Does Any1 Hate The Sm57????

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King Louis

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Just wondered if anyone in the forum has known of anyone (or do themselves) hate the SM57?

Asking this because imp doing a research project on the SM57 and have interviewed engineers etc and everyone loves the mic and I can understand why.

But was wondering if anyone hates the mic, not due to not using the microphone, but has anyone used the mic alot and hated it??
It’s totally contradictory but can anyone help????????
 
I don't hate it but I outgrew it. Just finished selling all of my 57/58s, and one point I had 8 total. They were replaced with Beyer M88, M201, Senn MD421, and the SM7.

Yeah, it did take all 4 of those mics to replace everything the 57 did, but they each do their part a lot better than the 57 did.

That's why it's hard to hate it.
 
I would guess that AudioTechnica, AKG, Sennheiser, Electro-Voice, etc. wish it were never invented :)
 
King Louis said:
Just wondered if anyone in the forum has known of anyone (or do themselves) hate the SM57?

Asking this because imp doing a research project on the SM57 and have interviewed engineers etc and everyone loves the mic and I can understand why.

But was wondering if anyone hates the mic, not due to not using the microphone, but has anyone used the mic alot and hated it??
It’s totally contradictory but can anyone help????????
http://www.homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=138295
 
Dragon said:
I would guess that AudioTechnica, AKG, Sennheiser, Electro-Voice, etc. wish it were never invented :)

Haha yeah. I always thought it was funny that the mic has been around for quite a while, and even now, no one has been able to top it.

Heck, you'd think someone would have alteast figured out how to make a pretty darned identical copy for cheaper, but oh well. :cool:
 
i despise it.

I've worked with them many times.


Why do I hate them?

-they're not 100% reliable
-the heads are plastic and frequently break if you have a crappy drummer
-they have a weird low mid thing going on when miking guitar amps
-they're cheap pieces of shit
-they just don't have the kind of high end resolution that you find on other mics.
-not a lot of off-axis rejection.

I love the Beta 57 though.

For guitars, an Audix D3 will kill a 57 anyday. For snares, an Audix D1 will kill a 57 anyday.
 
there have been cheaper chinese copies , theyre selling them on ebay, but hey cheaper mic (exception the SM57) usually tend to be cheaper build & cheaper sounding.
 
I generally avoid the SM57 because I like to get different sounds. Plus, it's main benefit is that it sounds okay on everything, but never really that great... although the sound is improved with some good preamps.

I will use them for under snare mics though. I do like them for that.

I don't let them NEAR vocals or guitar. For guitar I usually have a dynamic and condensor, with the dynamic mic (RE20 or MD421 typically, once in a while SM7) about 6" away from the grill and the condensor (usually AKG414 but those got stolen, so in the near future probably an NT1) about 6' away.

The SM57 just has this 'boxiness' that I dislike. I don't mind what it does to the under snare because that boxiness adds to the thump. Lately I've been using LDC's on the top mic because everyone seems to want that cracky bright snare sound and so far I can't get it with any dynamic mic (tried RE20, MD421, SM57, SM7, 441) that I tried.

57's are worthless for clean electric guitar IMHO. Horrible, ratty tone. Acoustic guitar and cymbals? Well, nobody uses them for that unless they have to but one day I was bored so I gave it a whirl and it was nasty.

The first full album I recorded about 90% of it was miked with SM57's. Other than 2 SM81's on overheads, a Beta 91 on kick and SM7 on vocals it was the only mic I used. It was like 'attack of the Shure mics' or something.... but it was really all the rental place had in short notice other than low end mics I had no working knowledge of.

It's not terrible, it's just that it is almost always my last choice over better microphones.
 
The mic I really hate is the Shure Beta 91. Tubby and nasty on kicks... I messed with it and messed with it but couldn't get a sound that I remotely liked. It just had no definition. I was totally wishing for a D12 or even D112 at that moment very hard.
 
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