 drum mic

tripiasophia

New member
Hey there guys, new to these forums and looking for some advice:)

So I'm recording some songs I've written with the drummer from my band in a home studio setting. While recording with the Shure PG 57 drum mic that I am using on our small tom, I noticed that there was no signal being picked up by it. In order to trace the source of the problem I used the lead cable on a different microphone and it worked fine, suggesting that it isn't a cable issue I presume. The microphone also does not work with any other leads. So, it seemed pretty clear to me that this is a microphone issue. So, I went and borrowed a Shure Beta 56 A Supercardioid dynamic microphone from a friend as a replacement only to find that this microphone also wasn't working. It didn't matter what lead I used on it, it just did not work..... I thought it was strange that 2 different microphones were not working. Sure yeah maybe by chance my friend's microphone was also dysfunctional, however, it was only lightly used so this theory seemed strange...... Does anyone know what the source of my problem could be? I would really like to use my original Shure PG 57 to continue recording. Is it just simply something in the microphone that needs to be fixed or is there some thing more underlying at play?

Thanks for any suggestions or advice you can give me :)
 
It is strange so you need to investigate.
Stages so far.
You have a mic that doesn't work.
Swapped the dead mic for a good one, and it was fine.
Tried another mic on the same cable and this one didn't work.

You have a cable, and with one mic it works and with another it doesn't. What is going on?

I suspect the problem here could be one of those multiple fault conditions. Is it safe to assume all the connections are XLR? What device is the cable plugged into?

If by any chance there are jack plugs involved, this weirdness may be explained. If there is at any point a conversion being done from balanced XLR to unbalanced jack plug then the ground (pin 1) will be shorted to pin 2 - OR pin 3. Sometimes one cable, or even the occasional mic will short 1 to 2, but another uses 1 to 3 - and if this combination accidentally applies, it's a dead short and no sound.

You have a friends mic, your dead mic and at least one other. if you work logically, you should be able to identify differences. A simple multimeter will let you measure each one and see differences. Between pin 1 and 2 should read the same as 1 and 3. If it doesn't, something is wrong. Try this test on the mics and the cables and report back.
 
It is strange so you need to investigate.
Stages so far.
You have a mic that doesn't work.
Swapped the dead mic for a good one, and it was fine.
Tried another mic on the same cable and this one didn't work.

You have a cable, and with one mic it works and with another it doesn't. What is going on?

I suspect the problem here could be one of those multiple fault conditions. Is it safe to assume all the connections are XLR? What device is the cable plugged into?

If by any chance there are jack plugs involved, this weirdness may be explained. If there is at any point a conversion being done from balanced XLR to unbalanced jack plug then the ground (pin 1) will be shorted to pin 2 - OR pin 3. Sometimes one cable, or even the occasional mic will short 1 to 2, but another uses 1 to 3 - and if this combination accidentally applies, it's a dead short and no sound.

You have a friends mic, your dead mic and at least one other. if you work logically, you should be able to identify differences. A simple multimeter will let you measure each one and see differences. Between pin 1 and 2 should read the same as 1 and 3. If it doesn't, something is wrong. Try this test on the mics and the cables and report back.

Ok, thanks. Yes it's an XLR plugged into a soundcard that is then plugged into the computer..... Thanks for the advice!
 
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