Shure SM57 low signal

I might just do that. At any rate, I've been thinking about recording with two mics, experimenting a bit. I know that the mics would have to be in phase, but that's another thread. Probably go the local music store. Maybe they lend me an SM57, if I buy something from them.

Well you could buy another mic cable! You can never have too many cables of all sorts and descriptions!

Dave.
 
I’ve spent a few hours checking out the TrintonAudio FetHead and I have to say the difference is like night and day. With the FetHead I’m able to record with just 55-60% gain and get about -11dB peak level. Without the FetHead, even with 100% gain, I couldn’t get more than about -20 dB at best. The humming noise that came with 100% gain isn’t noticeable any longer. I don’t notice any buzz or change of tone characteristics. I do understand that my circumstances are a bit extraordinary, since I need to record at a low level. Under normal circumstances no FetHead is needed with SM57. I don’t know what the gain range of the AXE I/O, is but it seem to be lower than KA6 for example.

I have attached an MP3-file. This is a backing track that I’m working on and the guitars are recorded with the FetHead at 60% gain. Without the FetHead at 60% gain the guitars wouldn’t even be perceptible. The sound level one meter from the amp is 75 dB (I’m using the NIOSH sound level meter). Apologies for my not very good guitar playing.
 

Attachments

  • test.mp3
    154 KB · Views: 13
IK Media has a contact page that it might worthwhile asking the question about the gain of the Axe I/O for your particular application with the SM57. The spec they give is not what is usual in specifying the gain of an interface or preamp. I have an older Tascam interface the I've used a FetHead with an SM57 as the gain of the Tascam was a bit short of being adequate without introducing some noise.
 
IK Media has a contact page that it might worthwhile asking the question about the gain of the Axe I/O for your particular application with the SM57. The spec they give is not what is usual in specifying the gain of an interface or preamp. I have an older Tascam interface the I've used a FetHead with an SM57 as the gain of the Tascam was a bit short of being adequate without introducing some noise.

Good idea, I'll do that and post what they say here.
 
Yes, that sounds splendid! Can I ask as the geeky guy I am? Will you do another short clip and then be as quiet as you can for 20 secs or so so that I can get an idea of the noise floor please?

Also, you cannot attach .wav files here, however small (fkns y?) so can you use the best MP3 encoding of 320k?

Dave.
 
Yes, that sounds splendid! Can I ask as the geeky guy I am? Will you do another short clip and then be as quiet as you can for 20 secs or so so that I can get an idea of the noise floor please?

Also, you cannot attach .wav files here, however small (fkns y?) so can you use the best MP3 encoding of 320k?

Dave.

Dave, I don't know if this helps you. geek is with the FetHead and 48v, geek2 is without and 0v. Both 60% gain. Recorded with Logic Pro X.
I watched this video clip this morning. Might be interesting. YouTube
 
Last edited:
No sorry, not useful no reference. What I mean is...
Setup with the Fethead and record 20 secs of guitar at say -20dB fs average. Then shut tf up for 20 seconds! That way I can see the noise level ref your playing.

In a bit I can do same to demonstrate with my setup but I am getting me tea now!

Dave.
 
No sorry, not useful no reference. What I mean is...
Setup with the Fethead and record 20 secs of guitar at say -20dB fs average. Then shut tf up for 20 seconds! That way I can see the noise level ref your playing.

In a bit I can do same to demonstrate with my setup but I am getting me tea now!

Dave.

Dave, be careful what you wish for!
Here is an old riff View attachment goode.mp3. Knock yourself out!
Let's see what noise level you have.
 
That's more like it!
Now leave us be clear here? You played that through the amp with an attenuator and with a sound level of under 80dB?

If so that certainly give the lie to the common idea that you need the amp to knock down walls to get a good rock tone!

The only musca domestica in the Nivea is that hum! Are you aware of that in the room? If it isn't being coupled into the guitar I think the amp needs some attention. My attachment shows some of it notched out.

My son did a similar riff some years ago, intro to Quo's 'Caroline' will see if I can dig it out.

Dave.
 

Attachments

  • goodenotched.mp3
    1.5 MB · Views: 51
That's more like it!
Now leave us be clear here? You played that through the amp with an attenuator and with a sound level of under 80dB?

If so that certainly give the lie to the common idea that you need the amp to knock down walls to get a good rock tone!

The only musca domestica in the Nivea is that hum! Are you aware of that in the room? If it isn't being coupled into the guitar I think the amp needs some attention. My attachment shows some of it notched out.

My son did a similar riff some years ago, intro to Quo's 'Caroline' will see if I can dig it out.

Dave.

Yes, that’s absolutely right. Blackstar HT-20R MkII, attenuator active (2 watt), overdrive gain 7.30, volume noon, master as low as it gets. Sound level about 75 dB.

The hum doesn’t come from the amp. Seems it comes from the audio interface. Without the FetHead, gain 100% and no preamp the hum is louder.
 
That's more like it!
Now leave us be clear here? You played that through the amp with an attenuator and with a sound level of under 80dB?

If so that certainly give the lie to the common idea that you need the amp to knock down walls to get a good rock tone!

The only musca domestica in the Nivea is that hum! Are you aware of that in the room? If it isn't being coupled into the guitar I think the amp needs some attention. My attachment shows some of it notched out.

My son did a similar riff some years ago, intro to Quo's 'Caroline' will see if I can dig it out.

Dave.

Dave, found out where the hum’s coming from. It's the AC power lines. Just by moving the mic to another place, it disappears completely. You learn something new every day.
 
Interesting topic....seems ageless and never ending too, Noise...AC ..hum...and hissing.

Yesterday my tracking was shutdown due to some new AC humming.
My guess is window ac's all running and I recently added a 4th one near the studio room/closet.
Id replace the central air but its $10,000 to $20,000 these days for a new one, mine are so old repairing is probably tossing money away.
Window units are $250. Disposable. Im learning to go without too, and only have them on at night. Its amazing the body re-adapts to natures climates.

for AC hum and having so much crap on the line, let alone the whole neighborhood who knows where it all comes from.

Also transformers seem to be ripe and Ive recently added some wall wart transformers AC to AC psu.....working in a closet, small desktop setup the SM58 with transformer 24 inches from the ac strips and wall warts and each units transformers for the internal transformers power supplies makes it worse.

Ive got a large room with high ceiling sitting empty, maybe I need to follow your findings and "relocate"? I really like the small desktop setup though its prone to picking up noise in the mics. (and I just ordered a Neve design preamp with a wall wart and 3qty transformers inside it!! omg?)

add> my noise today was the laundry dryer motor..fyi..
 
Last edited:
Dave, found out where the hum’s coming from. It's the AC power lines. Just by moving the mic to another place, it disappears completely. You learn something new every day.

Yes, AC magnetic fields are a bother because the signal induced into the mic' coil (and transformer in the case of the Shures) is 'differential' and the balanced input will accept it as valid.
It is a good idea to keep a 'silent' recording of your standard setup on file and repeat it once a month or so to see if noise has crept up.

CC. In this 'Jewel set in a silver sea' we rarely get really hot weather for more than a day or two. In fact the last week of June has been unusually cold. Nice now.

Dave.
 
Interesting topic....seems ageless and never ending too, Noise...AC ..hum...and hissing.

Yesterday my tracking was shutdown due to some new AC humming.
My guess is window ac's all running and I recently added a 4th one near the studio room/closet.
Id replace the central air but its $10,000 to $20,000 these days for a new one, mine are so old repairing is probably tossing money away.
Window units are $250. Disposable. Im learning to go without too, and only have them on at night. Its amazing the body re-adapts to natures climates.

for AC hum and having so much crap on the line, let alone the whole neighborhood who knows where it all comes from.

Also transformers seem to be ripe and Ive recently added some wall wart transformers AC to AC psu.....working in a closet, small desktop setup the SM58 with transformer 24 inches from the ac strips and wall warts and each units transformers for the internal transformers power supplies makes it worse.

Ive got a large room with high ceiling sitting empty, maybe I need to follow your findings and "relocate"? I really like the small desktop setup though its prone to picking up noise in the mics. (and I just ordered a Neve design preamp with a wall wart and 3qty transformers inside it!! omg?)

add> my noise today was the laundry dryer motor..fyi..

If you turn the AC off, arn’t you afraid that it could be harmful to the electronic components? I get about 85F/30C indoors without AC. They say that over 75F/24C isn’t good for computers.

Hey, Neve Design, that's heavy duty. Needles to say, I haven’t be doing home recording for very long, so I'd better stick to my toy gear.
 
If you turn the AC off, arn’t you afraid that it could be harmful to the electronic components? I get about 85F/30C indoors without AC. They say that over 75F/24C isn’t good for computers.

Hey, Neve Design, that's heavy duty. Needles to say, I haven’t be doing home recording for very long, so I'd better stick to my toy gear.

The 'mean time between failure' roughly halves for every 10C rise in temperature but the lifetime of even the most sensitive parts, electrolytic capacitors is decades even in really hot kit like valve amplifiers so I wouldn't worry.

The main consequence of the CPU getting hot is that the cooling fans might spin up and be noisy and in extreme cases the performance will be 'throttled' back but since most CPUs in most computers have plenty of redundancy, i.e. you will rarely be using more than 25% of its capacity, again, no worries.

Laptops are more prone to throttling but you can buy cooling docking plinths for them if really worried.

Dave.
 
One of the biggest improvements in my setup was putting the pc tower in the other room (poked a hole through the drywall and ran the pc cables and extension keyboard etc).

I don't know the temp seems to be around 77-80, but I can turn on the AC if needed. When recording AirConditioner/Compressor is always off in this room.
I suppose a "silent" fan could blow on the gear or pc? and reduce 10degrees? Havent had any troubles so far.

Noise floor, hum and buzz is more of a bother around here. Tubes and Transformers sweeten the sound but the noise is the Yang of the Ying.... single coil pickups! yikes..
 
If you turn the AC off, arn’t you afraid that it could be harmful to the electronic components? I get about 85F/30C indoors without AC. They say that over 75F/24C isn’t good for computers.

Hey, Neve Design, that's heavy duty. Needles to say, I haven’t be doing home recording for very long, so I'd better stick to my toy gear.
I worked in the computer industry for over 30 years, and 85F/30C is not going to be a problem for a properly ventilated, modern computer. Their operating temp's much higher, but they have to be able to be cooled. As noted, they might throttle, and the ventilation (i.e., fans) can certainly be a noise problem and at a higher ambient temperature, the longer and probably higher rpm they will run at, becoming more intrusive. The converse, of course is that if you have a cool, airy place to tuck your computer away, it will be less of a [noise] factor. Spinning disks also contribute noise, and the bigger they are the noisier, and also usually add more heat than SSDs, so that kind of upgrade, if possible, will usually help noise and heat issues.

I'm approaching the time of year that I have to budget home recording of any duration because my room is upstairs, which heats up very rapidly without AC, and the room [HVAC duct] outlet is behind me, and the main intake is on the other side of the door, but also behind me, so keeping that noise out of the recording is fairly impossible. (Reorienting the mics would mean they'd be more susceptible to outside noises, which I really cannot control.)
 
Back
Top