Ok, here we go. All I want to do is this - I want to put my Shure SM57 mic through my guitar pedals and into my loop pedal, so that I can keep some vocal ideas. Every time I try to find out what I need, I get confused - nothing new there! I want to spend the minimum amount and do not need brilliant quality, just a similar strength input to the pedal-board that I get form plugging in a guitar. As you can probably tell, I don't really know what I'm on about, but hopefully, someone will be able to explain, in simple terms what I need. Heres hoping. Thanks in advance
What do I need???
- Thread starter Glennyboy
- Start date
TalismanRich
Well-known member
While I wouldn't want to do this for anything as a final product, if you are just recording for idea, you can use something like a Shure 545D in hi impedance mode, and plug that directly into a pedal. Output is around 17mV in the hi Z setting, which is similar to a guitar output. Plus you have the advantage of flipping the internal cable connection to a lo Z setting and having a very similar mic to an SM57, in case you use an more conventional mixer/interface setup.
While this would work, why not just pick up a cheap digital recorder and use that for capturing ideas? You can get a Zoom or Tascam handy recorder for $100 new, cheaper if you look for used units. They are a LOT more practical that trying to use a looping pedal, unless you like putting your voice through a TubeScreamer or Chorus.
While this would work, why not just pick up a cheap digital recorder and use that for capturing ideas? You can get a Zoom or Tascam handy recorder for $100 new, cheaper if you look for used units. They are a LOT more practical that trying to use a looping pedal, unless you like putting your voice through a TubeScreamer or Chorus.
Many thanks for the reply.
Some clarity - If I plug the the SM57 straight into the pedal-board I do get a sound out of the other end, put it is extremely low compared with plugging a guitar into it. I did some searching and thought that a Triton Audio Fethead would do the trick. Then I found out that it needs a power supply of some sort that is/was rather costly and that was not what I wanted. Would a Cloudlifter CL-1 do what I want, or does that also need additional 'things' to make it work?? ( my pedals are, in order - tuner, Tube Screamer, treble booster, delay, reverb, 720 looper)
Once again, thanks for the reply
Some clarity - If I plug the the SM57 straight into the pedal-board I do get a sound out of the other end, put it is extremely low compared with plugging a guitar into it. I did some searching and thought that a Triton Audio Fethead would do the trick. Then I found out that it needs a power supply of some sort that is/was rather costly and that was not what I wanted. Would a Cloudlifter CL-1 do what I want, or does that also need additional 'things' to make it work?? ( my pedals are, in order - tuner, Tube Screamer, treble booster, delay, reverb, 720 looper)
Once again, thanks for the reply
TalismanRich
Well-known member
You would need a powered one, because the regular FEThead (and Cloudlifter) is powered by the 48V phantom power supply, which, or course, your guitar rig does not supply. It will still be a low impedance signal, just louder. The SM57 (and the 545SD) have about 1.7mV output with low impedance (around 200 Ohms), A guitar pickup is a hi impedance device (typically 7-12kOhms), and it's an unbalanced signal (the ground and shield are combined). In Hi Z mode, the 545SD is 17mV, so significantly stronger.
Why would you spend £50 to >£100 on a step up device when you can just get a mic for about the same price and have something that you can actually use for other stuff too?
www.thomann.de
www.shure.com
I'm still a bit confused about how you'll use it. Are you going through a guitar amp? Using a looper is not a permanent way to store stuff. It's like using a pipe wrench to pound a nail. It'll work, but its the wrong tool for the job.
I know that the 545SD in hi Z mode will work, because I have an old Shure Unidyne B 515 from about 1968 that is hi Z, and it worked, although going through a guitar amp it was really susceptible to feedback! I hit my H2O chorus and my Soul Food pedals and they obviously changed the sound. Using a waa-waa gave a nice annoying squeal!
Why do I have an old hi Z mic? Back "in the day", we used a Kustom PA head that used hi Z inputs, so those were the mics we bought. It was basically like a 4 channel guitar amp with "full range" speakers. Sound wasn't great, but what did we know back then?
Why would you spend £50 to >£100 on a step up device when you can just get a mic for about the same price and have something that you can actually use for other stuff too?
Shure 545 SD
Dynamic all-round microphone Polar pattern: Cardioid, 50 - 15.000 Hz, Versatile, high-quality microphone with SM57®-like sound characteristics, Lockable, Silent magnetic on/off switch, Silver housing, For instrument and speech recording, Output...
£122.00
www.thomann.de
545SD - Classic Instrument Microphone - Shure USA
Classic Unidyne instrument mic features selectable dual-impedance operation with a silent on/off switch.
www.shure.com
I'm still a bit confused about how you'll use it. Are you going through a guitar amp? Using a looper is not a permanent way to store stuff. It's like using a pipe wrench to pound a nail. It'll work, but its the wrong tool for the job.
I know that the 545SD in hi Z mode will work, because I have an old Shure Unidyne B 515 from about 1968 that is hi Z, and it worked, although going through a guitar amp it was really susceptible to feedback! I hit my H2O chorus and my Soul Food pedals and they obviously changed the sound. Using a waa-waa gave a nice annoying squeal!
Why do I have an old hi Z mic? Back "in the day", we used a Kustom PA head that used hi Z inputs, so those were the mics we bought. It was basically like a 4 channel guitar amp with "full range" speakers. Sound wasn't great, but what did we know back then?
Thanks for the helpful advice, some of which went over my head, but I think I'm going to buy a used 554SD and sell my unused SM57.
I'm only pissing about, using my looper to temporarily store ideas for vocals over ideas so that I don't forget them. Thinking - 'Oh! that's good, I'll remember that' is a no no
I'm only pissing about, using my looper to temporarily store ideas for vocals over ideas so that I don't forget them. Thinking - 'Oh! that's good, I'll remember that' is a no no
TalismanRich
Well-known member
As I said, the looper is the wrong device. Something like these are much better.
www.thomann.de
www.thomann.de
It's like having a cassette deck with a microphone (like John Lennon did with Free As A Bird but better quality). You can record for literally hours. When you sit down and start piddling around, turn the thing on and hit record. If inspiration hits you, it's preserved. If you every go out to a open mic, you can put it on a stand or chair in front of you and hit record, then listen back to the whole performance. You can plug them into a computer and use them as an interface to do more serious recordings.
I don't think you'll be at all happy with using a mic into a guitar rig. They really sound like crap compared to a real PA full range setup.
I've got an Zoom H4n that is hand held, and I've used it for multitrack recordings. I've recorded jam sessions with it. I used to take mine when I traveled for work. If I felt inspired, I just turned it on , sat it on the chair in front of me and picked around. A friend was asking if it would work for doing multitracks. She wanted to work out songs. I set up a microphone in the living room on a stand, plugged it in and did this in about 30 minutes as a demonstration.
View attachment Blackbird.mp3
Don't you think this would offer a lot more possibilities than putting a mic into a looper?
Zoom H1n
MP3 / Wave Handy Recorder Real X-Y microphone arrangement, 24 bit / 96 kHz linear PCM, Built-in monitor speaker, Input: 3.5 mm stereo jack for line signals and plug-in powered microphones, Automatic and manual recording level, Lo-cut filter,...
www.thomann.de
Tascam DR-05X
Portable Audio Recorder and USB Interface Recording and playback of MP3 (up to 320 Kb / s) and WAV files (up to 24 bit / 44.1 / 48/96 kHz), Recording media: Micro SD / SDHC / SDXC cards (up to 128 GB), Usable as USB audio interface for Mac and...
www.thomann.de
It's like having a cassette deck with a microphone (like John Lennon did with Free As A Bird but better quality). You can record for literally hours. When you sit down and start piddling around, turn the thing on and hit record. If inspiration hits you, it's preserved. If you every go out to a open mic, you can put it on a stand or chair in front of you and hit record, then listen back to the whole performance. You can plug them into a computer and use them as an interface to do more serious recordings.
I don't think you'll be at all happy with using a mic into a guitar rig. They really sound like crap compared to a real PA full range setup.
I've got an Zoom H4n that is hand held, and I've used it for multitrack recordings. I've recorded jam sessions with it. I used to take mine when I traveled for work. If I felt inspired, I just turned it on , sat it on the chair in front of me and picked around. A friend was asking if it would work for doing multitracks. She wanted to work out songs. I set up a microphone in the living room on a stand, plugged it in and did this in about 30 minutes as a demonstration.
View attachment Blackbird.mp3
Don't you think this would offer a lot more possibilities than putting a mic into a looper?
Bit late on parade but my son uses one of the above to get a very decent signal from his 57 into a Jam Man looper, even from classical guitar.
Dave.
TalismanRich
Well-known member
Keep the SM57. You can use it with the H4n (it has 2 XLR inputs on the bottom.)
Too right! The SM57 will last forever and be just about the most versatile mic one can own. An alternative to the H4N is the Tascam Pro 40X. That also has two extra XLRs with spook. The recorder can also be run via USB from those cheap rechargeable batteries you get for phones. The 2200mAhr ones give around 4 hours recording. Son does this to save the cost of AAs recording the band he plays bass with.
The Tascam is good value for money but NB it does NOT come with a memory card or any internal storage. No biggy? I am sure most of us have memory cards and sticks stashed in various pots about their drum?
Dave.
Eric Malone
Member
If you have a smart phone, you could use that for capturing ideas. There's a bunch of free 'voice recorder' app's out there. I've been using 'Easy Voice Recorder' on Android and it works fine for the 'Oh, I'll remember that' scenario.