moosers
Published on 04/29/10 at 11:50
The Shure SM53 is a somewhat rare dynamic microphone that I have used in a recording studio setting. It does look like it would be good for vocals during live shows as well, since it does have the hand held look and design. However, since it is an older microphone, I wouldn't recommend using it for this sort of use anymore. While it may have been suitable for this at one point, if you do come across one right now I would be careful with it and only use it in the studio. The SM53 has a standard cardioid polar pick up pattern and will grab frequencies in the range from 70 Hz to 16 kHz, which isn't ideal for a studio mic, further leading me to believe that these were originally intended for live shows. The SM53 has a counterpart in the Shure SM54, which is pretty much the same mic except that the SM54 has a better filter if I'm not mistaken. The manual for the SM53 isn't necessary.
OVERALL OPINION
I don't have extensive use with the Shure SM53, but have used it enough to get a good grasp on what it can and cannot do. While I believe the original intention for the SM53 was for vocals, I haven't used it for this application. In fact I've only used it to record a guitar amplifier. I guess my thinking was that at best it would be like an SM57. However, it didn't quite do the job as well as the SM57 that I also had going with it at the same time. Don't get me wrong, the sound was definitely more than respectable, but it still didn't match the 57. I've yet to have the chance to use the SM53 for other applications, but a few other situations I'd like to try it out for include the bottom of a snare drum and the aforementioned vocals. The one that I have used is literally the only one that I've ever seen, so unless I'm back in the studio where I used it, I don't think that I'll have the opportunity to experiment too much more with it. While the SM53 will definitely give you a good sound for electric guitar at least, as of yet I'm overall pretty indifferent on the mic until I can try it for some other applications. I wouldn't use this over an SM57 to record guitars, so until I can find another useful application for the Shure SM53, I'm not sure I can really recommend it...
OVERALL OPINION
I don't have extensive use with the Shure SM53, but have used it enough to get a good grasp on what it can and cannot do. While I believe the original intention for the SM53 was for vocals, I haven't used it for this application. In fact I've only used it to record a guitar amplifier. I guess my thinking was that at best it would be like an SM57. However, it didn't quite do the job as well as the SM57 that I also had going with it at the same time. Don't get me wrong, the sound was definitely more than respectable, but it still didn't match the 57. I've yet to have the chance to use the SM53 for other applications, but a few other situations I'd like to try it out for include the bottom of a snare drum and the aforementioned vocals. The one that I have used is literally the only one that I've ever seen, so unless I'm back in the studio where I used it, I don't think that I'll have the opportunity to experiment too much more with it. While the SM53 will definitely give you a good sound for electric guitar at least, as of yet I'm overall pretty indifferent on the mic until I can try it for some other applications. I wouldn't use this over an SM57 to record guitars, so until I can find another useful application for the Shure SM53, I'm not sure I can really recommend it...