Weissklang v17 vs Shure SM7b?

phy61

New member
I'm looking for a vocal mic for home recording. I can't decide between these two. Which one would you choose? I'm going to use it on rock songs and some acoustic stuff.
 
Those are two pretty different mics. I’ve never heard the Weissklang (and it didn’t show up in a search with any US resellers so not likely to).

What is your recording space like and what is the preamp/interface you’ll be plugging in to?
 
Those are two pretty different mics. IÂ’ve never heard the Weissklang (and it didnÂ’t show up in a search with any US resellers so not likely to).

What is your recording space like and what is the preamp/interface youÂ’ll be plugging in to?

My recording space is my bedroom, definitely not a treated room. I'm actually going to buy a preamp and interface too. I'm planning to buy an UA 610 preamp and a RME babyface (What do you think about these? I'm open to suggestions). v17 is a very praised german LDC. Normally is more expensive than sm7 but in my country sm7 is more expensive. Generally people recommend dynamic mics for recording spaces like mine but I'm still not sure.
 
Those are all top rate pieces of equipment. If you got the LDC, you would be able to do your recording without the preamp, at least to start and determine how to use your space. The Shure is a very good dynamic mic and will require more gain, as you have probably read, so may require a preamp. I'm not familiar with the RME Babyface interface, so don't know if it will be sufficient for the Shure.

If you expect to do any instruments and not only vocals then the LDC will probably be a better choice, with the downside that its sensitivity will make managing external sounds in your recording space a bit more work.
 
Those are all top rate pieces of equipment. If you got the LDC, you would be able to do your recording without the preamp, at least to start and determine how to use your space. The Shure is a very good dynamic mic and will require more gain, as you have probably read, so may require a preamp. I'm not familiar with the RME Babyface interface, so don't know if it will be sufficient for the Shure.

If you expect to do any instruments and not only vocals then the LDC will probably be a better choice, with the downside that its sensitivity will make managing external sounds in your recording space a bit more work.
 
Those are all top rate pieces of equipment. If you got the LDC, you would be able to do your recording without the preamp, at least to start and determine how to use your space. The Shure is a very good dynamic mic and will require more gain, as you have probably read, so may require a preamp. I'm not familiar with the RME Babyface interface, so don't know if it will be sufficient for the Shure.

If you expect to do any instruments and not only vocals then the LDC will probably be a better choice, with the downside that its sensitivity will make managing external sounds in your recording space a bit more work.

Thank you for the answer. Do you know any interfaces would go well with the sm7b?
 
I have never heard of the weird one, but I do have an SM7, and I consider it probably the worst purchase I've made. It sounds fine, and if I wanted to record something really loud, or a metal shouting vocal I'd use it, but frankly, without lips on the foam (which sets the tone) the gain is just too low. so it comes out of the box very rarely. it sounds wonderfully mellow and AM radio-ish, but just too niche for me.
 
For goodness sake! I think I know how to use a microphone after over 40 years. I added a link to a comparison I did a while back with a number of mics from my own collection, including the SM7B - I think you would have to be a bit dippy to try to not speak into the end of a Shure SM7, because it wouldn't make sense. You could confuse many mics in this way but not an SM7,or an SM7B.

That all said, I still don't like it. I NEVER blindly pick a mic because people like them. To assume that because I do not like it, means I am not using it properly is a bit of an insult. Michael Jackson may well have used one for Thriller, but not everyone has his voice, so you select the most appropriate one - and for me, the Shure is right down in my list. I had to Google Harvey Gerst, so forgive me for not tugging my forelock. nothing in your post makes me change my mind, but it has made my mind up on one thing. People join forums and jump to crazy conclusions without just a teeny weeny bit of checking. Have you got an SM7 of any age? I find it laughable I'd buy a mic and speak into the wrong bit of it!

 
SM58 seemed best noise rejection in this video. Beta 58 also very good.

The Coles was really noisy but clarity is good.. AKG noisy, Shure Condensor noise present.....
The SM7b, RE320 seems almost like the preamp noise too? but some noise...not as good as the SM58 or Beta 58.

-56 to -66 range... I wonder what that background noise sounds like once you have it on 24 tracks and then do the Mastering (Loudness) plugin?
probably pretty bad in some cases.
 
In fairness, the Coles is lower output than it should be, but still has a use. What for me worked well was the use of the less than wonderful Tascam. I don't have, and don't really need anything better, and I have a Midas M32 which I use on location sometimes and the preamps on that sound really nice - but it doesn't have enough gain to use the SM7b really. It was an interesting experiment and I just grabbed all the mics I had on hand. What it brought to the front of my mins is that there are actually very few overall poor mics out there - just mics that flatter one source and act in odd ways on other ones. We tend to always use them facing the source, but the rotational change to the sound on some of those mics when they go off axis is quite unpredictable. I had no idea what would happen. Since that recording, as I have a few, I've been using the old AKG D190s I found while scrabbling around for mics as overhead mics for live drums on stage and rather like the sparkle they have - unusual for a dynamic.
 
The SM7 is one of the finest mics that Shure has ever made.” - Harvey Gerst

The SM7b is the newer version.

SM7 has a great reputation so your problem seems unusual unless you are not using it correctly --
Did you talk into the end or the side? Talk into the end of the microphone.The SM7 is NOT a side address microphone.

You need to use a mic to line amplifier (also called a preamp).
The SM7 (SM7A, SM7B) is a dynamic microphone. A typical dynamic mic has a lower output level than a typical condenser mic.

Face palm worthy ;) Almost. Likely just didn't notice he wasn't a newbie. Carry on :)
 
Thank you for the answer. Do you know any interfaces would go well with the sm7b?
I do not have the Shure SM7b myself, but almost everyone will tell you it's going to be marginal with your standard audio interface mic preamps, and so it's typically paired with an external preamp of some kind.

l've seen reviews where it has been used with relatively low gain interfaces (e.g., Focusrite 2i2), and it can work, but you'll be adding a fair amount of gain to the recorded track, so it will depend a lot on the level of sound you record and your environment whether it's going to bring in too much noise to your mix when you do that. In short, get a preamp and stop worrying about it, if you get the SM7b. (Even something like the SM58, which is a bit more sensitive, can test some interfaces if the source is too soft. You need to go to the more modern, often hypercardioid, dynamics like the Shure Beta line, to get sufficient gain to handle softer sources. Or use a condenser.)
 
the rotational change to the sound on some of those mics when they go off axis is quite unpredictable. I had no idea what would happen. Since that recording, as I have a few, I've been using the old AKG D190s I found while scrabbling around for mics as overhead mics for live drums on stage and rather like the sparkle they have - unusual for a dynamic.

Its interesting listening to your test/vid...now I'm plugged into a lpatop with JBL earbuds in a normal room and the surrounding noise here totally masks any noise on your recording. So different outcome and the AKG 414 has the clarity on your voice, imo, while all of them work fine, Id take the AKG414 per this second listen. The Coles does carve out, with its sound that actually removes lowend and is easy to understand the words, as if it was eq'd with a hpf. But all of them are fine....which one is easiest to use? might be the deciding factor.
 
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