Shure SM7 microphone

[KaiXXX]

Hi,

I'd like to hear experiences with the shure sm7 microphone.

I've been watching 'making of' shows from Metallica and Limp Bizkit and as well James as Fred were singing/shouting into sm7's. Since my band plays metal/hardcore with shout/scream-type vocals, it might be interesting for me. And the price is still relatively low, at least compared to some condenser mics.
Funny: On the shure.com site the sm7 can be found under products-broadcast-studio. The sm7 is not featured on the german shure website, I guess the americans are diggin' this mic better than the germans...

Cheers

KaiXXX

[Keith Robichaux]

Red Hot Chilli Peppers also. It's dynamic, no mike technique perfect, great for yelling!!!

[supro]

I have one. It´s great for miking guitar amps, haven´t tried it on vocal yet but someone told me that Michael Jackson used one on the "Bad" sessions.

[picksail]

It also, makes for a graet kick drum mic.

[remainanon]

SM7s are very, very useful.

One problem is the mount, of course. The microphone itself is quite massive, and you've basically got a thumb ring to attach it to the stand - repeated mounting and unmounting tends to loosen up the hardware - I would recommend using those little quick-lock adapters and leaving one installed in the SM7.

Great for guitar amps. Pretty good for male vocals - I usually find they work best on songs where the vocal will be totally dry - there's a lot of color in the upper mids, and since it's a hyper-cardioid there is a pretty noticeable proximity bump.

A worthwhile member of the platoon.
JW

[KaiXXX]

Hi,

ok, sounds pretty good so far. I've read people are using sm7's on guitar cabs.

But even though nobody seems to use it for that application, my absolute favorite for git is the akg c414b-uls! It's great and seems to work in basically every situation. If you compare it to an sm57 the 57 sounds really tiny but penetrant, while the 414 sounds big and open (I kinda like 57 as well and did good recordings with it). The 414 is also a great tom mic, best i ever heard...
For kick drum I'm really happy at the moment with the shure beta52 - beta91 combo (for rock/metal kickdrum). The 91 gives you the click you'd normally eq (or trigger ).

But back to vocals: is there any other mic you guys would use for these metal type shout vocals? Or any other that fit especially male vocals, because I'm always reading 'mic xy is good for female vocals'. Like the AT4050. The Brauner VM1 also seems to fit to female singers better (there is a new version 'VMA' out now which is supposed to be better on males), while the Brauner Phantom seems to fit everybody - great mic! Unfotunately the standard version has no pad...


Cheers

KaiXXX

[div32]

I love the SM7 on bass amp (SVT style).

[RingoFire]

I record a lot of scream and shout type music, from garage rock to hardcore and experimantal stuff. the sm57 definitly is a secret weapon for yelling. good vocalists can use it like an instrument.
(mike patton!)with changing the distance, closing it with the hands and using a guitar amp you can track great performances, even when you record the singer live with the band in the same room!

for me the sm7 seems to be more useful for drums and guitars, some radiostations use it for anouncers.


feel free to contact me for more tricks

ringo.fire

[ajazzie]

You guys are joking right????

The humble 57 is perhaps one of the best all purpose, indestructable mics ever, I personally dont know a studio without half a dozen of them.

So many bands use them from kicks, to snare, guitar cabs to vox, they are just a serious workhorse microphone. Along with a SM58, if you dont have a bunch of them its a worry.

[syra]

The humble 57 is perhaps one of the best all purpose, indestructable mics ever, I personally dont know a studio without half a dozen of them

Who said anything about a 57....?