Poll : Best all-round mic for beginner

  • Thread starter Thread starter schnoops
  • Start date Start date
Shure Unidyne III ...oh,wait a second...that mic from the 70s turned into the SM57.
Seriously,I have a Shure mic from the early 80s that has "Unidyne III" on one side and "SM57" on the opposite side of the ID ring.What is the oldest mic you personally have that is labelled SM57?
Tom
 
Don’t talk nonsense please! The SM57 is not the best all-round mic !!!

Do yourself a favor, just buy a decent condenser mic. It may also be a small diaphragm.

I still like the AKG C2000 as budget solution (very cheep, “medium diaphragm”, great all-round mic)

The SM57 is only good for.... (I don’t know, perhaps live stuff)

(p.s.: I have the SM57 and the SM58 normal and Beta and also a TLM103 and several other mic’s)

Please believe me, you can't record with a SM57!

OK, Maybe drum stuff and some guitar cabinets (but that you can also do extremely well with a good condenser)
 
Wow....

I had better go and tell the PRO studios in my area that they can't record with a 57(which would include Butch Vig's infamous Smart Studio). It seems they have been misinformed and fucking up for years. While I'm at it, I'd better phone up the hundreds of professional musicians with like Phil Collins and Robert Smith and tell them the same! What a bunch of idiots....didnt they KNOW you could not RECORD with a 57?!?!?!?


If you do not have a 57, my man, you NEED one. As someone said above...there will always be a use for it even after you've got a locker full of expensive mics.


heylow
Rock Jedi/Indie Snob
www.heylowsoundsystem.net
 
Better late then never. Someone had to stand up sooner or later and tell the truth: You should not record with a SM57. Use it as a hammer instead, It’s better suited for that!
 
About SM57/58:

They are the most beautiful mic’s ever made, They are jewels of design!

The SM58 was the very first microphone I owned!

I did lots of recordings with my SM58, I started about seventeen years ago when I was eighteen years old.

I now also own the SM57 Beta!

I regret all the recordings I ever made when I was young with my SM58 because they sound dull and I would just do anything if I could do them over with any decent mainstream condenser mic.

They are not made for recording purposes and although one can of course use them in certain circumstances, this thread is about the best all-round microphone.

The SM57 is not the best all-round microphone, period. It sounds dull compared to any condenser!

Condensers can also mic a guitar cabinet, but a dynamic can’t catch an acoustic instrument. That’s what all-round means.

The SM57 is a niche mic, not an all-round mic.
 
Jan .."Its best all around mic for beginners"..That means that the person should start with something that is..A..Not expensive..B..Still useful if he decides to continue to record..C..that doesn't need phantom power..D..That is very consistant from one to the other...E..Give him the experience to be able to learn the sounds hes looking for, before he spends his hard earned cash on some mic that will be useless later..And even if he ends up with $10,000 in mics he will still use that same 57 on a snare,guit amp,harmonica, and also be able to use it live

Don
 
I have to go along with the lemmings, and go with the SM-57. Great for guitar, great for drums, a fine beginner mic for vocals, useful for live work, and cheap to boot. And I might add that the difference between my Rode condenser mic and a SM-57 is not that great, although there IS a difference.
 
Jan said:
Don’t talk nonsense please! The SM57 is not the best all-round mic !!!

The SM57 is only good for.... (I don’t know, perhaps live stuff)
Click to expand...
Mhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

You'll find a Shure SM57 in every world class studio.

I've used it on:
combo amps, guitar cabinets, bass amps, acoustic guitars, vocals.
Even a violin once. You name it.
Learn to use stuff before you diss them dude.

Keijo
 
well

57's like everyone says have their place..if you're a beginner, and are not used to taking care of things..you can drop a 57 a few thousand times and it will still work fine..if your drummer breaks a stick, you can always give him one to use, and not worry either. :)

I'd say get a 57, and a pair of Rode NT3s..These things are great for the price..they're $150, they have 3"4 diaphgrams <between small and large>, they can be held for stage singing, are externally biased (not electret), and have a good overall sound, on the bright side but good.

-------Sal
 
"The SM57 is a niche mic, not an all-round mic."

Compared to cheap condensors, it's hardly a niche tool. Most of the cheap import condensors have lousy patterns, where the 57 is tight and very dirrectional. The imports have awful off-axis coloration, often worse than the 57, making it easy to get shitty results when you put up more than one. A lot of them can't take the SPL in the same room as a drum kit or amp, much less close micing these. And I don't always need a hissy, sibilant sound.

A wise man once said a 57 "rarely sounds 'genius', but by the same token, rarely ever sounds like total shit."

Since I take the purchase of higher priced condensors to be an inevitability, at this budget I always recomend a great dynamic mic that will never be outgrown when "the real deal" comes along, because they are it in their class. The 57 rules on the budget level, under $300, the Beyer M-88 and Sennheiser MD-421 also come into play.

Bear
 
I've been reading this stuff and I just have to weigh in here. Has anybody thought about about a Shure SM-57? The swiss army knife of mics. You can record with 'em, gig with 'em, even swing your way out of a bar fight with 'em. Just wipe off the blood and plug it in.
:D
 
I'll say the same for the SM58 for vocals - word is Bono likes to use them.

They are also industructable. I've see someone use the handle as a makeshift hammer, and the mic still work perfectly. The same guy plays in a metal band.

says it all really.......


d
 
What ? ?

Hell hath finally frozen over.

This is the first time I haven't heard the S . . . okay, I'm not going to spoil it, now. Let's just say it's an American mic manufactured in China and is mentioned more often in this forum than I care to count.
 
chess,
nobody mentioned it, why? lets

see, one

reason (and a valid one) is the question stated "best all-around mic for a beginner".

and the shure SM57 is just that...

Queue
 
This is exactly the only thing that’s really tricky about forums in general, everybody just wants to be recognized and just starts repeating each other, just like their music should be commercial, the level at which they burn their CD’s should be as hot as a commercial CD, etc etc. It’s not a shame to not repeat what everybody is saying!

I fully understand the concept of a budget microphone and the need for a beginning recording armature to find something valuable to start recording with. I did all that already a long time ago, and as I mentioned I did countless recordings with the SM58 and the SM57!

I completely stand behind the recommendation of the Rode NT3 even if I never heard them. Buy something like that!

Forget about dynamic microphones. It is much more difficult to hear the difference between various pre-amps and condenser mic’s then it is to hear the difference between any dynamic microphone and a decent condenser.

If you can’t hear the difference between a SM57 and a Condenser, please stop wasting your money on expensive equipment, it’s not worth it.

You can buy lot’s of reasonable condensers for little money. I never tried the C1 but I’m sure it’s a great mic. For the same price or less, you can also buy a AKG C2000B or a Rode NT1000 or NT3 or a Marshall V67, who cares, they all shine compared to a SM57 and cost just a little more!
 
I didn't say that the SM57 was as good as a low-end condenser. As a matter of fact, I bought a low-end condenser because I was not satisfied with the quality of my vocal recordings on an SM57. But FOR A BEGINNER, unless he's loaded, I still recommend the SM57 as an all-round mic.

But if you must get a condenser, look into the Studio Projects B1, should be coming out in January ~$99 street price.

Queue
 
For a beginner-

The SM-57 simply cannot be beat. I remember the first time I miced my guitar amp with it (upgrading from random cheap 58 look-alikes) and thought "Wow! Its sounds like a guitar!"

Sure, it doesn't sound the best for everything, but it works well for learning mic placement, setting levels, etc. Its about the least expensive REAL mic on the market- and its a way classy real mic, too, if you look at its track record.

If I had to say something different, though, I'd mention the AKG C1000S. I know it isn't the greatest mic around, but it does move a beginner into the world of condensors without needing phantom power. I recall the first time I used the c1000 and recorded a whole song on the 4-track with the noise reduction off and it sounded *good!* :)

Take care,
Chris
 
not trying to quote an advertisement..

My friend has a pair of C1000's...I showed him my Rode NT3's, and he was pretty pissed..he paid about $50 more, per mic, they're electrets (which wear down over time, although that's a debate now too apparently)...and I just think the NT3s sound 'better'..I think I remember seeing a R0DE ad pairing the 2 and saying pretty much the same thing...although if you have $300, the AKG C3000b is definitely worth the $100 difference..note 'B' not the original C3000, which was electret and very high endy.
 
Jan, try a 57 through a really good preamp some time. 57's are more load sensitive than a lot of other mics, so you probably don't know what they really sound like.

The fact is if you are going to have several mics, one should almost certainly be a dynamic. If at a later point you would buy a more expensive condensor, say a TLM-103, then buying a cheapie as your first mic that's pretty good but not as good is wasted money if it becomes useless at this point. A good dynamic will last a lifetime and always find use. So, if you have a limited budget for your first mic, why not still make your first mic purchase a lifetime purchase? The point is to collect mics, not replace them. And a good dynamic can be incredibly flexible. I know if I had to I could record an entire album with an RE-20, I don't know of any condensor at twice the price or even more that I could imagine the same for.

That's not to say there is no place for budget condensors. I'm going with MXL-603s's and Behringer ECM-8000 small diaphragm mics and plan to skip the Neumann KM-184 and go right to great modular small diaphragm kits from Neumann, Schoepps, or MBHO. The cheapies are not in this case obviously inferrior to an intermediate step up the ladder. The market of large diaphragm condensors, however, is packed with great sounding workhorses once you get to a middling price. Patience becomes a great virtue when stocking your mic closet.

Bear
 
I'd get the Shure SM57 first, since it's a classic dynamic microphone,
then wait till after the holidays (sale time!), and check out the new
Studio Projects B1 coming out in January, along with any other
competitors. Also a good time to consider upgrading your mic pre.

P.S. The AKG C3000B tends to be a better mike for female vocalists
than male (I had one I sold)-it sounds "nice", however, the
Studio Projects sounds bigger and better.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top