« Pretty Good »

The Shure KSM27 is a side-address condenser microphone with a cardioid polar pattern. It was made with studio use in mind, but it's a pretty rugged unit overall. It has a great sound and reproduces very accurately. It runs on 48V Phantom Power. It sounds great through a variety of pre amps. It doesn't color the sound too much either, very faithful, good reproduction.The roll off and pad are very precise, you can see the difference in a spectrometer, and it's pretty impressive. The KSM27 is physically a solid mic for the money, and it's built for quality. It has more switches/features than cheaper mics. I think it's best suited for guitar or to add a slightly warm sound to instruments or vocals. It's a solid piece of craftsmanship compared to cheaper condensers now flooding the market. I would highly recommend this mic to people recording instruments like guitar, double bass, saxes, and clarinets. Nothing too strong as to preserve the diaphragm, but softer instruments like woodwinds and strings are perfect.

OVERALL OPINION

My favorite thing about this mic is the quality of sound and build. It's simply a piece of art, and a GREAT deal at 400 bucks. Mics like this that are cheaper, awesome quality, and well built are being released to fill the gap between low end and very high end mics. It's a great time to take advantage of the deals companies are offerning on great mics like these. This is a great mic for any beginner, home studio, or mid level studio space. It's not a professional mic by any standards, but still an awesome piece of equipment. I would recommend this to people who need a good and reliable microphone for studio applications, as condenser mics are generally not suited for live performance and this one is no exception. Well built as it is, it must be treated with care and delicacy.