Shure SM7: Your Opinions

[Catoogie]

I've been looking for a budget all-purpose mic and I've received a lot of great suggestions. I've heard a lot of great things about the Shure SM7 and I'm very intrigued. I would love to hear some of your opinions on this mic, for some reason I think this could be for me.

[lsn110]

It's on my list, but I'm not sure I would pick it as a do-it-all mic. I'd be worried that too many tracks with that big sound would get to be a bit cluttered. I do like it on some folks for vocals (including myself). What kind of stuff would you be recording with it?

[joel hamilton]

for the price of an SM7 you could get a 421 and an SM57.

[j.hall]

sm7's are awesome on bass cabs
kick drum
some vocalists

that's about as far as i've taken it....

if you like the lead vocal on the chili pepper's "blood sugar sex magic", that's and extremely compressed SM7

i still use 57's occasionally....but i'm liking them less and less

as john brion said at tape op conference.....it might make a better hammer then a mic, but then again a hammer still makes a better hammer.....

[eeldip]

for an all purpose dynamic mic you might also want to look into a 441. about the same price as an sm7.

but i think an sm7 would work... it is a great piece to start a mic collection with, in that you start off with a great mic that you will always use. maybe it will be a bit of a compromise on certain things. and you will have to play around with eq a bit. but what the fuck. why not.


but the 441 looks cooler.

[AnalogElectric]

I would never part with mine.

I've had good success using it on the Kick, Floor Tom, Bass Cab, Vocals, and Guitar Cabs. It surprised me the other day when I was originally using an RCA 44BX ribbon for vocals and then the singer wanted to do some of the songs handheld. I picked out the SM7 and I was surprised how somewhat similar it sounded by the time it was mixed in comparison to the 44BX. Sure there are different elements to both mics that make them unique and I did have to EQ and compress the SM7 to match the tone a bit better but I was impressed. Kim and Kelley Deal swear by the mic for kick, bass, and vocals too.

A freelance engineer used it here on a snare but I thought it sounded a bit dumpy, even with the roll-offs but it worked for what they were after.

--Adam Lazlo

[moogplayer]

Should you ever record voice-over talent for a living then you can't go wrong with the SM7. I use one almost daily in a video post environment. Nice big sound. Tried it on kcik drum a few times with success - close to a 421 in that regard.

[Professor]

Great you just reminded me that of all of the mics I've purchased for the school, I haven't picked up any SM-7s yet. I'll have to put two on the next list. They really are great, though remember there aren't any mics that are 'good for everything' but there are some that come close and the SM-7 is good for nearly every place you might want a dynamic mic.
I also always like mentioning that 1/3 of every voice you hear on the radio comes through an SM-7, while another 1/3 of the voices come through an RE-20 and the remaining 1/3 com through every other microphone in the world. If you ever watch the Howards Stern show late at night (not that I ever do) I am pretty sure they have Robin on an SM-7, one of the other guys is on an RE-20 and Howard is on a Neumann, but then he is the star. Maybe that last sentence isn't the greatest advertisement, but if you listen to your TV through a nice system you can hear all of those mics in action and see some blurred out T&A at the same time. As for late night TV, the infomercials are usually better, but that is another topic entirely.

-Jeremy

[rhythm ranch]

As stated by others above, I would not pick the SM-7 as an all purpose mic, but I've had great luck with it on kick, guitar cabs and some vocals; it's great on VO. And what the hell, it looks good too.

[Catoogie]

Jeremy,

Thanks for the post. I've noticed Robin on the SM7 What kind of Neumann is Howard using?

[dumbangel]

in an old Tape Op I remember Jim O'Rourke mentioned the SM7 was his first choice on vocals. don't know if it's for his voice only or more generally.

-Khai.

[tiger vomitt]

What kind of Neumann is Howard using?

usually a TLM 103, of all things. sometimes a U87.