« Be Gentle With It »

The Shure SM81 is a small diaphragm cardioid condenser microphone. The price tag is on the high end for a small condenser microphone but it is well worth the 350 dollars spent. The new design of the SM81 is very slim and sleek. This is the perfect microphone for your overhead cymbals. It has an unidirectional design to it which makes it perfect for your over head microphone and it will capture the full dynamic sound of your cymbals. It can also be used to capture a full sound of a choir or a group of singers at the same time because it does a great job of picking up the sound coming from all directions of the microphone. The Shure SM81 comes with a nice hard case to carry your SM81 in so it doesn’t get damaged. These microphones are a lot more fragile than the average Shure small diaphragm microphones are. You will need to take care of this microphone and protect it where ever you are. The Shure SM81 can be used on a number of different instruments in either a live or studio setting. This microphone is a multi purpose microphone that can do it all.


OVERALL OPINION

I plan on picking up a couple more of the Shure SM81’s to have has over head microphones in the near future. If you use this microphone as an over head microphone you may need to roll of some of the lower frequencies when you go to do your mixing, or put a high shelf filter on it. This will make the recording sound complete and give you a clean mix.

Overall , it is a great microphone that can be used in many situations and with many different instruments. Just keep a good eye on it and take care of it. They are pretty fragile and one bad drop could waste your 350 dollars.