Tough decision...& HOWS THE SHURE BETA58A?

S

skeem

New member
Hey peeps, i'ma newbie and i need all the help i can get! I'm setting up a studio in my home and i am in the process of finding the right mic/mics. I mainly do hip hop music so i need a mic thats good with vocals (mostly rapping and singing). My budget is roughly $200. I've heard and read about the Shure Beta58A and i'm basically sold on it. I've also heard that the Shure SM 58, SM57, and SM7 are also quite good. In your opinion are these mics good? Which one should I choose? Do you guyz have any other suggestions? I'D APPRECIATE IT A LOT if ya'll give me some feedback. THANKS!
 
You really need to audition the mics for yourself to find the one that works best for your voice... because what works best for my voice may suck on your voice (or the other way around)... with that said, I really like the Shure SM-7 a lot.
 
hi

well if your budget is low...then check the behringer.com for mics. they are good quality and low-budget! also samson got good preamps for your homestudio.

greets yannick.
 
I own the MXL V67G ($99) and I like it.

Studio Projects mics also get favorable mention here at Home Recording.com. The SP B1 (~$99) has received many good comments here.
 
acquit music said:
check the behringer.com for mics. they are good quality and low-budget!
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I wholeheartedly disagree. I had some behringer mics a while ago and well....they blow. With $200 you can easily afford mics made by Shure, Studio Projects, CAD, MXL and other companies that outshine Behringer anyday.

Here are some models to check out, and like DJL said, you should try before you buy:

Studio Projects B1
Studio Projects B3
Shure SM57
Shure SM58
Shure Beta 58A
Shure Beta 57
CAD M177
CAD M179
MXL 2003
MXL v67
Audio Technica AT2020 (hasn't come out just yet)
Audio Technica AT3035

I think you'd be happy with pretty much any of those.


And for those who hate Behringer bashing - so do I, I have a behringer modeling amp and headphone preamp, they're both great for what I spent on them, but the mics still blow.


-Peter
 
ok thx peter

personally i work with rode and shure... but good to know that the behringer mics arent as good... well i have to say that they have new series out every year and getting better...

so..
 
I haven't seen much discussion here on the Beta58 for studio work. Somehow I think there are better choices.

However, I bought one used earlier this year for use on stage. I play bass and sing harmonies and wanted a mic with a tighter pick-up pattern to reject the other noise on the stage. Plus I wanted to relegate my regular ol' beat-to-shit SM58 to its former status as "guest mic". ;-)
 
The 58 and beta are very good stage vocal mics, but for recording you should really get a condenser. Along with the suggestions above, I'd also look at an oktava MK319. You can find them for 100 or so if you look hard enough.
 
reshp1 said:
The 58 and beta are very good stage vocal mics, but for recording you should really get a condenser. Along with the suggestions above, I'd also look at an oktava MK319. You can find them for 100 or so if you look hard enough.
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Not true. U2's Bono and Bjork are both Beta 58 users when it comes to recording vox for their records. These are people who pretty much have an unlimited recording budget as well.
 
no way...

Ok..time to kill the urban studio legend about Bono and the sm58..I love 58's and 57's..use them all the time..A good friend of mine interned (coffee, cables, gear schlepping)with Eno/Lanois back in the 80's and laughs like a hyena everytime he hears this....U47's mostly on the Joshua Tree (a few others as well, Coles and RCA ribbons to name a few)....Bono doesn't even use a 58 for live vocals ( a Shure Beta 87, right from the guys at Claire Bros. who did the sound on the 92 US. tour)..nothing wrong with a 58..Paul Rogers did use a 57 to record the Bad Company stuff and if you listen carefully it sounds like it...
For Rap or anything heavy I would try an SM7 or an EV RE 20 with a good clean pre and a little compression...

Ray

ps. A condensor might sound a little too clean for hip hop...
 
rsolinski said:
Ok..time to kill the urban studio legend about Bono and the sm58..I love 58's and 57's..use them all the time..A good friend of mine interned (coffee, cables, gear schlepping)with Eno/Lanois back in the 80's and laughs like a hyena everytime he hears this....U47's mostly on the Joshua Tree (a few others as well, Coles and RCA ribbons to name a few)....Bono doesn't even use a 58 for live vocals ( a Shure Beta 87, right from the guys at Claire Bros. who did the sound on the 92 US. tour)
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I'll have to respectfully disagree with you on that one (the non use of 58's).
 
My friend Stuart could be pulling a fast one on me as well (he has a twisted sense of humor!)..Just reporting what he said. I know Lanois likes alot of condensors in one big room and actually likes bleed (See "Wrecking Ball" by EmmyLou Harris) as well as classic mics and gear...As for the live situation I tend to believe Claire Bros. I grew up in Hershey, PA. and watched U2 prepare for that tour in 92. They leased Hershey's stadium for 10 days in August that year to rehearse and then gave a free concert at the end as a thank you to the town..you could sit outside on the hill and watch them practice all day..amazing!

Ray
 
rsolinski said:
Ok..time to kill the urban studio legend about Bono and the sm58..I love 58's and 57's..use them all the time..A good friend of mine interned (coffee, cables, gear schlepping)with Eno/Lanois back in the 80's and laughs like a hyena everytime he hears this....U47's mostly on the Joshua Tree (a few others as well, Coles and RCA ribbons to name a few)....Bono doesn't even use a 58 for live vocals ( a Shure Beta 87, right from the guys at Claire Bros. who did the sound on the 92 US. tour)..nothing wrong with a 58..Paul Rogers did use a 57 to record the Bad Company stuff and if you listen carefully it sounds like it...
For Rap or anything heavy I would try an SM7 or an EV RE 20 with a good clean pre and a little compression...

Ray

ps. A condensor might sound a little too clean for hip hop...
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I heard bono uses some sony mic for recording and is partial to flinging them accross the room when he's in a bad mood - an engineer in dublin has a few boxes full of mic bits.

It might be urban legend no. 2 though cause I could never find a sony mic that was at their price point :)
 
I realize that this is not a popular opinion on this board, but I really like the SM58 for recording vocals (more than my GT tube consendor mic) - and I like the 58 even more with a semi-decent pre behind it....

-------------
Originally Posted by rsolinski
Ok..time to kill the urban studio legend about Bono and the sm58..I love 58's and 57's..use them all the time..A good friend of mine interned (coffee, cables, gear schlepping)with Eno/Lanois back in the 80's and laughs like a hyena everytime he hears this....U47's mostly on the Joshua Tree (a few others as well, Coles and RCA ribbons to name a few)....Bono doesn't even use a 58 for live vocals ( a Shure Beta 87, right from the guys at Claire Bros. who did the sound on the 92 US. tour)..
-------------


.....and I heard about Lanois' use of a SM58 on Bono's vocals in a recent Tape Op magazine interview. I thought that Lanois said that he had been using some sort of 58 model since the early days, didn't he?

This made an impression at the time because of my preference above....

smtcharlie
 
rsolinski said:
Ok..time to kill the urban studio legend about Bono and the sm58..I love 58's and 57's..use them all the time..A good friend of mine interned (coffee, cables, gear schlepping)with Eno/Lanois back in the 80's and laughs like a hyena everytime he hears this....U47's mostly on the Joshua Tree (a few others as well, Coles and RCA ribbons to name a few)....Bono doesn't even use a 58 for live vocals ( a Shure Beta 87, right from the guys at Claire Bros. who did the sound on the 92 US. tour)..nothing wrong with a 58..Paul Rogers did use a 57 to record the Bad Company stuff and if you listen carefully it sounds like it...
For Rap or anything heavy I would try an SM7 or an EV RE 20 with a good clean pre and a little compression...

Ray

ps. A condensor might sound a little too clean for hip hop...
Click to expand...

YOU GUYS ARE ALL WRONG!!! BONO USED AND STILL USES A RADIO SHACK MIC AND SOMETIMES HE LIKES TO USE A COMPUTER MIC!!!!
 
rsolinski said:
Ok..time to kill the urban studio legend about Bono and the sm58..I love 58's and 57's..use them all the time..A good friend of mine interned (coffee, cables, gear schlepping)with Eno/Lanois back in the 80's and laughs like a hyena everytime he hears this....U47's mostly on the Joshua Tree (a few others as well, Coles and RCA ribbons to name a few)....Bono doesn't even use a 58 for live vocals ( a Shure Beta 87, right from the guys at Claire Bros. who did the sound on the 92 US. tour)..nothing wrong with a 58..Paul Rogers did use a 57 to record the Bad Company stuff and if you listen carefully it sounds like it...
For Rap or anything heavy I would try an SM7 or an EV RE 20 with a good clean pre and a little compression...

Ray

ps. A condensor might sound a little too clean for hip hop...
Click to expand...

Go Here: http://www.signaturesound.com/html/u2atsignaturesound.html

One piece of truth.
 
Theres also plenty of evidence of the beta 58 for live with U2 and REM - FOH engineer Joe O'Herlihy seems to really like those beta 58s

http://forum.interference.com/t73666.html

http://mixonline.com/mag/audio_tour_profile/

My name is O'Herlihy too and people are always asking me if I'm related to Joe and telling me their Joe stories :roll:

The comment regarding the 'sony' mic came from a dude who had been talking to Joe - Joe said that bono would insist on handheld mics in studio and that he was using a wireless mic in dublin that he'd feck accross the room anytime he felt like it. I pressed him about whether it was a sony mic afterwards and he admitted he wasn't certain but that it was 'some weird make' - really narrows it down eh?
 
So Paddy .. are you any relation of Joe O'Herlihy?

Just asking.:)

Paddy O'Herlihy? You'd never know you were from Ireland! :o
 
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