Shure Beta 87

The Shure Beta 87 is a supercardioid Condenser microphone designed for live use. This is a really warm, deep and rich sounding microphone that gets a very deep, studio-like sound on the stage. We are currently using two of these in our band; one for our lead singer and our rhythm guitarist uses one as well.

Here are the features as taken from website:

Supercardioid electret condenser mic
Redesigned with a thicker shank for hand-held comfort
Break-resistant swivel adapter
Low-frequency roll-off
3-stage pop filter
50Hz-18kHz frequency response

The mic also has great features such as low end roll off to defeat any overly bassy and "boomy" low end frequencies, as well as a built in, 3-stage pop filter to eliminate any excess noise. The frequency range of this mic seems to perfectly match our vocalist, as he has a somewhat deep and very loud singing voice. He also pushes his voice a bit into near-screaming territory, and the mic keeps us wonderfully. Our backup vocals include a lot of aggressive screaming (for the end of the night when everyone's a little tipsy and we break out the heavy stuff and the high SPL handling capabilities of the 87 hold up well.

This is probably the best mic for our needs that we've tried in this price range. We have used other Shure mics, as well as a couple Audio Technica products. They were all pretty nice, but this one just sounds fine-tuned and extra rich. We will be recording a full-length album later this year, and I wouldn't be surprised if this mic made an appearance on the record along with our higher end condensers.

Another great thing about this microphone, is that it seems to reproduce a very clear and accurate representation of the source put into it. Vocals sound very true to the actual voice being recorded, but with a rich clarity.

Overall, I highly recommend this microphone as a mid-level mic for live use. There are mics that may sound "better" in certain areas of performance, but considering the realistic price and the durability of the Beta 87, as well as real-world usable features such as low end roll off, this one is hard to beat!