Shure

I bought an SM57 primarily to record electric guitars. I spent hours with several other microphones and never really got a sound I was happy with until I tried the SM57. It was the clear winner after multiple position and amp setting checks. I also recorded some vocals with the SM57-- very versatile mic. There's a reason why so many people say so many good things about this mic. It's only a $100! Can't go wrong. I used it on this track for reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeQ4J7vLdvI

The Shure Vocal Master is an old P.A system made in the late 60s. It was used by The 5th Dimension, The Association, Conway Twitty, and many other bands. It is a great P.A for any sized gig or club. This system has the ability to project your vocals as they are, clean and true. The main mixer I have is a VA 300 connecting to two beautiful Shure column speakers. The mixer does a great job for being old technology. It has six channels for microphones/intruments. Each channel has a volume, treble and bass knob, anti feedback switch, and a knob that controls the amount of spring reverb in the channel. The master volume knob controls the overall volume. In the back of the mixer you can connect an echo unit and have the entire mix sent to a tape recorder. Very useful for recording a live band! It has been very reliable and I haven't had one problem with it since I bought it. I once purchased a digital powered mixer and I can honestly say the sound from Vocal Master blows it out of the water. As for the size and weight of this system it is not too heavy. Each speaker column weighs about 30-40 lbs and stands about 5.5 ft tall. The whole package fits perfectly in my 2001 Ford Expedition. I paid $300 (including shipping) for it used. What killed me was the shipping cost. If you find one locally, consider paying $200. What a steal! You get a great reliable P.A system that not only sounds fantastic but looks amazing up on stage. Another great thing about this system is the User/service manual. It contains the names and part numbers for easy repair if taken to an electronic technician. There is another model with a VU meter on the mixer and another model speaker column that is shorter. I Haven't tried those out but I would give it a shot considering my experience with my Vocal Master.

I have been using this product for a year or so. This is one of my favorite monitoring setups I have ever used. I used the normal monitor wedge speaker system on many stages for a long time, and they have so many shortcomings. From feedback, to not hearing yourself, to hearing too much of another band member, to hearing too much of yourself, to the sound from the monitors interfering with the sound from the PA in a bad way. These things cut down on so many of those troubles. The sound basically gets piped in right to your ears, so if you can't hear yourself, just turn it up! They can get very loud, and my band usually plays very loud, so this is obviously essential. They are a very comfortable fit in your ears, and they come with different ear pieces for different ear types. You can even get custom molds to fit you best. They are lightweight and not bulky, so when you're playing you'll forget they're even there. I was at first concerned about the sound quality I'd get, but they definitely sound great. Not that muffled, bass-less, tinny sound you might expect from tiny in-ear speakers. On the contrary the sound is full and allows you to get into your performance. It's very easy to use, and there are two separate lines on this system too. I also haven't had any problem with going too far away from the base, which would be a disaster on stage. On a couple of occasions the ear pieces did fall out, so that was one bad thing I've found with these. I was jumping around though, so I was asking for it. Overall, this is a really great way to go for wireless monitoring. It is a little bit pricey, but such a worthy investment for any serious band. You need to hear yourself, and this is the way to go. I would definitely make the same choice again.

Solid, super well built professional STUDIO microphone, solid state/transformer-less 'pletharos' design. Multi-pattern. Incredibly low self noise. LARGE diaphragm condenser. OVERALL OPINION Quality of sound is excellent. Build quality phenomenal. Built-in pop filter protection (3 screen layers. Natural, uncolored sound. A vocal mic that excels on other sources as well. There is some pleasant color in the Cardiod position. softer top end. Great value for the price. TRY this mic before you BUY if you can. CAVEAT - an extremely SENSITIVE microphone. As sensitive as a BRAUNER Mics, which everyone (according to listed sensitivity response in their manual). Shure says this microphone is for 'critical applications' and they are right. A proper sound from a microphone this sensitive will HEAVILY depend on positioning, being able to distance the mic from the singer/source; which in turn depends on the surrounding acoustic environment.A less sensitive mic would be less dependent on the surrounding environment. Unless you have a good acoustic space set up I would NOT recommend this mic for a noisy or somewhat noisy home studio. It will pick up everything as well as the noise outside; and tiny reflections from the room as well. This mic will pick up all vocal 'mechanical' noises (lip-smacking, saliva noises, etc) as well as any imperfect acceptations that a singer might have.That is why I would say this mic is "Unforgiving". I ended up selling the mic because for my voice it brought out my sibilance issues, and I tried everything (positioning/distance) and could NOT get rid of MY sibilance SIGNIFICANTLY at the mic..... PLeas know that this issue, though,is NOT a character of the mic..every mic resonates a certain way with certain voices...and some mics are just not right for certain people. I have owned the mic for a couple of months, and have use it a lot for vocals/guitar. If I had to get another shure it would be the KSM 32 due to the flatter frequency response and lower sensitivity. My pre was an Focusrite ISA ONE

The Shure 55SHmic was basically created to record voices and those live instruments (most people have never tried to use this on instruments) and I must say it does so extremely well. When you record those brass instruments with it, they come through crystal clear. Just make sure you keep it at a decent distance away from the instruments because there is not screen or anything to stop clicking and popping. Which is good because that’s how you are going to get the real sound of the instrument and nothing to disembody it at all. I recommend anyone using instruments such as a snare drum, guitar amps and congos or kick drums along with the sax and woodwind instruments to use this mice immediately you wont find a better mic at such a good price. Once you look at the price of this thing you will say to your self that this cant be a good mic. But Shure has created top quality mics that are extremely affordable for years and this on tops them all off. We have all searched for a mic that can record live instruments, the better mic are extremely pricey and aren’t as good as they sound. The Shure 55SH is the instrument microphone that we have all been waiting for, I am even thinking of purchasing a few more of these as I am getting into playing more and more live instruments. OVERALL OPINION The 55SH is extremely effective grabbing the natural sound of your live and while not picking up any background noise that is flouting around in your studio. The Shure 55SH delivers great performance and its very reliable and diverse. This mic has been chosen by several artist and producers worldwide, so you should give a try and you will see that this is the mic for live instrumentals you have been searching for your whole career. This will do it all for you.

Specification: Microphone Type - Condenser Polar Pattern(s) - Cardioid, Omni Frequency Response - 20Hz-20kHz Max SPL - 134 dB (149 dB, 159 dB w/Pads) Output Impedance - 150 ohms Self Noise - 14 dB (A-weighted) Low Cut Filter - 18 dB-per-octave @ 80 Hz, 6 dB-per-octave @ 115 Hz Pads - 15 dB, 25 dB Length - 5.75" Width - .8" Depth - .8" Weight - .34 lbs. Notes - Stereo Set I have only used this mic in the studio but it's not too delicate to use live. OVERALL OPINION I really like this microphone. I use it most frequently as an overhead for a drum kit. I use two of them in a spaced pair (I enjoy the wide stereo image) and get wonderful results. Very clear and pristine sounding cymbals and the toms cut through as well. I also love to throw this on acoustic instruments. I've used it on acoustic guitar, violin, piano, etc and it sounds great. Since it picks up a lot of high end and can turn out harsh, I usually match it with a large diaphragm condenser and it sounds fantastic. It's not exactly a low-end microphone but I think it is absolutely worth it for the price. I have paired it against Rode N-5s and Neumann U87s but still prefer the KSM141s for drum overheads. If something happened to these mics I would definitely replace them. They are fantastic overheads and also sound great on acoustic instruments.

The Shure SM91 is a dynamic microphone in the form of a boundary microphone, also known as PZM (pressure zone microphone.) The Shure SM91 and mics like it are designed to be placed on top of or near the signal you want to pick up and will pick up almost everything around it. Placing this microphone on the floor will pick up everything in the room, making the Shure SM91 also great for conferences and for recording speech. OVERALL OPINION I’ve been using the Shure SM91 for a number of years and it is probably my favorite PZM microphone because of the wide range it has in terms of the sound it picks up. It comes in crystal clear and I usually use these mics are room mics, or to record kick drum and as a supplement microphone for recording everything and anything. I also have great results with the Shure SM91 for recording acoustic pianos by putting the microphone inside of the piano. In addition to this I’ve gotten some pretty awesome and interesting sounds by taping the Shure SM91 up onto a Leslie cabinet for recording B3s are other organs. No matter what you are recording with the Shure SM91, I find that I am usually happy with the results. The price of the Shure SM91 is pretty reasonable, but I would really only recommend it to professionals or if you have a very specific use for this, as there are other microphones that I would recommend before this if you are just starting up your microphone collection. You know you can trust what you are getting from Shure, as they have a long track record of making great microphones at reasonable prices. For what it is, the Shure SM91 is just about as good as you can get and must be tried if you are in the market for a PZM mic.

Tried this condenser mic on a pro studio environment, and also in a room with no acoustic treatment. fairly bright, and a little bit risky for recording a nasally vocalist with a terrible handling on "ss". OVERALL OPINION It's easily blends on any modern music such as pop, hip hop, electric and dance music, but IMHO it's not for every kind of music. Especially folk, vintage, retro pop music. In a "bright" condenser mic category, i've tried Neumann TLM 102, TLM 103, Behringer C1, MXL 990, samson C01, and also the famous Rode NT1A, and this PG42 still got it's own tonal character on high mid frequencies. If you like a strong and detailed low, high-mid, and high frequencies, within a <250$ range, this PG42 mic can be put on your list. But if you need a vintage sounding, or all-around microphone, then this isn't the one.

The Shure SM27 is a large diaphragm condenser microphone that comes with a shock mount, case and bag to put in for travel. The build of this microphone surprised me because it seems to be made out of heavier materials and nothing is cheap about it. The SM 27 has a uniform cardioids pattern that is great with off axis rejection and not allowing all of those unwanted noises to be recorded or heard. OVERALL OPINION I have used this microphone around 15 different times and it has never let me or my group down. It is a great microphone to record vocals with. All of our vocals have been recorded very clean with this microphone and we have been using it for about 3 years now. We can even get great acoustic guitar recordings with it depending on microphone placement. We get the best sound when the guitar is about 10 to 14 inches away from this microphone. I do recommend this microphone to anyone who is a guitarist (acoustic) and vocalist wanted a multiple purpose microphone that they can have for their home set up to record songs with. This microphone looks great and is built to last a long time. It has a solid construction and brushed matte look to it keeping it shiny and scratch free. Out of all of the times we have used it and all of the people that I have heard that have used it in the past. Not once has anyone not sounded good with this microphone. Now this isn’t the first choice microphone in this price range but if a studio has this microphone I will never say I don’t want to record with it because I already know how good it is with instruments and vocals. I do not own this microphone at the current moment but another studio that I got to frequently uses it a lot. The frequency response is 20 to 20,000 Hz and it has a cardioid polar pattern.

The Shure White label is a light weight turntable cartridge that has a high visibility stylus. This cartridge is one of the newest ones that I just purchased. The design of it is very attractive, it is sleek and easy to work with and it has great tracking for time coding my vinyl records. This cartridge is great for digital DJ’s as well. This cartridge sounds great too, it does not color the sound and has a very club sound too it but it does not over exaggerate the low end and bass frequencies like some performance cartridges tend to do. But with that being said I do not recommend using this cartridge for battle action because it does not provide enough low end for me. But it does have very clear mids and highs and sounds great in a club. It is also very light on my vinyl leaving it scratch free. The White label comes in a case and is easy to install and start using right way. It comes with a small guide to show you everything you need to know if you are a new but in my case I didn't need a manual or guide. This cartridge can also be compared to the Numark CC-1 in sound quality but not in design and feel. The sounds are very similar though as I have both of them and use both of them on a regular basis now. I do prefer the White Label from Shure of the Numark CC-1 though because of the design and feel of it. I do wish the sound had a little more low end though and could be used in a battle situation or when I am pumping up a jam packed club. I have been using this cartridge for few weeks now and so far I am very pleased.

The Shure Beta 57A is a very rugged mic, the transients with the 57A are clean and very fast. This microphone will sound awesome with no matter what you put it in front of. I have used it on guitars, vocals, drums, and even horn instruments. I feel like it sounds the best with a snare drum though and toms. The frequency response is just tweaked for the snare drum to me. This microphone is beyond durable, it reminds me a lot of the SM57 because of how tough it is with the steel mesh grille. OVERALL OPINION You can say this microphone is a great all around microphone and it is if you need it to be. It is definitely a microphone that you need to have around because you never know when you will have a use for it but I would not use it for vocals if you do not have to. It only cost 170 dollars now brand new, it is very affordable and you can purchase it and keep it for your drums and guitars. If you can stay away from using it with vocals I would. Not that it would record you cleanly, but that you can get a much cleaner vocal with a different Shure microphone like the SM57 and that microphone can be used just for your vocals. When it comes to vocals you need to have 1 designated microphone for that. If you must use the Beta 57A for vocals and instruments then don’t be afraid to. It will handle the task with a doubt. This microphone is one of my favorite ones that Shure has made because it is very affordable, it is built to last a long time (like most Shure mics are) and it is awesome on drums. The polar pattern is supercardioid and the frequency range is 50Hz-16kHz giving it just the right touches to be a universal microphone for your home studio.

I love the sound these put out....It's full and clean....No distortion or interference...They mold very nicely to your ear and stay put through any performance...Sure, it takes a bit to figure out which pieces to use for your own ears - Once you find the one that works for you, you're golden... These are not inexpensive ear buds nor should they be...You get what you pay for and these are worth the 5 bills I sunk into them new years back...I've tried the competition and always come back to these...I use it with my PSM system and have never had a problem... The value is hard to measure with the higher price tag, but they are worth it...Just don't know if a value shopper may think the same... Downsides are few...However they could use a way to use just one ear and keep it in place...RIght now, it's both ears or nothing...Since they have such an isolating quality, you won't hear much else so be good with your mix...Also, a little trick I use is to mix in a room mic near where I typically stand...It provides a familiar mix quickly and easily.... The manual is fine but not needed...They are ear buds...A monkey could use them.... :) Would I buy them again? Probably not....But I would be sad if they were broken or lost... Oh yeah, one last thing....Shure was SUPER COOL to fix/replace a broken piece (I broke it) for free even after my warranty was long gone...That's a rarity and even though I may not buy these particular ones again, I'd stay with Shure....They are cool- and in a tough economy, such service is not common...