mic for live vocals

L

lasagne

I fancy Fancy
I tried using the search facility, but it's down for some reason.

I use an SM58 (of course) for my live vox in my band, but I find it very boomy. I remember seeing a thread here before about some possible alternatives.

Anyone got any ideas about a reasonably priced live mic that may be less boomy ?
 
Your SM-58 is too "Boomy" (too much proximity effect maybe, creating too much bottom end)?

Try out a Sennheiser e835 (or e825 or e815, depending on your budget). Less boom on the bottom, smoother midrange, more extended top end. Low handling noise and good feedback rejection too. Some would call these Sennheiser mics "more accurate" than an SM-58. German-made too, FWIW.
http://www.sennheiserusa.com/newsite/productdetail.asp?transid=004513

The Heil PR-20 is getting rave reviews for live vocals. Assembled and tested in Illinois.
http://www.heilsound.com/pro/products/pr20/index.htm
 
weezerman2002 said:
Audix OM seris has the best feedback rejection. You could use any of the OM5's - OM7's, and get better results than a SM58.
Click to expand...

That depends- they are alternatives, for sure, but on some vocals they sound like sharp screaming ass. Gotta match the mic to the voice.

That assumes, of course, that the other possible reasons the mic sounds bad have been addressed. A muddy-sounding live vocal could have lots of causes besides the mic.
 
Generally speaking - the higher the front to back ratio on a cardioid the worse it sounds. I think the 58's is about 20dB.

The SM58 has been designed to compensate for bass tip-up (proximity effect) which is why the frequency response tails away around 150Hz

Try putting a low cut on the desk/reducing the LF on the EQ.

I've used the e845/835/825 mics a fair bit over the last few years and they seem very adequate, although I'm not sure I'd say they're any better than the 58.

Are you performing with foldback monitors? Could also be that they are the culprit, maybe try reducing the LF sent to them.
 
kid klash said:
Try out a Sennheiser e835 (or e825 or e815, depending on your budget). Less boom on the bottom, smoother midrange, more extended top end. Low handling noise and good feedback rejection too. Some would call these Sennheiser mics "more accurate" than an SM-58. German-made too, FWIW.
http://www.sennheiserusa.com/newsite/productdetail.asp?transid=004513
Click to expand...

Ditto on the Sennheiser e835. If the singer is muddy on a SM58 the Sennheiser e835 will likely make a big improvement.
 
For a reasonably priced dynamic, I'm fond of the Audix OM-6.

If you have the money to spend, the Audix VX-10, AE5400 or the Neumann KSM105 are top notch.

Alternate choices could include the AKG C535eb for a lower priced but nice performing condenser, the Beyer M88 already mentioned (although it does have hefty proximity effect), the Beyer M400 (discontinued and also called the Soundstar II). The Sennheiser MD431 (think Prince) and MD441 (or the Blackfire MD541 version)(think Zappa, Elton or Stevie Nicks) are also great performing mics.

I have a couple E845s, but I've never liked them all that much, at least for my voice. Like all mics, you have to try them out and see what works best for the performer's voice.
 
If you want more mid-upper range try AKG D880. My Choir usually miked by SM58 in live performance and I am alway unhappy with the live sound of them. It doesn't sound good for SATB style and their voice simply lack of "air". Than I decide to buy a set of mic for our choir and started to audition AKG's mic as I like the condenser mic's sound.
I noticed that their dynamic mic sound like a condenser. If you check their frequency response curve, you will know why.
For the SM58 price range, D880 can solve problem of boomy and have better feedback rejection as D880 is supercardiod pattern. I recently also auditioned D3700 which even sound much better and more close to condenser way - the bass is more and soft than D880, more details of higher frequency.
However, it is only a cardiod pattern and unsuitable to my hard positioned purpose, than I got a D3800, which is supercardiod. But the $$ is more than twice of D880. How about its sound? Well, enough to convince myself to pay more double price to buy it!
However, I have to said that D3700/D3800 are very sensitive mic that if the vocalist doesn't sing well, better keep D880 for them. Why? I replaced the lead vocal mic after spend my money on D3800, her voice sound very good but....all of us noticed that she didn't sing well and she have to put more effort to do better. Interesting? Hope my advice can be useful.
 
One more thing, the sales guy is kind enough to let me try the AKG's new dynamic mic - D5 (well, they are AKG sale store) It sound very close to D3800 with supercardiod pattern also but the prices is as low as D3700, which is close to SM58. The bass is a little bit lesser than D3800 and no handsome mic case.

Joseph
 
Having owned plenty of 58's, Sennheisers, Audixes, AKG's, AT's etc... I can confidently tell you that proper use and PA tuning is going to make much more of a difference than changing the mic. As far as Audixes being better at rejecting feedback, this is completely untrue. In fact, I can not even count the times that someone has brought their Audix out and spouted out the same information. After several minutes of trying to balance the feedback problem with the tonality of the mic, swapping for a 58 has almost always solved the issue. Lately I have been using a lot of the Sennheisers, but that has not been a magic bullet either. Just as often as the Sennheiser sounds a little better, a plain old sm58 does as well. Once you get into the condensors of any of the lines their is a much more distinct change in quality, which often results in more of a logistical problem, so in the end it is a real trade off. As far as my favorites go, the Beyer M88, the Heil, and the standard Beyer TGX line sounds really good, but not all that different from the common offerings of all of the other quality companies. My bet is that a little judicious EQ'ing or PA retuning is what really needs to be done here, and a little bit of mic technique.
 
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