Trevoire520
Member
SM7B or AT4040 are both good shouts. SM7B will be better for untreated rooms though. Plus vocalists tend to be much more comfortable with the SM7 I find as they can hold the back of it when tracking.
Need tips: Simple vocal microphone...
- Thread starter Ola Englund
- Start date
Jarkko Mattheiszen
The FU guy.
Yeah, one of the advantages of the SM7 is that you can pretty much hand it over to the vocalist and let him go bat shit insane in the control room.
crillemannen
Member
Skinny Viking
¯\(°_o)/¯ How do Lydian?
Mago
Austrian Blech Machine
Yep agreeing with SM7B. I got myself a used one last week for 2500SEK and I think it sounds awesome!
Maybe it's just me, but I've just never had good luck with the SM7Bs I've had in the past. I've owned 3 so far, and everyone keeps telling me they're amazing, but I'm quite bored by their tone.
It does sound quite nice through an expensive preamp, but the stock preamps in my Saffire Pro 40 don't have enough clean gain to drive them properly IMO. FWIW, I prefer the EV RE-20 over the SM7b (granted, it's a bit more expensive), but I seem to be alone on that boat for the most part. The RE-20 is even great as a kick mic, though I haven't tried it on guitar cabs; where the SM7b actually did very well.
Honestly though, I still much prefer a condenser on most metal vocalists I've recorded (including myself). The AT4060 is probably my favorite at the moment, but hell, I even prefer the Neumann TLM103 over the SM7b, and I generally dislike its brittle high end. Condensers just feel more "alive" to me. The SM7b might fit into a mix almost effortlessly, but it's kinda boring IMO.
The SM7b is a solid choice, regardless. It's not like it's bad by any means, but the shear amount of praise, and preference to nearly every other mic, for it all over the internet confuses me.
It does sound quite nice through an expensive preamp, but the stock preamps in my Saffire Pro 40 don't have enough clean gain to drive them properly IMO. FWIW, I prefer the EV RE-20 over the SM7b (granted, it's a bit more expensive), but I seem to be alone on that boat for the most part. The RE-20 is even great as a kick mic, though I haven't tried it on guitar cabs; where the SM7b actually did very well.
Honestly though, I still much prefer a condenser on most metal vocalists I've recorded (including myself). The AT4060 is probably my favorite at the moment, but hell, I even prefer the Neumann TLM103 over the SM7b, and I generally dislike its brittle high end. Condensers just feel more "alive" to me. The SM7b might fit into a mix almost effortlessly, but it's kinda boring IMO.
The SM7b is a solid choice, regardless. It's not like it's bad by any means, but the shear amount of praise, and preference to nearly every other mic, for it all over the internet confuses me.
Ermz
¯\(°_o)/¯
Yeah, probably shouldn't use an SM7 through anything that isn't labelled 'API'. I've used it through an array of pres, both modern and vintage, outboard or console, and the 512c's totally ripped everything. That ended up being the Elm Street lead vocal sound - probably one of my best to date. I personally don't consider it to be boring - but to each their own!
Jarkko Mattheiszen
The FU guy.
I've used it with 3124's, TLA console preamps, an SSL VHD, Toft ATB console preamps, a Digipre and even the preamps of a C24 and loved it! I'm actually recording vocals with an SM7 and a 2626 in a couple of hours
JeffTD
Senhor Testiculo
SM7b through stock pres sounds pretty damn good.
SM7b through an API sounds fucking incredible.
SM7b driven hard through a Neve is just... pure sex. Vocals that just melt around the edges, in the best way possible. I seriously miss my SCA N72 for that one application alone, even with how good the API sounds.
SM7b through an API sounds fucking incredible.
SM7b driven hard through a Neve is just... pure sex. Vocals that just melt around the edges, in the best way possible. I seriously miss my SCA N72 for that one application alone, even with how good the API sounds.
gabriel g.
Member
sm7b (with popfilter on, and with a wind-shield, because the singer was spitting like crazy and I dont want to buy new popfilter after every session)
was used for vocals on this track.
Running through audient mico preamp (which has a lot of clean gain)
I also recently used it for a clean singer, and it rips every condenser in the near price range.
IMHO its one of the finest vocal mics out there
was used for vocals on this track.
Running through audient mico preamp (which has a lot of clean gain)
I also recently used it for a clean singer, and it rips every condenser in the near price range.
IMHO its one of the finest vocal mics out there
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gabriel g.
Member
Ermz
¯\(°_o)/¯
gabriel g.
Member
I once tracked an album with an sm58. But it was youth crew, old school HC. The mic worked best for the singer.
Chino Morino (deftones) tracked most of the time with an sm58 (as far as I can remember some Terry Date interviews correctly)
Definitely not.
The SM7b needs much more gain to drive it than an SM57.
That's the problem I have with the SM7b and my Saffire. It sounds great if the vocalist is loud enough that I don't have to drive it super hard, but if they're not, then I have to introduce a lot of noise into the signal, by cranking the pres almost all the way up, which is no bueno.
