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Shure sm57 question.
- Thread starter fuzzy beard
- Start date
fuzzy, you wanna know what mic i use?
its a stereo mic that costs like £25. its a yoga em-268 (i think, its at my mates house atm)
its a stereo mic that costs like £25. its a yoga em-268 (i think, its at my mates house atm)
I have owned and used 57's and 58's for 35 years and still sing into a Beta 58, my SM-57 is used at church to mic my Pastors Traynor bass amp and it works great. It is a VERY common instrument mic and has a thousand uses (Ian Anderson has used it for singing and his flute back in the day). CL will soon have one listed in your area for about $50-$60 and I highly recommend them for almost anything... Boost the bass in your boards EQ and you are golden, or a DI is also good but not near a versatile in other applications. If you are just building your gear collection I personally think the SM-57 has more use in a performers kit than a DI but you should probably have both if you intend on performing a lot in the future. If I had neither and was on a tight budget I would buy a used 57 first.
Buncha Shure fanbois... I've been using Shure mics as long as most of you for all the same reasons. I used to love my 58. Guess what? I'll never buy another one.
Just sayin'...
Ya gotcher Shure fanbois and ya gotcher Heil fanbois.
The reason I vote for a DI connection is this . . .
We use 10", 12" and 15" woofers to move a lot of air to
produce our bass sound. The diaphragm in any given
microphone will range from 1/4" to 1.5" in diameter,
most in the 1/2" range.
How in the world can anyone expect a tiny little
diaphragm (which is essentially a tiny speaker in reverse)
to adequately reproduce the vibrations generated by our
enormous (by comparison) woofers.???
It just seems ludicrous to expect ANY mic to do the job well.
I play the room with my speakers, and any recording device
with a DI. And when a sound man wants to control my bass
through his house system board and tells me to use my speakers
only as a stage monitor, I flatly refuse. Period. End of discussion.
House PAs can in no way give my bass the sound I am after.
Don't need 'em. Don't want 'em. My two Avatar B410 Neos and
my Markbass LM III 800watt version gives me all the power and
sound I ever need, and no PA system controlled by a guy who
has no clue how I want to sound, will ever be a substitute
for the real thing.. . . . MY rig, controlled by ME.
And that's all I have to say about that.
We use 10", 12" and 15" woofers to move a lot of air to
produce our bass sound. The diaphragm in any given
microphone will range from 1/4" to 1.5" in diameter,
most in the 1/2" range.
How in the world can anyone expect a tiny little
diaphragm (which is essentially a tiny speaker in reverse)
to adequately reproduce the vibrations generated by our
enormous (by comparison) woofers.???
It just seems ludicrous to expect ANY mic to do the job well.
I play the room with my speakers, and any recording device
with a DI. And when a sound man wants to control my bass
through his house system board and tells me to use my speakers
only as a stage monitor, I flatly refuse. Period. End of discussion.
House PAs can in no way give my bass the sound I am after.
Don't need 'em. Don't want 'em. My two Avatar B410 Neos and
my Markbass LM III 800watt version gives me all the power and
sound I ever need, and no PA system controlled by a guy who
has no clue how I want to sound, will ever be a substitute
for the real thing.. . . . MY rig, controlled by ME.
And that's all I have to say about that.
Passinwind
I know nothing.
- Dec 3, 2003
- 23,087
- 46,060
- Disclosures
- Designer/Toaster Tech @ Passinwind Electronics
THORRR said:The reason I vote for a DI connection is this . . .
We use 10", 12" and 15" woofers to move a lot of air to
produce our bass sound. The diaphragm in any given
microphone will range from 1/4" to 1.5" in diameter,
most in the 1/2" range.
How in the world can anyone expect a tiny little
diaphragm (which is essentially a tiny speaker in reverse)
to adequately reproduce the vibrations generated by our
enormous (by comparison) woofers.???
It just seems ludicrous to expect ANY mic to do the job well.
I play the room with my speakers, and any recording device
with a DI. And when a sound man wants to control my bass
through his house system board and tells me to use my speakers
only as a stage monitor, I flatly refuse. Period. End of discussion.
House PAs can in no way give my bass the sound I am after.
Don't need 'em. Don't want 'em. My two Avatar B410 Neos and
my Markbass LM III 800watt version gives me all the power and
sound I ever need, and no PA system controlled by a guy who
has no clue how I want to sound, will ever be a substitute
for the real thing.. . . . MY rig, controlled by ME.
And that's all I have to say about that.
Sorry, didn't quite hear that. The bass player is too loud and very muddy and I can't hear anything else....
Great point. How the heck do our tiny eardrums manage that anyhow?
Excellent observation, same as "how do our eyes see?"
all part of the marvelous invention of our BRAINs which
do the interpreting of these miniscule signals and give us
perception.
A plastic diaphragm attached to a copper coil being fed into
an electronic amplifier is a far cry from an eardrum attached to
a brain. Although, same as you, I do marvel at the fact that
the little eardrum can do the job, and cannot even begin to
explain it.
I just think the air pressure alone from a bass speaker into
a mic 3" away, would blow it to smithereens (sound-reproduction-wise)
Excellent observation, same as "how do our eyes see?"
all part of the marvelous invention of our BRAINs which
do the interpreting of these miniscule signals and give us
perception.
A plastic diaphragm attached to a copper coil being fed into
an electronic amplifier is a far cry from an eardrum attached to
a brain. Although, same as you, I do marvel at the fact that
the little eardrum can do the job, and cannot even begin to
explain it.
I just think the air pressure alone from a bass speaker into
a mic 3" away, would blow it to smithereens (sound-reproduction-wise)
So...
Your original post where you ask;
"How in the world can anyone expect a tiny little
diaphragm (which is essentially a tiny speaker in reverse)
to adequately reproduce the vibrations generated by our
enormous (by comparison) woofers.???"
WASN'T meant as a joke?
Wow. Sorry for laughing when I read it then!
Just to keep things in proper perspective I use a DI always and seldom use a mic in my pop/rock bands where high volumes are the norm. At church volume is much lower and my stage rig is to large and heavy to load in every Sunday so compromises are made and my SM-57 does very nicely as a bass amp mic. I believe a DI should be in every bass players gig bag HOWEVER, money and versatility are always a factor in my purchases. This is why I recommend buying a 57 over a DI if you have neither. The 57 will come in handy many times over where a DI really has only one use. IMO a (decent quality) DI will outperform a 57 though some prefer a mic over a DI. I can live with either as long as the mixer is set appropriately. A mic captures the sound of my rig in a way my DI can not, which is why many prefer to use BOTH.
Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
Will the sm57 work to mike a bass cab? Shure it will. (pun intended)
Is it the best mike for the job? No.
That being said I have used an sm57 successfully miking my bass cab with good results.
Is it the best mike for the job? No.
That being said I have used an sm57 successfully miking my bass cab with good results.
I'll post one last comment in this thread, as I think the OP has gotten all he wants out of it anyways.
I've played many many gigs at venues from tiny lounges to arenas, on all kinds of rigs from "nothing" (straight into DI to the board) to dual SVT fridges. I have never worried very much about the signal I am sending to FOH, as I trust the sound engineers I work with to make the bass tone as good as it can be.
And when I'm recording, I go direct 99% of the time. I've even declined to be recorded through an amp, as I prefer getting the direct signal first - you can get any tone you want afterwards if you start with a good, clean, direct recording.
Just my opinion and experience.
I've played many many gigs at venues from tiny lounges to arenas, on all kinds of rigs from "nothing" (straight into DI to the board) to dual SVT fridges. I have never worried very much about the signal I am sending to FOH, as I trust the sound engineers I work with to make the bass tone as good as it can be.
And when I'm recording, I go direct 99% of the time. I've even declined to be recorded through an amp, as I prefer getting the direct signal first - you can get any tone you want afterwards if you start with a good, clean, direct recording.
Just my opinion and experience.
OK, Craig wins. I just ordered a PR22ut from RMC Audio. In a couple weeks I'll have the lowdown on the subterranean scumbo. The PR22 gets some flak for handling noise in the reviews. I hope the reviews are over-exaggerated. Tonight I'll be using my Beta 58A, though.
(BTW, RMC's price was WAY below anything I've seen elsewhere.)
(BTW, RMC's price was WAY below anything I've seen elsewhere.)
The PR22 is the one with the shock mounted element. The PR20 has a handling noise problem. But then I keep it on a stand, so I can't comment much on handling noise. And I didn't win. I think you just did.
What's a subterranean scumbo?
Hm, the microphone isn´t reproducing anything, the PA system is. No problems using a tiny microphone to get a big sound, quite the opposite....
The PR22 is the one with the shock mounted element. The PR20 has a handling noise problem. But then I keep it on a stand, so I can't comment much on handling noise. And I didn't win. I think you just did.
What's a subterranean scumbo?
Bob Heil modified the PR20 with the internal shock-mount system in response to the issue of handling noise. I read somewhere he'll retro-fit the PR20 for a very nominal fee. $20 maybe? Anyway, I've read reviews of the PR22 saying the handling noise is reduced but still noticeable. I use my mics on stands, too, so I doubt it'll be an issue for me.
The subterranean scumbo is hot scoop that can be acquired only by drilling deep into the earth and going down the hole to get it.
