Anti SM57

[JoeyM]

Originally Posted by ze engineer

Does anyone hate the SM57s on snares and distorted guitars as much as I do?

No but I've hated drummers in the first place

[mdoelger]

I don't hate them, on snare i think it's pretty good.

However, on guitars I always find myself cutting a lot of mids (500-900) and boosting boosting for clarity.

when the amp sounds good in the room, what the sm57 picks up most of the time sounds dull to me.

[jigsawlogic]

Depends on how much you hate it. If I hold out my hands to show that "I hate it this big", and you stretch your hands out further while saying the same thing, then I guess I don't hate it as much as you.

I like this mic...especially on distorted guitars. In this app, it's like an artist taking a chisel to the block of marble that is the sound directed at it by the amplifier, and then buffing the finished sculpture with a rough grit of attitude.

As though a team of transcendent intellects gathered for the purpose of transforming the airborne pulsations of amp sound into electrical energy, with added emphasis that no reduction of testicular size be allowed in the process.

You might have found something that floats your boat better. Fine. Many have. But when you come out with fists swinging against a classic that has truly earned its place as one of God's greatest gifts to anybody with an amp they want to record, the burden of proof is on you.

[blarg]

- Shure SM57 Impedance Modification : Recording Magazine -

[bcgood]

Used a 57 for vocals the other day on a singer songwriter. Ran it through one of my tube pre's straight to tape while recording his guitar and the overall ambience with my binaural head. Came out gr8.

[BOWIE]

Many people here seem to hate the 57. I'm not one of them. It's a crude sounding mic but it makes some things sit in the mix so well.

[Colossal]

i wouldn't say i hate the 57, but when i put it on an amp, i just find it's not quite a 421, know what i mean? and on snares i just find it's not quite an m201.

although it's certainly useful in these applications if you don't want the sounds you're recording to take over the mix.

[JPeters86]

Give me a bunch of 57s and a rack filled with nice preamps and I'll guarantee you the result will be good. Sure I'd like a tube mic for vocals for instance, but I have yet to encouter a situation in which the 57 will let me down.

[Jordan Jerkwad]

i like it.... but i like sahiaman's little blondie mic for guitar and snare better....

little blondie paired with a nice ribbon on some guitar = pure amazing

[John Eppstein]

Do you hate idiots who don't know how to get a sound with decent gear as much as I do?

[la grange]

I went through that phase where I thought the 57 was so passe!
Little stupid me, little did I know how presumptuous I was.
It is such a good mic if not God of all mics!

Oli

[FreshSkweez]

Originally Posted by la grange

I went through that phase where I thought the 57 was so passe!
Little stupid me, little did I know how presumptuous I was.
It is such a good mic if not God of all mics!

Oli

+1

I wouldn't go as far as the God part. But 'chosing the right mic for the source' is a part of your workflow. You end up using what you're most comfortable with. With my background in live sound I'm so used to the sound of 57s and their pros and cons it's just easier for me to use'em to get from point A to point B and know what I'll get in the end. By far not audiophile or boutique mics. Workhorses.

[camus]

I'd take a roomful of 57/58s over a similar pile of Chicom condensers any day of the week.

[Colossal]

Originally Posted by John Eppstein

Do you hate idiots who don't know how to get a sound with decent gear as much as I do?

somebody who doesn't like the same gear as you is not necessarily an idiot. we all look for different things from our recordings and our recording equipment and i think it'd be silly to suggest the sm57 is capable of delivering everything that everybody wants all the time, no?

[JulianBrightnes]

Originally Posted by John Eppstein

Do you hate idiots who don't know how to get a sound with decent gear as much as I do?

bashing one of the greatest mics around is just shocking!!!

[nick-the-sax]

i like ALL mics. and all mics love me.

we all live together in a house made out of microphones and candy.

[RTR]

I have to say..I don't really care for it on guitar amps any more!!!

[Black Shadow]

Originally Posted by nick-the-sax

i like ALL mics. and all mics love me.

we all live together in a house made out of microphones and candy.

*heads for UK with burglar outfit and empty suitcases*

[Gordon]

Mix with another mic and it sounds killer as long as you get the phase right.

[hank alrich]

Originally Posted by ze engineer

Does anyone hate the SM57s on snares and distorted guitars as much as I do?

Not when they're connected to a good preamp with a good transformer at the input. Hooked to Mackies and such, yeah, the results suck.

And this is why the answer to the "great mic or real preamp?" always comes down for me on the side of the preamp. Without a real preamp one has no idea how well one's mics might work.

That said, if the snare and the guitars actually sound like crap, there's no signal chain that can help.

[Tapeworm]

I've gone back to the 57 (and ribbon mics) on guitar cabs.

I've always loved it on snare.

[threshhold]

any engineer worth his/her salt can take a 57 and grab sweet sounds. especially in the snare / guitar dpt. Perhaps you PREFER a diff mic for a certain application at times however If you HATE it then you got bigger problems down the line ie. crappy source / terrible mic placement / following it with below par gear / shot ears.


godspeed.

[Colossal]

maybe the tones OP is getting would be solid gold to some but still hate-able by him.

[steelyfan]

The 57 is a classic, and for ovious reasons. I always used a beta58 for guitar cabs though, without really knowing what I was doing I just started that way. Later, I heard everyone used a 57 on guitar cabs, and once I tried it, I think i know why. Not because it sounds great, but I think the way alot of guys used it was to capture LOUD amps, so the 57 probably worked nicely for that, I tried it and had to CRANK my amp to get the same input signal as putting my 58 in the same micing spot.

If I had to guess, and I'm not an expert, the 57 probablly became so popular on cabs because of this. Not enough headphones for all the recording artist at once, so crank all then amps so everyone can hear each other, and the 57 will sound good. The 58 would sound like death this way. It's like the 57 was desgined for this, it just works.

I can barely turn up an amp, and the beta58 does it for me, sounds more
open and natural. Since the 58 seems to reach out more for the signal, to me, it brings in more air/room sound with the amp/guitar sound, which is an awesome thing. The 57 sounds like it as a screen or coffee filter infront of it, just seems filtered sounding, but I think that's why people like it on guitar amps and snares, takes some of the harshness out of the sound.

Again, some of you old timers can set the record straight, I'm merely guessing and using my own impressions on the 57 legacy. It sounds awesome on snares to me. But then the Audix I-5 stole that role too.
I think it's an all around great mic. I like darker sounding recordings, and for that it's so easy to get almost anything sounding good with it.

I could make an albulm with 57's and 58's. I just want my Akg Perception 420 to team with my LA-610 for vocals, good night........ Instant 1970..

Music's fun.

Steely

[lord_bunny]

Plenty of people who could use whatever they want and still have a 57.... look at any big studio or personal studio of an artist you like, good chance they have a few.

I've started using 635a's, Senn 409's, 421's, 57's. None of them are bad, or better. That's a fact because all of us have been moved by at least one recording that features one of these mics on the guitar cab. They just have a different vibe.

Tell you the truth, I don't really have all day to try each one out to see if it's the best vibe. I just go with one or a combo and THAT kind of becomes the vibe.

A lot of the times your just farting around, you-know?

[theblue1]

Originally Posted by ze engineer

Does anyone hate the SM57s on snares and distorted guitars as much as I do?

How much do you hate them?

I don't hate a '57 on either of those but I've drifted away from that trusty and unpretentious mic being my first reach for amp miking and its use on snare has always depended on the drum and the desired sound. There's never been a time in my life when I thought you should always use the same mic in every generic situation.

[Tone Laborer]

Well said Lord Bunny. They just seem to work on top snare. There are other good mics as well. I try not to hate mics, for my own karma.

On a recent project the 57 was getting killed by a fathead and/or a Senn 906 on a cleanish country guitar amp. But then I cut a baritone gtr and the 57 won out by a mile. If you're ever cutting some low E and A string twang, check out the 57.

[warhead]

Hate?

No, no reason to.

Own one?

Not any more.

War

[waxx]

it's a good mic for the reason that it shines in live situations and some recording situation, but is always at least useable in a hi end mix. If you don't know what to use, and you don't have time to test your mic collection, go for a 57 and it will still sound decent.

Off course there are better mics for a lot of applications, but no one takes it all with decent results.

i think each decent studio should at least own 2 off them.