Shure SM57, Sennheiser e609, EV Cardinal amp mic shootout

[mixermantim]

I just made a shootout on the 609 and the 906

[dreamstwice]

SM 57 FTW!

[SIRONEDRAGON]

cool : )

[spentonmediocrity]

Dynamics sound stiff and lifeless compared to condensers...that's not just vocals but guitar as well.I owned the same Sennheisser and hated it for my guitar amp...sounded wooly and fizzy with no dynamics,totally unlike how my amp sounded.

I place my AT 2020 back a foot and a little off axis and it sounds very authentic and 3 dimensional,it's alive sounding and pickups the subtlties.

You can really hear the difference on uncompressed sound files,it's stunning.

[DiatonicVids]

In your experience, which position is closest to what you hear in the room?

[jbisti]

@DiatonicVids Hard to say. Our minds know how to basically remove the noise/effects from a room when listening to something, but if we heard that same "audio signal" on an album, we'd notice it right away and find it distracting, because we don't have the context to compensate for it. But that's probably not the answer you're looking for... In my (limited) experience, the best compromise for recording is a pair of 57's, one pointed right at the cone, one 12" back angled up about 30 degrees.

[Sk8bordr125]

thinking of getting shure sm 57 what would be the best way to record to mac, a mic to usb cable, mic into pre amp into mac w garageband or should i get a pre amp with different software being that garageband is not that in depth

[jbisti]

@Sk8bordr125 To be honest, I haven't used any of the Mic->USB adapters, but I can't imagine that they do the job that a dedicated preamp with usb out does. I use a Tascam US-100 for my recording, and have no complaints.

[jwalsh8]

@jbisti Can i just ask is the low amp hum due to the mic or are you using any tricks you can share with us.

thanks

[jbisti]

@jwalsh8 I haven't found the TSL60 to be all that noisy to start with, but there are a few tricks. First off, humbuckers will cut down on a lot of noise. Then, keeping the gain down quite a bit further than you might think it needs to be, and keeping the pickups away from other electronics will reduce non-guitar noise. If you're still having trouble with hum, make sure that the amp is properly grounded, and that you're not getting any ground-loop hum from other equipment. Good luck!

[jwalsh8]

@jbisti THANK YOU :-D

[jbisti]

@jwalsh8 No problem, man! I spent some time playing in wedding/bar bands where I really had to reign in noise, and those friggin neon signs and dirty power lines really create some terrible noise. If the other stuff I mentioned doesn't help, it might be time to drop $80 on a good noise gate. The Boss one is slow and muddy compared to the ISP Decimator and the MXR Smart Gate. Either of those will do you well.