Help settle a debate - microphones

[hennessybass]

This is a way old debate, but I thought of it last night, and thought somebody here on TB might have the answer. My buddy, who went to school for sound engineering, swears up and down that the Shure SM58 and SM57 are the same exact microphone... except for the windscreen (wire mesh and foam surround). And that it is the windscreen on the 58 that is responsible for any differences in frequency response between the two mics.

He says, you need a 57 and don't have one. Just unscrew the windscreen from the 58, and just like that, you have a 57.

Truth?

 

[RDUB]

From the Shure website:

"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.
Note that the cartridges are not interchangable because the mounting scheme is different for the two microphones."

Different grills and pop filters.

 

[ddnidd1]

Here's a long back and forth, which doesn't seem to definitively settle the question.

Invalid Link Removed

 

[teleharmonium]

He says, you need a 57 and don't have one. Just unscrew the windscreen from the 58, and just like that, you have a 57.

Truth?

That is not true. Try it, you can see that they are still different, because the grille of a 57 is not hiding under the windscreen of your 58.

Every piece of a mic affects the way it sounds. Windscreens, grilles, body shape, and venting are all significant contributors.

That said - they're still not all that different. As to your friends advice, I would modify it as follows - if you need a 57 and don't have one, and you have a 58, just use the 58.

 

[Geri O]

Not at all meant to disparage the OP or his question, so take this as it's intented...

I've never understood why sound guys (again, not referring to the OP) get hung up on stupid debates like this one. Simply A/B-ing the two mics would tell you everything you need to know. I'll use a 58 in a kick drum if it's all I have left.

The sound community is forever debating the merits of horse**** such as:

Analog vs digital
Point source vs line array
Wedges vs IEMs
Tuning a PA with measurement software vs ears
(For the record, I was perfectly happy with any of the methods listed, or a combination of the choices)

The things they/we should be concerned with are:

Are you healthy enough to keep up the pace and demands of the production business (and playing, as well)
Are you happy working in the production business (again, playing....)
Are you making enough money to pay your bills and tuck away some for retirement (cause, try as we might, you can't do this poopie forever)
And maybe most importantly, do you have family at home that will love you and comfort you (maybe even take care of you) when you finally have to settle down at home because you are finally too old to do this poopie?
I know, most of us "want to rock until we drop". Okay, more power to you, sincerely...

A long, long time ago, I just got sick of hearing the same old debates over and over. We aren't curing cancer or solving world hunger, although we do help causes that are trying to. We are only in the entertainment business.

Oh, look. We are debating flats vs rounds, active vs passive, Fenders vs every friggin' thing else, ad nauseum. Fair enough, that's fine, and carry on. But try and give the wife and kids an extra hug or two and a few more minutes of you the next time you walk through the door after a long road trip.

 

[Slapstyle]

They're so damn similar it ALMOST doesn't matter. True, they use the same capsule. True, the different wind screens will effect the sound in some way. True, the 57 can get it's diaphragm closer to the sound source, increasing proximity effect and generating a low end boost. Personally, I like a 57 on guitar cabs, snare drums, occasionally bass cabs (though I prefer an RE20 if you're going to mic it, but I usually just take a direct signal in a live situation), and a 58 on stage vocals for live, speaking microphones, snare mic for a particularly wild drummer who might smash the crap out of the plastic grill cover on the 57. They're both inexpensive workhorse mics and I would substitute one for the other in virtually any situation if I had one but not the other. No, they aren't the same. Even if you take the windscreen off the 58, it's still not going to have the same frequency response. However, even with the screen on, they're so damn similar it would be difficult to tell which was which in a blind taste test.

 

[s0c9]

They are basically the same mic.. the 58 has a slight boost around 5K for vocals, and a rolloff of 50Hz. The 57 has a rolloff of 40Hz and no 5K boost.

 

[callofcthulhu]

Yes, they are the same except for the pop screen.

No, you can't just take the pop screen off because the 57 has a different pop screen.

If you put a 57's sceen on a 58 it would sound like a 57 and vice versa. But the cases are not designed to have interchangeable screens like that, so you won't be able to test that definitively without some jury-rigging.