I just bought one a few days ago after hearing some good things so on Saturday we're playing our set at our pratice space and without knowing my brother just laid the mic down, started recording our set through an M-Audio MobilePre USB with Magix. After our set we listened to it and you could fucking hear everything as clear as day. Every tom, snare, cymbol, kick. Every high, mids, lows on the guitars. The bass; I mean everything. Any band that wants a demo done good and fast should try this, seriously if you're tight on your set you could put out a rough demo by doing this and the quality would be amazing. Best part is the mic is only $90.00

well duh...
the SM57 are great for instruments.
SM58A's for vocals.

get the Beta series and call me in the morning

Used to be my favorate mic. before the OM2

It's your average instrument mic. I personally like the 58 for vox. When micing a guitar cab though, you can't beat the Sennheiser e609.

they don't call it the "industry standard" for nothing.

For vocals I use the Shure SM58 which has helped me become an even louder vocalist because in order to be heard over everyone in my room I have to scream like a son of a bitch, Shure SM57 now for recording, the 2 backups use Shure PG48 and Audix OM2. I also have a Shure SM86 but I rarely use it.

I only use SM57s for guitars, whether it's live or in the studio; they're really good mics for a reasonable price.

Personally though, I think Seinheisser E825s are better vocal mics than SM58s, because they pick up more mid range and low range vocal frequencies.

Have you used a compressor with your vocals at all? I'm sure you could get even louder. You can also sidechain an EQ and duck unwanted frequencies.

Josh_hates_you said:

On recording no, we tried a compressor in Magix but it wasn't working too well. Basically the compressor in Magix is more of an Effect for afterwards rather than keeping the vocals level. I have the EQ setup on the PA alright but I like how it sounds at the moment; it's just not as loud as everyone in the band wishes. I can hear myself fine with it because I concentrate my hearing on it but obviously the drummer can't hear it at all.

we run a BBE Sonic Maximizer through our PA...because I didn't like how it sounded in my rig...but it brings some serious clarity and punch to everything going through the PA.

it's essentially a compressor

maximizer and a compressor work differently.

maximizer adds harmonic distortion.
compressor lowers peak signals and raises the floor. meaning louder average sound before clip.

I have found that I don't notice plugins for comps to do a great job on recorded vox but they are great on bass. I do find a very noticable difference when using a comp on live vox.

Compressor is totally not the thing that I meant to compare a maximizer to...I had a blonde moment.

i would use my SM58 if i knew where the hell it was. now i use the special "dented rusty grill with an assortment of small bug eggs" mic. its the best in the world.

you should be using the electro voice n/d 967. best vocal mic, specially designed for high volume applications.

blue nli said:

True.
A wicked long time ago I went to buy a Shure and the guy at the store said the Electrovoice was better. I tested both of them out and sure enough, the Electrovoice sounded better.

I hate SM57s

they sound like bright crispy crap on so much stuff

I'm more into the warmer mics with a fuller sound