Shure SM7B For Lovers

[mojobone]

Here's a fine appreciation of a very solid mic, from the Shure Blog: http://blog.shure.com/shure-notes/sm57- ... 7-b-story/

[Kolstad]

Ahahahaaahahaaa, I love these jokes:

“You know that voice in your head that tells you right from wrong? Well, it was recorded with an SM7B.”

“My SM7B automatically doubled and then quadrupled my vocal takes, translating them into Spanish and Mandarin versions, enabling me to deliver international releases.”

“They say with careful positioning, you can use an SM7B to record the future.”

I've had one for a while. Wasn't for my voice, but it was still a great mic. Splendid for homerecording in untreated rooms, amongst others!

[sethlit]

Thanks for the good read MoJo. I wanna borrow one bad. Just to judge myself, with myself singing through it. Any Seattle folks here with one!??

Seth

[NathanNasby]

lol - yep this is a mic I've been interested in a while, since I do a lot of vocal work! The article was great and a good chuckle ! I still love my Rode Nt1 and TlM 103's for vocals, it's still fun to try out new mics. Wish I lived closer to a L&M to rent one sometime!

[gtrmann]

Thanks Mojo... The SM7 seems to have both lovers and haters on gearslutz.......I bought one. It is a good mic. It has that 57/58 sound to me ... I still use it once in a while..

[jdstamper]

Thanks Mojo,

I've heard some nice recordings from these over the past couple years, so kind of keeping an eye out for them, mainly for a dual purpose acoustic guitar and vocal mic. I'd like to try before buying my next mic. Until then, sticking with an original Rode NT1.

Jim

[Kolstad]

Thanks Mojo,

I've heard some nice recordings from these over the past couple years, so kind of keeping an eye out for them, mainly for a dual purpose acoustic guitar and vocal mic. I'd like to try before buying my next mic. Until then, sticking with an original Rode NT1.

Jim

I definitely don't consider it a mic for acoustic guitar. It has very nice qualities, rejects noise and enable you to cut through in a mix. Great for rock vocals in a dense mix, and mic'ing an electric guitar cab. But doesn't give you the body and fullness required to capture an acoustic guitar really well, imo.

[marcblack30]

I'm a "lover" of this mic.

It's great for less-than-ideal acoustic situations too, it's very forgiving and doesn't pick up unwanted surrounding noises (HVAC, cooling fans, people walking around), allows me to do everything in front of the DAW w/o wrapping myself in Auralex foam!

[jdstamper]

I definitely don't consider it a mic for acoustic guitar. It has very nice qualities, rejects noise and enable you to cut through in a mix. Great for rock vocals in a dense mix, and mic'ing an electric guitar cab. But doesn't give you the body and fullness required to capture an acoustic guitar really well, imo.

Agreed, I was thinking more of a single mic to capture both vocal and acoustic guitar in one pass ... I've heard it used that way and seemed good (just listening to a lo-fi You Tube performance).

[jonathansorensen]

I've put the SM7b up against other mics over and over and have chosen the 7b consistently. It has good definition, good clarity on mids and highs, a nice comfortable low end. Because a lot of mics are hyped on high end to make for better sales, the 7b doesn't always sound as exciting at first listen but sits into a mix WAY better than a lot of other mics. I've used it on acoustic, male vox, percussion, guitar amps. Interestingly, I haven't opted for it as much for female vox. I found the gauge ecm-87 to work really well on female vox.

The mid bump on the 7b works more often than I would have expected. it lends a little rock and roll edge. I have played with the bass roll-off but never use it. it seems to lose some of the warmth and density. All around, I love love love the SM7b.

oh, and plus 1 for marc black's comment. the 7b does a great job of screening out background noise. It's very directional. If you have a home studio, it's a life saver.

Jon