WorshipCentral

It depends if you want a studio mike or a live mike. SM58's are good for live, but if you want a good studio mike you need a condenser which requires phantom.

But if you're only doing demo recordings or whatever i'd just get a SM58. If you want to record for an ep or album you need to get a condenser. I recommend an RODE NT-1. Only just over £120. It will last you years and it's gives a great sound.

It depends if you want a studio mike or a live mike. SM58's are good for live, but if you want a good studio mike you need a condenser which requires phantom.

But if you're only doing demo recordings or whatever i'd just get a SM58. If you want to record for an ep or album you need to get a condenser. I recommend an RODE NT-1. Only just over £120. It will last you years and it's gives a great sound.

Sorry Worship Central Website keeps adding my comments twice! strangE!

Never underestimate the value of an SM57! More versatile than the 58, can be used on guitars, vocals, drums.......

Yeh i Was just thinking that.......what are your thoughts on using a 57 to do vocals?

57s are great for basic recording - just make sure you use some form of pop shield when doing vocals!

I would however say that you may be dissappointed as using a 57 pretty much defeats the point of having a nice Pre-amp, such as the MOTU, as 57s and especially 58s have a surprisingly high level of background noise.

Personally I've invested in a KSM 9 and a KMS 105 - both of which are recording quality mics that are still robust enough to be used in a live scenario. In fact the KSM9 is so amazing - it's ability to reject background noise makes it very difficult to create feedback! Comes at a hefty price though...

Would definantly suggest trying a condensor of some description as they tend to have significantly lower noise levels.

G

If you mic the kick drum, God will come.

There's no doubt really athat 58's are the industry standard vocal mics. They give a perfectly good sound for live purposes, they still work ok for recordings, they're pretty much bulletproof and if they weren't decent then they never would've become that popular. They're a pretty safe choice!
If you're looking around 58 territory then I'd suggest looking at the e845 as well - it's around the same price but it sounds less harsh and generally requires less eq'ing to get the sound I'm looking for. Personally I think it's slightly better.

The KMS105 is an awesome vocal mic, it's probably one of the best out there. Warm, crisp, well balanced and the details come through really clearly. Not cheap though..!

As for 57's - yes you can use them on vocals, guitars, drums, brass, and practically anything. But personally I'm really not a fan of the "get a 57 so you can use it for anything and everything" reasoning which seems so popular now... Sure it's a great mic, (no pun intended) but I wouldn't get one for the sole reason you can stick it in front of a guitar and still get a reasonable sound.

That said, as far as I can see you didn't mention what you're using the mic for - though the fact you mentioned the 58 made me assume it was vocals. Are you just getting one mic or would you need another for an instrument? It'd also be useful to know what situations you'd be using the mic in, is it for recording or live? And if it's for live, what's the quality of the rest of the system like? There's not a lot of point shelling out for KMS105 territory if it's being fed through a 50 year old half knackered PA system! ( I have seen people shell out for top quality mics and still feed them through the same amps / speakers that they've had for 50 years and weren't that great to start with then wonder why it doesn't sound any better!)

Yeh... what i would use the mic for...If i got a nice condenser - guitars (mainly of the acoustic variety) and vocals, but if i had a nice pair of condensers then i would probs also use them as overheads on drums.

My main issue is that I dont have much (well any at the mo) to spend (I spent it all on the MOTU) I think I will just stick to this terrable no-name mic that must be atleast 10 years old that i have and then look into getting a nice condenser or 2.

Also I have heard that bono uses a 58 on U2 albums. Is this true? Cause I like the sound of his vocal tracks.

An interesting point........yes SM58's are the industry standard, but they are rarely used by professionals.
if you look closely at big gigs/festivals/something being broadcast on television, you will usually find they are actually using a beta 58, or another super cardioid mic, which has higher quality components better build quality etc.

SM58's are far more numerous and well known, but I would hazard a guess that for most big touring rigs when you see a 58, it's actually a beta 58!

Iain - Bono may well use a 58 on his recordings, but I imagine he uses a lot of processing to remove all the noise, sibilance and hisses that you get from recording an SM58. It's certainly "a sound" as such, but I think you might be amazed by what you can hear when you do recordings with these mics!

Niall - "are the industry standard" vs "rarely used by professionals"... what an odd combination!!
As a freelance professional myself what normally happens is we always start with an SM58. As I get used to the vocal and it's owners use of mic technique, nuances of their voice and so on, I will begin to get an idea of what microphone will better suit the voice. This normally happens in rehearsals so that by the time you see the touring show I will have made my decision on what mic to use which may be something different. But I always start with a 58 because Shure managed to nail the sweet-spot in terms of every possible compromise for the live environment. I believe that it is because of all these compromises that the 58 is so good at, that so many people dislike them - and fair enough it is a jack of all trades and master of none.
Beta 58s are a sore point with me, as Beta58s are great mcrophones, but Beta 58As - as can be purchased now-a-days - are a redesign that is "improved" to make it easier to manufacture. I find these to have drastic variations in quality from unit to unit, and there's something just "wrong" with the 350Hz - 500Hz part of the frequency response that no EQ has been able to fix. I wonder if they have a non-linearity in this frequency area?
Americans for some reason go crazy for Beta58s. I see them a lot on their shows, and I get to have little choice in using anything else when I do shows in the States - bit of an irritation to me as I generally prefer the original. Or a KSM9...

Also a quick word on the Sennheiser e845 - It's a great mic - until you have to use it with a rubbish monitor wedge - or if the singer is standing in front of the drummer as it's rejection of noises other than the one closest to it is very poor. This can lead to large amounts of background noise and makes the mic prone to feedback, unless you can "fix it in the mix" using heavy EQ. Which then defeats the object of the nice open sounding mic. Grrr...

If you mic the kick drum, God will come.