List of SM7/SM7A/SM7B singers?

[danbronson]

I was thinking about how many famous artists have sung into the SM7 on their albums. I can only name a few but I see it all the time (and love mine), so I'm sure there must be more. All I can name off the top of my head are:

Michael Jackson (of course)
Anthony Kiedis (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
Brandon Boyd (Incubus)
Cedric Bixler-Zavala (the Mars Volta)

I was wondering if you guys could complete the list. Who else is well known and has recorded their vocals with the Shure SM7?

For the record, I'm not trying to advertise this mic or anything. I'm just curious because it seems like such a studio staple. Maybe we should start a U47 thread as well?

[gainreduction]

James Hetfield of Metallica uses one in the "some kind of monster" studio documentary.

[dviola]

jeff tweedy of wilco

[Friedemann]

Serj Tankian of System of a down. You can see it in the booklet of their toxicity album.

[lildrummerboy70]

I have seen a video on the web of the lead singer of Lifehouse tracking vocals on an SM7 with Jeff Juliano.

[burgeis]

I've seen a lot of pictures and videos of Bruce Springsteen singing into one

[Recycled_Brains]

The last couple Mastodon albums were cut with SM7's for vocals.

(shown in the "making of" DVD's that comes with the special additions)

[Groberts]

Is there much a difference between older SM7's (A) versus the SM7B? I think I want to give one a try for vocals. I have a high, somewhat thin male voice. So it if worked great for Michael Jackson, it might be perfect for me. (NO, I am not comparing myself to MJ. Just a high/tenor male voice)

My Apogee Duet offers over 70db of gain, so I should be in good shape.

[dkelley]

I believe there is no actual tonal difference in the mics over the years afaik. so you're safe with any one of them saying they're sm7s. might be switching differences (I think), been a while since I've used one.

you know, I honestly don't love the sm7. and I think it sounds a lot like the sm57, which I also don't love. I immensely respect the sm7 (and 57 and 58) and have used them with great success for decades.

I just don't, uh.... love them. however they're helpful in a cruddy room and certainly do sound amazing on very particular singers to my ears. most of the time I used to try it on a singer I find I prefer that singer on a different mic even though it was perfectly satisfactory on the sm7 originally. so now I don't waste time - I jump to other mics first. I still like them on snare though (sm7 or sm57, slightly prefer the sm7 though). I know I know.... don't shoot me. I would be perfectly happy recording with only an sm7, but then I'd be perfectly happy recording with only a $20 behringer ecm8000 exclusively. any mic that doesn't suck in the frequency response department can work great for almost anything (spl aside). not that I'm putting down the sm7 - again, great mic, just seems to impart a bit too much sm7 sound on a singer than I like.

to me the sm7 on vocals on recordings always does have a particular sound. to me, it has just too much of a presence peak without enough thickness and I never love the high end.

I'm sorry for being different from the crowd :-)

and mentioning the peppers immediately turned me off. what a cruddy vocal sound... oh wait, sorry, it's his voice I dislike immensely. the mic might have been the best one could use for him for all I know. :-) love the RHCP, amazing musicians, I just have to try to listen past the vocals to the heart of the band, the great instrumentalists. Flea... dude, whoa man. what a huge player. they all are though (and their various replacement members over the years on guitar etc, also excellent).

oh hell, I probably wake up tomorrow feeling totally different about the SM7 hahaha. best famous recording with it by far to my ears is thriller. I can't imagine anything else sounding as good. but if you have a very rich deep voice then to me the sm7 isn't ideal.

cheers
Don

[erock]

bono?

[bcgood]

John Mayer sang into an SM7 on his album Room For Squares. He sang in the control room right in the out of phase monitors. It helped him vibe better and stay in the pocket pitch wise. That's difficult to do with a condenser mic and not get bleed.

[lildrummerboy70]

Originally Posted by bcgood

John Mayer sang into an SM7 on his album Room For Squares. He sang in the control room right in the out of phase monitors. It helped him vibe better and stay in the pocket pitch wise. That's difficult to do with a condenser mic and not get bleed.

He also sang into an SM7 on "In Repair" from Continuum. There is a YouTube video of the session floating around here. It's a great glimpse into that project.

I definitely can echo what others have said about the SM7, that it yields positive results almost all of the time. I have 1 and would love to buy another.

[bcgood]

Yep, I've seen that video. I think the only question was whether or not that was a scratch vocal are not he was singing into the SM7 in the little video documentary. He mostly used a U47 on Continuum from what I hear...



P.S. John did use the ole SM7 in the control room with the monitors trick on the song Waiting on the World to Change.

[AMIEL]

Originally Posted by lildrummerboy70

I have seen a video on the web of the lead singer of Lifehouse tracking vocals on an SM7 with Jeff Juliano.

Yeah, Jeff told me that!

I think also in some tracks Rachel Yamagata used SM7

[Baz]

\m/ Rob Halford \m/

[MidasHatesGold]

caleb...from "kings of leon" (with ldc...u47??)

[Topgear]

Neil Finn on the latest Crowded House album (Time On Earth).

[WestBerliner]

Dave Gahan from Depeche. visible in a few of the recent In Studio vids, as well as the documentaries that came with the Sounds Of The Universe Box

[Art Johan]

Bonnie Rait has recorded with them

[1/2 Normal]

I've seen picts of Tom Araya(Slayer) singing into one.

[laperlestudio]

bob dylan

[monkeyxx]

+1 billy corgan (on Siamese Dream), he also sang into an SM58 (!!) for all the lead vocals on MCIS

Bruce Springsteen, in recent studio footage

Conrad Keely from ..And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, again in recent studio footage

some woman band that G. Massenburg recorded used it on lead vocals, there's a video on youtube of them recording. he also used an Oktava MC-012 on the acoustic guitar!

me? I've used it on a few different lead vocals

[hazelmossobrien]

Originally Posted by dkelley

and mentioning the peppers immediately turned me off. What a cruddy vocal sound... Oh wait, sorry, it's his voice i dislike immensely. The mic might have been the best one could use for him for all i know. :-) love the rhcp, amazing musicians, i just have to try to listen past the vocals to the heart of the band, the great instrumentalists.

Cheers
don

blasphemy!!

[PlatinumSamples]

I recorded Stevie Nicks with one (SM7A).

Rail

[Bradahman]

Los Lonely Boyz...


Recording Vocals

[bockoclock]

Saw Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie using one in a TV documentary about Narrow Stairs a while back.

[andychamp]

Originally Posted by PlatinumSamples

I recorded Stevie Nicks with one (SM7A).

Rail

Did you try - and dislike - the Sennheiser 441 first?.
I'm asking because she seems to favor that one, at least live.

[russrags]

Billy Idol
The Black Crows
Barbra Streisand/Barry Gibb (are pictured with one)
Don Was (uses them on most everything from everything I've seen).
Me

Russ
Nashville
"In Order To Predict The Future ... Create It"

[jono_3]

Brian Johnson of ac/dc and liam gallahger of oasis both used them on their newest respective records

[jono_3]

on a side note, for anyone who is not getting the expected results with the sm7, try running through a distressor