Shure mic comparison

[byllsong]

Hi all,
I'm thinking about buying a new mic for vocals.
I'll be recording into my computer.
Thought about A Shure SM58, but I have an old 588SB.
I'll be getting a preamp out of Miami, (not sure which on yet, still researching)
I'm just wondering if there is any difference between these two mics that would warrant getting the newer one.
Thanks
Billy

[mojobone]

You might want to look at the Shure Beta 58, too; it has slightly more output and detail.

[davem]

I've done vocals, live and recorded, with the SM58 forever, and basically like the results. I recently got a Sterling Audio condenser (model 51? - I'm not at home to look..), and this thing I LOVE. Good vocal mic, nice "room sound" for acoustic guitars, etc. And while a little above the price range of a 58, I have found that I now want to re-do all my vocs with it. Still, beauty is in the ear of the listener!

[orest]

If your voice has a lot of high end, I recommend using the SM57 instead.
I use it myself and I love it.

If you know a local music dealer, maybe you could borrow some microphones and compare before you buy one.

[byllsong]

If your voice has a lot of high end, I recommend using the SM57 instead.
I use it myself and I love it.

If you know a local music dealer, maybe you could borrow some microphones and compare before you buy one.

Thanks everyone for your input.
I'm trying to get some info so I can get one out of Miami
My voice is in the range of Neil Diamond or Randy Travis.
Music dealers here in Nassau are as plentiful as snow in the Saraha.
Billy

[chrisaleshire]

Try out the Shure SM7B. If you have a bright sounding voice you could even try the Beta 87, it's a condenser mic but it sounds great. Jerry Cantrell from Alice in Chains uses it. Also like others have said, the Beta 58 is the updated version of the old school 58s. I've got all three and they are all great, though I tend to go to the SM7 more. I'd try them all out at your music store.

[Len911]

[
Music dealers here in Nassau are as plentiful as snow in the Saraha.
Billy[/quote]

I hear ya Billy. I buy most of my stuff from sweetwater. They assign one salesperson to you, which is great for me because if they advise me poorly, they can just take it back,lol! So far so good. The benefit really is that they can steer you away from things that might not deliver as well for your purposes. Though the truest benefits are the lowest prices and free fed ex shipping on most everything, and no sales tax, not to mention the variety. Of course there's nothing like the thrill of actually going somewhere and shop in person, until you realize the lack of selection and higher prices,but the thrill of driving all over town and finally finding one of something you want is priceless,lol!

http://www.sweetwater.com/c106--Dynamic ... w2high/pn1

[cardell]

I own a Shure Beta 58. I love it for live work...but not for studio vocals.

In the studio I always use a condesor mic for vocals and acoustic guitars. It's so much better.

Stuart

[mojobone]

Condensers are great, they jes' don't always work well in home studios with untreated rooms. Way I see it, I use a condenser when I want to capture a sound and the air around it, meaning room reflections-but if the room reflections sound bad, you end up EQing and compressing the crap out of it, or building an expensive booth around the source to damp the unwanted reflections. Makes far more sense to just use a mic that doesn't capture those reflections in the first place, if you ask me.

Further, if you capture with little or no ambience, you're then free to add any sort of sampled ambience you can feed to your convolution reverb, placing you sound in a much more expensive room. (or a garage or a closet, or the inside of a tuba) Dynamic mics are great for this, cuz they don't have a lot of reach; you can place them close enough to the source to completely take out the room, so long as you manage the proximity effect. A lot of great rock records have been made with no condensers at all. (though it helps a lot to have high-quality, low-noise preamps with lots of gain, if you plan to record quieter instruments with dynamic mics-I suspect that not all those 'ribbon-ready' preamps they sell nowadays are being used with ribbon mics, heh)