Why so much love for the SM7B?

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highriser

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Hey guys,
I have a question about the SM7B or the HM7U and other dark mics, when people rant and rave about it as the best vocal mic, Is that with or without eq?
I'm trying out different mics and I have tried both of the above mics, and they were overall kinda boring without any eq. They kinda flattened out the top end of my voice. I'll say that yes it was smooth but kinda muffled without that top end...compared to other mics which were brighter.
So should I compare the mics' end result with eq to see which is better and judge like that or just bare without any processing? cause then they don't really sound all that good, do you know what I mean?
 
Mics aren't just "good" or "bad", they are good or bad for particular sound sources. Maybe your voice just isn't best captured by an SM7. What you might want to compare is how much eq is necessary to get close to what you want. The mic that needs the least aggressive eq is probably a good choice.
 
I usually don't eq that much on vocals. I'll often roll off the bass and sometimes there's a little high end boost if I'm not cutting through the mix, but generally speaking I just love them sm7b as is.

What kinda preamp are you using?
I remember the sm7b didn't impress me back when i had the digi 003.
 
Steenamaroo said:
I usually don't eq that much on vocals. I'll often roll off the bass and sometimes there's a little high end boost if I'm not cutting through the mix, but generally speaking I just love them sm7b as is.

What kinda preamp are you using?
I remember the sm7b didn't impress me back when i had the digi 003.
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If memory serves right, there's quite a few people that have posted about the sm7 that seem to have that problem^^^, until they upgrade the pres they're using the mic's not meeting expectations.
 
It's because most pres can barely put out enough gain to run the sm7b...much less get it into that "glory zone" :D

I have the same problem with my EV re320. That's why I'm currently saving up for a Golden Age Pre!
 
Have you played with the settings (EQ and presence boost) on the 7b? Or taken the wind screen off?
 
guitaristic said:
It's because most pres can barely put out enough gain to run the sm7b...much less get it into that "glory zone" :D

I have the same problem with my EV re320. That's why I'm currently saving up for a Golden Age Pre!
Click to expand...

GAP-73 :D?

I'm thinking about one of those as well to hold me over until I can justify a grace or UA or Vintech or something
 
I'm running into an apogee one its got 63 db of gain. No foam windscreen everything flat.
 
Hmmm,,well, maybe it's just not for you then!

I love mine, but there are definitely times when it just doesn't work.
 
I don't have any idea. Back when I did live work as well as the hobby studio, I had at one point many dynamic mics (around 20 I think), including:

SM7B
SM57/8
Beta 57/58
Beta 52
SM63 (that's an omni)
55SH
MD421
e609
M69
M201
M88

The SM7B was one of the first to go; too large and ugly for stage use (although I think Richard Monroe does!), got it azz kicked by the M88 in the studio and I could use that live too.

The only mic I kept was the 55SH; although the M88 is a way better mic I love the Elvis . . .

Mics don't sound any different as you change the amount of gain, unless you have a preamp where its input impedance changes as you change gain--that would be rather unusual. Sometimes the relative input noise is higher (yes, higher!) below +30 or +40dB gain, but once you are above +40dB there will be little difference.

If you are recording vocals with a 7 you don't need that much gain anyway, unless you are a foot away or recording a whisper track or something. With the 55SH (1dB more sensitive than the 7), singing 1" from the grille I hit peaks around -8dBFS with +45dB gain into a +4dBu converter. And I can't sing! Get a trained singer and they could easily exceed 0dBFS at the same settings. I don't have any idea what people are recording where they need +70dB gain, I mean the SM7B has effective self-noise of about 24dBA using the quietest preamp around . . . so why would you use it to mic something quiet from three feet away? Use a different mic! The reason to use a 7 is for its proximity effect!
 
Aye, every time I say i didn't like the 7 through a 003 someone comes in and says about it needing high gain.

I was never convinced that that was the problem though. I think the 003 preamps just sucked,lol.

Never used an 88 but I'm always hearing about them. I'll put that on the ebay list. ;)
 
Yeah, I love the people that say "You need a high gain preamp to drive that mic!"

a) Mics don't have any idea what the gain setting of the preamp is;
b) You don't need a high gain preamp, you need a *low noise* preamp;
c) People are afraid to use max gain because they don't understand that the majority of preamps are quietest at their highest gain setting. People just think they get noisy at the top because:
- the noise is louder and easier to hear;
- with the gain really high they start singing more quietly;
- the last turn of the gain knob adds more gain than the same rotation at other points.

It's important to realize that a lot of people making statements like "preamp driving the mic" don't actually understand what they are doing.
 
I had an SM7B that I fought with and tried to love for about a year and a half.
I never really got a vocal that thrilled me with it on my voice. Once or twice I got a nice result on guitar cabs that I ended up using

In the end I decided I had bought into the hype (It's the Mic MJ used on thriller, Vox just fit in the mix, etc etc etc) rather than using my ears. I really wanted to love this thing because there is so much love for this mic on the internet (I rather suspect a lot of parroting from people who've never actually used one contribute to this hype the more I read)

I sold it and put the money toward a nice LDC (in the end I settled on a Neumann TLM 102) which in my room, for my voice in my mixes to my taste just worked better for me in getting the vocal sound I wanted quickly with minimal fuss or need for processing in the mix which at the end of the day is what it should be about

If the SM7B works for you it's a great mic, if it does't then it's just "Meh"

I think with any mic YMMV
 
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See the thing is that it sounded good with the right amount of eq but then again that happened with every other mic I tried. I have been trying to grapple with this for a while. I am deciding between the blue spark, the SM7b and the HM7U. They all need eq to sound right on my voice, The spark is definitely brighter than the others and to me (not being an engineer and knowing what I should be looking for) its more pleasing. Then the HM7U and SM7B r dark but maybe that is a good thing because it provides more of a deep and beefy sound that I like but off the bat it is not as pleasing to my ears and really needs a lift at the high freq to get in some more air and clarity. So with the Spark I find myself scouping out the low mids a bit and with the other two rolling off a bit of bass and pumping in some air. I just don't know which to choose The spark is $200 the hm7u - $370 and sm7b is $310. My question is which should I go with, will I be happier with the sm7b or hm7u because the darker tone is perhaps a better starting point? or should I go with the spark and sacrifice some of the bass and heaviness for the brighter sound that seems more pleasing to me now.....

example of sm7b with my voice- It will rain by Adam Mishan on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

example of spark with my voice- no processing -http://soundcloud.com/adammishan/drive1
with processing Drive final by Adam Mishan on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

none of the HM7U yet

I don't have one of the HM7U
 
guitaristic said:
It's because most pres can barely put out enough gain to run the sm7b...much less get it into that "glory zone" :D

I have the same problem with my EV re320. That's why I'm currently saving up for a Golden Age Pre!
Click to expand...

Do you guys have any experience with GAP? I'm planning to buy a couple of different single channel pres in the near future and saw that one, but couldn't find any great info on it or anyone that has one. Only thing I've settled on is the daking "green brick".
 
Capt Hair said:
Do you guys have any experience with GAP? I'm planning to buy a couple of different single channel pres in the near future and saw that one, but couldn't find any great info on it or anyone that has one. Only thing I've settled on is the daking "green brick".
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I don't have any experience with it, but I've heard from Henry (Moresound) and a few others around here that it's an awesome little pre for the price, so their word is good enough for me to give it a go! :) I'm ALL about balancing quality and price, since the dollars don't come so easy :D
 
guitaristic said:
I don't have any experience with it, but I've heard from Henry (Moresound) and a few others around here that it's an awesome little pre for the price, so their word is good enough for me to give it a go! :) I'm ALL about balancing quality and price, since the dollars don't come so easy :D
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I hear that, just wondering because I could definitely afford that one and had wrote it down as a potential purchase, just never really put the time in to research it. I've been lucky enough to be able to use some really nice pres and channel strips, of course nothing I can afford myself, but not so much any of the more budget friendly ones that i'll actually purchase lol.
 
Personally, I love the SM7b for screaming vocals (hardcore/metal music). I've used it a couple times, and the professional studios here in town all use that when a metal vocalist rolls in.
Like a couple people on here, I'm not as big of a fan when it's used for clean vocals, but to each his own.
 
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