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Published on 07/18/11 at 12:40
The Shure Beta 56A is a microphone touted as a drum and instrument microphone from Shure, but I am not acquainted with anyone who actually uses these little beauties for anything but drum mic'ing. The first thing to note is the the microphones themselves are extremely compact, making their positioning on a drum set painless and easy, unlike the well loved Shure SM57, which, while also adept at being put on drums, can get in the way due to their size. This is never the case with the Shure Beta 56A microphones, which by the way, as per Shure's monstrous ability to make their microphones practically indestructible, is, yep, you guessed it: practically indestructible.
The Beta 56A is a dynamic, supercardioid microphone with a frequency response extended 1,000 Hz upward from Shure's well loved default. The Beta 56A has a frequency response of 50-16,000 Hz. Like the Beta 52A, it is mounted in a very convenient way for drums, and allows adjustments to be made without compromising the entire setup.
I have found that this microphone does add a bit of special juice to a drum sound, especially when compared to the workhorse SM57, which needs a truckload of EQ before it sounds nice on a drum set.
The microphone also, quite honestly, is one of the better looking microphones for a drummer to stare at (although I have never run into a drummer that is terribly bothered by these things.) And before I move on, I must mention the expected well handling of high SPL's.
OVERALL OPINION
The Shure Beta 56A microphone is a great solution to mic'ing drums, especially if you have the budget for it. The lower end PG56 at about one third of the price will also mic drums rather well, although there was something I couldn't quite place my finger on with the Betas. Combine these with a Beta 52A on kick and you have one nicely mic'ed up drum set!
The Beta 56A is a dynamic, supercardioid microphone with a frequency response extended 1,000 Hz upward from Shure's well loved default. The Beta 56A has a frequency response of 50-16,000 Hz. Like the Beta 52A, it is mounted in a very convenient way for drums, and allows adjustments to be made without compromising the entire setup.
I have found that this microphone does add a bit of special juice to a drum sound, especially when compared to the workhorse SM57, which needs a truckload of EQ before it sounds nice on a drum set.
The microphone also, quite honestly, is one of the better looking microphones for a drummer to stare at (although I have never run into a drummer that is terribly bothered by these things.) And before I move on, I must mention the expected well handling of high SPL's.
OVERALL OPINION
The Shure Beta 56A microphone is a great solution to mic'ing drums, especially if you have the budget for it. The lower end PG56 at about one third of the price will also mic drums rather well, although there was something I couldn't quite place my finger on with the Betas. Combine these with a Beta 52A on kick and you have one nicely mic'ed up drum set!