Shure SM57 Unidyne III

[Sloan]

Oh, i forgot that I actually have impulses of my unidyne in my two impulse collections IN MY SIG Y'ALL!
You can hear how shitty it sounds, it isn't the model sm57 type, and it has an on/off switch that you can lock into one position.

 

[Kazrog]

Got mine today. The ones I got are unfortunately newer, made in Mexico, but still I got a great price for mics that are in near-new condition, so I'm really not bummed at all. In fact, I'd say that I like the 545 just as much as my 57.

The 545s are definitely different than the 57 - the 545 has considerably lower output, less low end, more pronounced mids, and a smoother, less fizzy high end. Not better or worse - just different, although I will say that the 545 responds to extreme EQ more smoothly, which could be very valuable in certain situations. They also sound awesome blended, and I'll definitely be incorporating the 545 into Recabinet Modern 2.0 and Recabinet Vintage in addition to the 57.

 

[greyskull]

Exactly!!

mine are OOOOOOOLD american made ones, got a really wierd connecter on em, sort of tuchel but not, one of came with a cable, the other im modding to XLR

 

[John_C]

i did some recordings with those recently as tom mics, they came out sounding very very trebley and harsh. Then again they were pretty beat up, genuine 70s articles i think. Mesh fell off one of them, the other kept rattling, and then when i cobbled them together in the end they sounded a bit balls anyway.

 

[AudioGeekZine]

You can't put tape on the top of a 57, you'll block the vents that make it cardioid, and make it Omni.
Omni=no proximity effect + less off axis rejection + increased noise

So fixing the rattling screen is not an easy task.

 

[John_C]

nah it wasn't the screen that was rattling, it was something inside the main body of the mic. It dissapeared at certain angles though

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

I'm back home with the mic. It's the Made in U.S.A 545SD Unidyne III with a switch (someone has bypassed it, though) and an XLR connector. No idea how old this one is. I haven't got anything to mic up right now, but I'll try it on some acoustic guitars or something when I get the chance.

 

[everybody's x]

I have ten Unidyne III 545's some with switches, some without. 70's models and probably 98% of the clips I've posted were recorded with them. Less fizz =win to me

I also use them on snare, top and bottom every weekend.

Scored all ten of them on ebay for $80, several years ago.

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

Heh, completely forgot about this one. I had a slow afternoon so I fixed the Unidyne and did a little comparison. I played back white noise from my other HS80M, put a mic stand pretty close to the monitor, aimed on-axis a bit below the tweeter and recorded and analyzed a clip with both the Unidyne and an SM57. Here's what the graph looks like:

Not that big of a difference in the end. Seems like the SM57 has more low-end and less top-end than the Unidyne, though.

 

[JeffTD]

Weird... my Unidyne 57 has a smoother top end and a slightly more clear bottom end than my mexican 57.

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

Weird... my Unidyne 57 has a smoother top end and a slightly more clear bottom end than my mexican 57.

Could be just variance between individual Unidynes. I did a quick test recording some Faith No More through the monitor with both mics and the Unidyne ended up sounding just a bit thinner than the SM57. Not a huge difference, though.

 

[bobby television]

The answer is very simple:
When Shure manufactured the Unidyne IIIs in the USA, they tested every microphone and manually adjusted the frequency response to the exact specs advertised for that microphone.
Once they moved the factory to Mexico, they assembled the microphones and boxed them for sale, eliminating the final step of "tuning" the microphone to the exact advertised specs.
That's why it's POSSIBLE to get a new SM57 that sounds like the Unidyne III, but not very likely.
Engineers who had been used to the consistent sound of the SM57 Unidyne IIIs over the years noticed the difference.