Liking my Shure SM87

bluesman · Post by **bluesman** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 11:16 am

The Shure SM87 is my live performance mic of choice, but lately I have been using it on studio vox with good results. It is a phantom powered condenser. Recently I used it for scratch vocals on a couple of different projects with male vocalists who had deeper voices. Both of the scratch vox sounded so good, both made it on the final product. I haven't seen this mic mentioned as a recording mic. With its affordable price (I paid less than $200 new for mine) it could be of benefit to the recordist on a buget.

discuss & enjoy

@?,*???&? · Post by **@?,*???&?** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 2:01 pm

You mean Beta 87, right?

Yes, great mic. Try it on snare drum too.

bluesman · Post by **bluesman** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 2:25 pm

I haven't tried it on snare yet, but I did recently use it as a mono room/overhead, located about 6 feet in front of the kit at about 6 feet high & aimed over the top of the cymbols. It sounded surprizingly nice & silky, not harsh at all.

japmn · Post by **japmn** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 3:15 pm

They're not bad on nylon string guitars either.

Beat Poet · Post by **Beat Poet** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 12:47 pm

A producer I recorded with in the past uses an SM87 on the snare and recommended it to me. Would be nice to get some second opinions on the mic in that application!

accordion squeezist · Post by **accordion squeezist** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 4:03 pm

unscrew & remove the ball grill thingy for overhead application.

kslight · Post by **kslight** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 6:00 pm

I had one singer who brought it along to the studio and it did indeed sound pretty good, I let him use it because he had good handheld mic technique so it seemed like a good way to capture a more live vibe.

themagicmanmdt · Post by **themagicmanmdt** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 8:31 pm

anything is good on something, i personally prefer it on nothing.

but, in all seriousness, other than the funny one above...

i really don't hear anything euphonic in modern shure mics!

useful, yes. great for live sound! but recording? they can get good sounds, yes, but nothing is exciting, everything's a bit boxed, 'not live', if you will.

i wonder why i hear this?

bluesman · Post by **bluesman** » Fri Mar 09, 2012 7:37 am

"useful, yes. great for live sound! but recording? they can get good sounds, yes"

This is the point....its a relatively inexpensive microphone that can yield good results, depending on the source. Its not as good as U-47, nor is it as expensive.

I think that my vocalist was less intimidated by the hand held Shure because it looked similar to the mic he was accustomed to using in the clubs. The scratch vox sounded good enough to keep because of the performance...and because the sound was good & usable. It's not an end all, just another tool that yields good results.

Message Board

Liking my Shure SM87

Liking my Shure SM87

Who is online