Is SM57 sounds good for vocal?

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I Heard a lot of it~~I v even seen it in a top class studio~~but the price it's really cheap~~~
Is it really works well????what is it good at?? thanks for your help
 
the sm57 is best at being an sm57. it is the "blue jeans" of the mic world. even when it doesnt sound "good" it sounds "fine" because it sounds like an sm57, which is to say, it bears a sonic stamp that is found all the fuck over the majority of recordings made in the last 30 years or so.

however, if your pres dont give you much clean gain you might want a cheapo LDC.

check out the FAQs.
http://www.hr-faq.org/

look under
"I want to record lead vocals. What kind of mics should I be looking for?"
 
The SM57 will give credible results on any singer, as long as the "engineer" is up to the task. A combination of good mic placement, and judicious use of EQ
leads to a high quality recorded vocal. They take such tweaking amazing well.

It's an important microphone to try out, on many singers it will rival
expensive Neumann's, as long as the mic pre is a good one.
(I fall into this catagory, especially on my Shure 546)

It's fraternal twin, the 545 series, is comparable overall.
The 546 and SM56 were similar to the SM7 in having selected capsules
and were marketed to the pro studio community that way.

When you look for either one, look for the old ones, "Made in the USA" that will say "Unidyne III" on them. They are more consistant in tone quality than the ones made in Mexico, although they can sound excellent too.

Chris
 
I dont usually post in the Microphone area, because it's not my area of expertise. But I feel comfortable in saying this: The SM57 should be one of the first mics you buy. This is because at the entry level of recording it is a very good vocal mic, and at the pro level it is a very good instrument mic. So you can be assured that it will always be a useful mic to have arround. Its a good investment.
 
SM 57 broke my cherry.
My first recording experience was with a pair of them.
They worked so well I bought another pair right after.
I have moved on in the recording world to bigger and better yet way more expensive things.
Still great for playing live or jamming in my buddies dingy garage.
 
My 58 makes a great control room mic.

It captures all the intimate detail, warmth, and delicate nuances of my voice as I say:

"That take sucked. Do it again."
 
It's sturdy and cheap. Thats about it. The short answer. .....Buy it as one of your first mics because you can't fuck it up without tryin real hard to. Avoid using it on vocals unless it's all that you got.
 
I think they sound great, check out pedrothelion.com and
www.achilles-heel.net. It should have a sound sample that just pops right up. The majority of the vocals were done with an SM-57. with the right eq you'll be right on.

peace,
Rafe
 
In response to Be Loveless. I disagree, it works great on certain vocals including mine. When I go to record any rock song, it the first mic I turn to for vocals. And I've got a soundelux, neumann and a couple others. However, I CANNOT underscore the importance of a good preamp.
 
Do dynamic mics "wear out?" I have an old unidyne three that I use to mic my guitar amp and have always been happy with. I used it to mic a snare and it seemed too dark, so I put a newer SM57 in place and it sounded brighter. I read somewhere that a dynamic mics can lose their luster with age, and this seemed to bear that out.
 
Actually, that's probably a positive point about the Unidyne III being darker.
The old ones have a fuller bass response, and more top end typically than the
new SM57's.

There have been many hits, like Hall & Oates "Sarah" or the lead vocals
on the Beach Boy's "Pet Sounds" that were recorded on a Unidyne III.
(SM57 and Shure 545 respectively in these examples)

In a world famous AE's opinion (Bob Ohlsson), you can have a killer vocal chain starting with something like SM57>DMP2, with a RNC compressor to help
keep levels smooth in view of the close miking.

I like the DBX 242 as a parametric EQ to fiddle with these mics BTW.

When I asked people like Scott Dorsey and Mike Rivers at RAP on a dynamic mic element's life span, they expected over 40 to 50 years if it's not abused.

Not too bad for a $60 or so investment used...

Chris
 
i love my 57, but i've had better results with a b1 on guitar amp
 
If you like Led Zeppelin and Bad Co. they used sm57s on those records
 
Michael Jackson used a 57 for vocals on the 'Thriller' album, it did him right. There aren't many singers with his natural ability, but if it sounds good, use it.
 
ez_willis said:
Michael Jackson used a 57 for vocals on the 'Thriller' album, it did him right. There aren't many singers with his natural ability, but if it sounds good, use it.
Click to expand...
That was actually a sm7 not the 57
 
ez_willis said:
This is from the shure website-

"The SM57 demonstrates its versatility by also being ideal for vocal applications. Michael Jackson used the SM57 to record the famous Billie Jean in 1982".

Here's the link-

http://www.shure.com/otws/tech/sm57.asp
Click to expand...
The website's wrong, Bruce Swedien himself identified the sm7 as his vocal mic of choice for Jackson on the thriller album in a Mix article. Do a search on rec.pro.audio, Harvey Gerst and Scott Dorsey among others all claim that the the sm7 was used for Jackson's voice.

So let's see here, which has more validity...Swedien, Gerst, and countless knowledgable others...or the shure website.
 
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