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Published on 07/18/11 at 07:41The Shure Beta 52A is a dynamic microphone specifically tailored for use on the bass drum. The very shape of the microphone makes that pretty obvious. The Shure Beta 52A has that special low end extension in the frequency response, bringing it from the standard and acceptable 20-20,000 Hz to an incrementally more impressive 10-20,000 Hz. While humans can't exactly hear down that low, this extended response does make the microphone sound much better for this application, and you can hear the low end not directly because of the low end extension, but because of the way the frequency curve approaches that bottom.
Couple this with a staggeringly impressive SPL rating at 174 dB and a nice little presence boost in the midrange, and you are in for a microphone with some, pardon the pun, kick.
Shure includes a rather sorry pouch with the microphone that doesn't really do much, but it's there.
The microphone, to go back for a second, is structurally speaking, quite a piece of work. I'm always impressed with how solid all of the Shure microphones feel.
OVERALL OPINION
The Shure Beta 52 is specialized for the kick, and it does not disappoint in this regard. In truth, most of the kick drum microphones are quite acceptable and on par with each other, and being more of a vocalist, I was going to be impressed with any of them, considering the fact that I am used to having someone stick an SM57 on the kick and EQ it up later.
Having friends who mic up bands can make me feel just a little bit inadequate, because I don't have access to the same specialist equipment that they do, and I'm not exactly going to feel so great about micing up kick drums anymore. Thank goodness it is not a regular occurrence for me.
Couple this with a staggeringly impressive SPL rating at 174 dB and a nice little presence boost in the midrange, and you are in for a microphone with some, pardon the pun, kick.
Shure includes a rather sorry pouch with the microphone that doesn't really do much, but it's there.
The microphone, to go back for a second, is structurally speaking, quite a piece of work. I'm always impressed with how solid all of the Shure microphones feel.
OVERALL OPINION
The Shure Beta 52 is specialized for the kick, and it does not disappoint in this regard. In truth, most of the kick drum microphones are quite acceptable and on par with each other, and being more of a vocalist, I was going to be impressed with any of them, considering the fact that I am used to having someone stick an SM57 on the kick and EQ it up later.
Having friends who mic up bands can make me feel just a little bit inadequate, because I don't have access to the same specialist equipment that they do, and I'm not exactly going to feel so great about micing up kick drums anymore. Thank goodness it is not a regular occurrence for me.