SM 57's

  • Thread starter Thread starter Slowrider
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The 57 is a very popular mic because of two reasons: it can be used on almost everything, cabs, toms, snare, horns and it always will sound kind of decent, but never brilliant or great.

Second reason is because people behave like sheep, one says 'bleh', everybody says............right!
 
Here's an example of a song using only 57's...
http://www.studioreviews.com/57song.htm

In a recent mic shootout I did for a vocalist at Blackbird Studio, a $99 SM57 beat out a $25,000 cherry-picked Telefunken Ela-M 251 - and a lot of other pricey mics. Here's a pic of the mess.

mictest1ui1.jpg
 
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Dot said:
Here's an example of a song using only 57's...
http://www.studioreviews.com/57song.htm

In a recent mic shootout I did for a vocalist at Blackbird Studio, a $99 SM57 beat out a $25,000 cherry-picked Telefunken Ela-M 251 - and a lot of other pricey mics. Here's a pic of the mess.

mictest1ui1.jpg
Click to expand...

Dan, are you trying to tell me that the 57 sounds better than an ELA M 251? And do I regognize an M149 on the right?

Well, I own an M149 and most vocalists and instruments sound crystal clear and airy on that mic, while the 57 sounds flat and boxy.

There must be something wrong here.
 
Dot said:
Here's an example of a song using only 57's...
http://www.studioreviews.com/57song.htm

In a recent mic shootout I did for a vocalist at Blackbird Studio, a $99 SM57 beat out a $25,000 cherry-picked Telefunken Ela-M 251 - and a lot of other pricey mics. Here's a pic of the mess.

mictest1ui1.jpg
Click to expand...

Dude, ANYTHING going through a Mackie board is slaughtered anyway.

I would belive anything under those circumstances.
 
Even through the cheapest Behringer board one can hear the difference between a hi end condenser and a 57.
 
i'll keep it simple....No, the sm57 is not the best mic i own, and no its not better sounding then high end condensor mics.....but for what it does and the price.....it is HANDS DOWN! the GREATEST MIC EVER MADE...
 
To all those people trashing on the '57 - if you can't get at least a WORKABLE sound with an SM57 you might want to try a different career path or hobby.

Audio Engineering might not be for you.

Seriously.
 
No, they are authentic SM57-LC mics... The same ones that come with the aniversery T-Shirt at Guitar Center. Head over to www.northernsound.net for mics... They have awsome normal prices... I think the 57s normally are 72 bucks and if you mention the 20 dollar coupon you recieved via email(until the end of January) you get them for around 52 plus shipping which is reasonable. So I ended up buying 7 at that price...
 
Shure SM57 = good

Audix i5 = better (at least for micing a guitar cab IMO)

:D
 
MCI2424 said:
Dude, ANYTHING going through a Mackie board is slaughtered anyway.

I would belive anything under those circumstances.
Click to expand...
The Mackie in that room is for headphone mixes.

Here's some of the preamps (and other gear) we were using...

mictestrackfb4.jpg


Here's a shot of studio B, with API Legacy console and ATC monitors.

studiobwy2.jpg
 
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Han said:
Dan, are you trying to tell me that the 57 sounds better than an ELA M 251? And do I regognize an M149 on the right?

Well, I own an M149 and most vocalists and instruments sound crystal clear and airy on that mic, while the 57 sounds flat and boxy.

There must be something wrong here.
Click to expand...
Yep, Han, that's a 149 on the right. In fact, it was the mic owned by the vocalist. The 57 kicked the 149, too, on the vocalist. The 57 sounded much better on the vocalist than the 251.

We ended up choosing the Korby KAT Red (on the right).

The singer had a 149 through a Pendulum Quartet. Sounded horrible on him. Thin. Almost transistor-like - if you knew his voice from hearing it in the same room. We ended up with a final vocal chain: Korby Red, LaChapell 992 TLS, Universal Audio 1176LN with Lavry Gold for the AD.

Huge difference from his original chain.

The SM57 was one of the top mics on his voice - out of all those high-end mics. Who'd a thunk.
 
Mmmmmm.. Dan, I find this a very bizar story. I have some 40 mics, most of them classic and 40-50 year old. I have three tube LCD's, but only a single SM57 which I have bought because of all the raving on the forums.

And I've really tried the 57 on almost everything and to be honest is always sounds kind of decent, but there was always a better sounding mic.

On snare it can even sound great, but in case the drummer is a bit loud on the hi hat, you'll end up with the nasty sounding bleed of it in the 57. The Beyer M201 is the perfect solution for this and it sounds even better.

On guitar cabs it always gets beaten by the MD421 or the M88, not to mention the MD441 and even the 50 year old and kind of rare AKG D14S kicks the 57's butt.

On horns and winds there's no way it holds to an MD441 or a Beyer ribbon.

On vocals it always sounded a bit flat and boxy, while the M88 sounds like a condenser compaired to the 57.

Sure, I know the 57 is cheap, but I've really tried to understand why many are raving about this mic, but IMHO it's not more than mediocre and on vocals 99% of the vocalists sound a hundred times better on a LDC like the M149.

Here's a male vocal on the M149: http://www.beaufortstudio.nl/files/Beaufort_Folk_Dockside_Kilkelly.ogg

More: http://www.beaufortstudio.nl/index.php?pg=4
 
Dot said:
The Mackie in that room is for headphone mixes.

Here's some of the preamps (and other gear) we were using...

https://img131.imageshack.us/img131/8224/mictestrackfb4.jpg

Here's a shot of studio B, with API Legacy console and ATC monitors.

https://img215.imageshack.us/img215/9099/studiobwy2.jpg
Click to expand...

Nice stuff.
I was thinking though, for an objective approach maybe a Mackie board would actually be better than most of that vintage and boutique stuff.

Mackie's aren't bad boards. Yes they're pretty "sterile" and un-colored. Good for clinical audio engineering such as signal comparisons.

Using, "colored", xfmr coupled in/out preamps will lend themselves to be a better match for some mics but not others.
Just a thought. I really do enjoy the listening sessions.
 
Dot said:
The Mackie in that room is for headphone mixes.

Here's some of the preamps (and other gear) we were using...

mictestrackfb4.jpg


Here's a shot of studio B, with API Legacy console and ATC monitors.

studiobwy2.jpg
Click to expand...

In that case, your singer must have a really unique sounding voice that gets it's nasty timbre rejected by the SM57.

There is no way on god's green earth that a 57 is going to "beat" a $25,000 mic. You just found out that the singer just plain has a unique voice with nasty components to it.

It happens. Some people have used a 57 for vocals on albums. You CAN use anything somewhere.

BUT. If you truly believe that the SM57 "beat" the high $$ mic, you know where to find me. I WILL gladly take that mic off your hands (for free) and WILL pay the shipping too as well as include a SM57 of mine.

You can't beat my offer.
 
One of my favorite Harvey Gerst quotes seems appropriate here:

Harvey Gerst said:
"Mics have resonances; so does your voice. How those resonances interact will determine whether a mic is a good match for your voice. Change the key or the style, and all bets are off. Start looking again. It ain't about accuracy; it's all about whether a mic flatters your voice on a particular song."
Click to expand...

I have no problem believing that a 57 was chosen on a given singer for a given performance over any mic, regardless of price. If you think that just because a mic is more expensive, it will naturally sound "better" on every voice, you are a fool. They're all just tools and selecting the right one for a job is the important thing.
 
Sure the 57 is going to have a hard time beating high-end expensive mics, but for budget recording the 57 is wonderful. As long as you have a good room to record in you can get a whole drum kit with a single 57 and have it sound decent.
 
Snazzy Q said:
Sure the 57 is going to have a hard time beating high-end expensive mics, but for budget recording the 57 is wonderful. As long as you have a good room to record in you can get a whole drum kit with a single 57 and have it sound decent.
Click to expand...
Not just for budget recording, the Sm57 can exceed your expectations with the right desk and signal chain. Both the SM57 and SM81 are industry standards, and for good reason.
 
scrubs said:
One of my favorite Harvey Gerst quotes seems appropriate here:



I have no problem believing that a 57 was chosen on a given singer for a given performance over any mic, regardless of price. If you think that just because a mic is more expensive, it will naturally sound "better" on every voice, you are a fool. They're all just tools and selecting the right one for a job is the important thing.
Click to expand...

I contend that any "singer" that only sounds good on a $99 mic (a dynamic BTW) and no other mic in that collection pictured is no singer.

A mic can only bring up what it hears and mics are certainly not that different sounding as to only being able to use 1 mic out of a bunch.
 
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