SM57 or SM58 (for vocals?)

DURBANS

Member
Feb 2, 2005
184
0
16
I will be buying an sm57 soon for guitar recording purposes. I also have the chance to get an sm58. Can I do both guitars and vocals with an sm57 or is it that an sm58 will be better for vocals? I ask this since everytime I see a mag, they say this mic (sm58) is the standard for vocals.
 
As far as I know they are the same mike with different grilles. 57 will do you good for vocals.
 
well in my almost none experience i used sm 58 and 57 to record muy voice, i dont have a very low voice but its low ok so at first i love sm 58 coz looks nice to me and is the mic that all people use for voice however i tried the sm 57 and i really liike my voice with that mic, coz seems to have less lows and more mids, highs so fit my voice perfect and Leo dont forget to use the wind-screen in front of the mic, i always sing like 30 cm from the mic while recording
 
Hey you guys remember Ted Nugent? He used a SM-57 for his vocals "LIVE"!
The Nuge!!!!! Double Live Gonzo!!!!!!!!


hehe...he...just yelling his name makes me want to pull out my BushMaster and go blast some shit up!!!!
 
i have used a Beta 58 for vocals often, and Chuck Billy used to use one as well for singing vox while standing in the control room with monitors blaring... a method used on more albums than you might think.
 
James Murphy said:
i have used a Beta 58 for vocals often, and Chuck Billy used to use one as well for singing vox while standing in the control room with monitors blaring... a method used on more albums than you might think.
really?¿ what for? feedback? i didnt get it
 
estigma2001 said:
really?¿ what for? feedback? i didnt get it
Chuck did that for the same reason other singers do... to get more of a feeling like playing live or at rehearsal... some singers just have trouble finding their voice and getting into it when they are shoved in a booth with headphones on.. in these cases it's best to just toss them a handheld mic (e.g. Beta 58 or whatever) and stick them in the control room and crank it up. portions of Chuck's vocals were done this way on "Low" and i believe on "The Gathering" as well if memory serves.
 
DracWell said:
Wouldn't this lead to mixing problems, there should be alot of leakage into the mic.
I already think headphones can leak too much.
well, do you hear any "mixing problems" on either of those two albums? i sure don't...:loco: you just position the singer right between the monitors in the back of the room.. tell them not to walk around.. and reverse the phase of one of the monitors... it will still sound fine in the control room, but as the combined L+R monitor outputs enter the mic they are summed to mono and largely cancel each other out.. leaving mostly just the singers voice. :headbang:
 
since my last post i decided to look around for some examples of other people using this "in the control room" technique that i told you about. here's one:

in the September 2004 issue of Mix magazine John Porter, who's resume includes The Smiths' early albums, Bryan Ferry, B.B. King, Ozzy Osbourne, Ryan Adams and many others, states: "Sometimes, too, if the singer wants to sing in the control room with the monitors blasting, I'm not averse to using a 58."

there's ton's more references on line to this technique... maybe i'll post some more if there's still some skeptics ;)
 
Brett - K A L I S I A said:
As James said, don't forget to switch the output to mono, your two speakers must play the same audio, only with inverted phase so that phase cancellation can work.
yes, true... i left that bit out.... but you know, you can also just leave out the whole phase trick altogether... sometimes the bleed isn't really as much of a big deal as you might think... but mostly i would hit the Mono button on my montior controller and then invert the positive and negative leads on one of the monitors until i had good take.