Shure sm57 vs sm 58

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Mysterious

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I am setting up a recording studio for hip hop music and am thinking of buying one of these two mics(for singing as well as rapping). I can get them both for pretty much the same price so which one do think I should get?
If there is any other mics that you think are better it would also be helpful if you could list these and how much they are?
cheers
 
They are essentially the same mic if you take the windscreen off the 58..........
 
what does the wind screen do?
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In basic terms, it reduces unwanted 'wind' (breath sounds/plosives (popping B's or P's)) from hitting the diaphram of the mic.

The 57 and 58 use the same capsule, but because the 58 has the "ball end" windscreen, it sounds a bit different than the 57. You can get a bigger proximity effect (increased bass response as your source gets closer to the mic) with the 57, but for voice you may end up getting the unwanted 'wind' noise.

In general, the 57 is considered an instrument mic (excellent on drums, guitars cabinets, etc), and the 58 is considered a vocal mic.
 
actually the 57 goes 10 hz lower than the 58 not that its a biggie
 
Mysterious, other (not necessarily better) choices under/around $100;

1) Sennheiser e835 (works particularly well on bass singers)
2) EV C09 (hides sibilance well)
3) Used Shure Beta 57 or Beta 58 ("brightest" sound of these
various microphones)
4) Used Beyer Soundstar MKII (smooth/detailed)

The first three are all "hotter" than a '57 or '58 in that they take
less gain to operate=less noise.
For most voices, however, the Beyer Soundstar is superior to these three in tone quality-if you can get one, IMHO. (real sleepers!) They all can produce excellent results though.

Chris
 
I'd definitely looking at some other options before you buy a shure 57 or 58. They're great mics for performance and live stuff and for micing amps and other various things. I don't really care to much for their studio vocal sound, though.
 
messsa said:
actually the 57 goes 10 hz lower than the 58 not that its a biggie
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Actually it's quite relevant. Freq is a log function. 10 hz at the low end is a much bigger percent change than 10 hz at the high end. For instance from 20 hz down to 10 hz is a complete octave. 57's & 58's differ by more than a windscreen.
 
knowdoubt said:
57's & 58's differ by more than a windscreen.
Click to expand...
Think so, eh?

They use the same capsule... care to elaborate?


From Shure's own literature:

Question: Do the SM58 and SM57 mics have the same frequency response curves? Is a 58 simply a 57 with an integral pop filter/windscreen?

Answer: The SM58 and SM57 do use the same cartridge. The grill, though, does effect the frequency response to some extent. At a distance, the difference is probably not noticable. But at extremely close distances, the difference is noticeable. Due to the grill, a person's mouth can get closer to the diaphragm of an SM57, thus causing more proximity effect and increased bass when compared to the SM58.

Another answer: The SM58 and the SM57 share the same mic element, the Unidyne III. The only difference between the these two models is the grill design.

The grill design does affect the high frequency response, particularly above 8,000 Hz.

The SM57 grill design allows more proximity effect because the mic diaphragm can be placed closer to the sound source. Proximity effect increases each time the distance from the mic to the source is halved. When a mic is placed very close, it is quite easy to halve the distance: 1 inch to 1/2 inch; 1/2 inch to 1/4 inch; etc. Remove the ball grill from the SM58 and it will be more similar to the SM57 in its low frequency response.

Any other differences you hear between the SM57 and SM58 are likely to be subjective (psycho-acoustic) or due to slight manufacturing differences due to part tolerance.
 
So theoretically you can PUT a grill in a 57 and basically it would become a 58?
 
flapo1 said:
So theoretically you can PUT a grill in a 57 and basically it would become a 58?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I guess so, except there is no way to screw the ball screen onto the body of the 57. It might be more accurate to say you can make the 58 into a 57 by removing the ball. But since the 57 is cheaper than the 58, why do that? Just use the 57 and eliminate the proximity effect by not being, well, proximate to it.
 
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