What can you tell me about the SM58?

[chessrock]

The 57 and/or 58 are what you call "right of passage" microphones.

Everyone has to have that one recording they pull out and have people listen as they say : "Guess how that was recorded ... one 57 sitting inside a coffee jar. With the coffee jar tumbling around in the dryer, no less."

And then you look at the person, waiting for them to go "wow, you're a really nifty engineer if you can get it to sound that good with just a 57 ... inside a coffee jar, tossed around inside a dryer."

Okay, so I made up the coffee can and dryer part, but you get the point.

It's how you prove yourself as an engineer. If you don't have "one of those songs" you tracked with nothing but a 57 running through a dixie cup string in to a cassette deck, then you haven't yet achieved your right of passage, as far as I'm concerned. I mean, like come on .... you have no 57 stories? And you think you're an engineer?

 

[GoldFalcon]

And you think you're an engineer?*

No, I think I'm a storyteller who finds it useful to be a musician as an extension of my storytelling. I can guarantee you that Damien Rice wasn't using that mic to see what he could do with it, he was just trying to practice his craft.

I am guilty of forgetting that my craft as a songwriter/musician extends beyond the scope of my lyrics and conviction. I have to constantly remind myself that sound quality matters. I would humbly suggest that some of the engineer/musician's on this board are equally as guilty of forgetting that it isn't all about the finite points of the sound quality.

*I understand that it wasn't aimed at me, just thought I would point out that you missed both mine and oneroom's points.

 

[Phildo]

Horses for courses...

My main studio vocal mic is an AKG Solidtube. It's the first one I'll stick in front of a singer. Sometimes it's just not right, so I'll go for my GT55s or AT4033, which will normally work. Maybe on occasion I'll use one of the vintage Reslo ribbon mics I've got lying around if I know what sound I'm after.

If I'm working with an inexperienced, punky/shouty type of singer, though, I'll tend to go for a 58 initially - it's a mic they'll almost certainly be familiar and comfortable with - and it's my job to make them comfortable. Oftentimes, I'll track punk vocals without using cans, and just crank the monitors nice'n'loud - you just can't use a condenser in that sort of situation without getting huge amounts of spill. Maybe it's not audiophile, but great for relaxing the noisy buggers and coaxing a performance out of them.

I have also, on one memorable occasion, run the outputs of my 1680 through a PA at gig volume, while the band's "singer" ran around the stage area of the venue we were recording in giving a full-on show screaming into a 58 which we had, for some reason gaffer-taped to a three-foot high stuffed giraffe. He really got into it, and the results show on their CD.

And Bono prefers to use a 58 in the studio, apparently. Must be my influence...

 

[OneRoomStudios]

I can guarantee you that Damien Rice wasn't using that mic to see what he could do with it, he was just trying to practice his craft.

I'm afraid you'd be wrong in that assumption. I've actually spoken with Damien Rice about this very topic, and he went into detail about how he experimented with various mics/techniques to get the sound he was looking for. It did start out "innocently" however - an SM57 was all he had in the beginning, so he experimented with it. Once he was in the studio though, he had access to many different mics and eventually decided that the 57 (along with his technique of duct tape and Ratt distortion) was the right sound for those particular passages. Damien Rice knows quite a bit about microphones, and is interested in the "gear" side of things, not just his "craft."

That said, I agree with your sentiment. I think it's easy to get caught up in either the production or songwriting side of things, but without the right balance of both, the result won't be very good.

-Peter

 

[applejax]

Good point Peter!