Getting a mic to record my ROV.

[PreventThis]

Im going to buy a mic to mic my ROV for recording. Currently im using my singers SM58 but he kind of needs that to sing with so I need to get my own mic. Im thinking about getting what everybody says is the Industry standard SM57 mic. What can I expect with buying one of these. Anyone have any sound clips with a recording using one. Is it worth the 100 dollar price tag. And also how hard is it to find a good mic position with it. With the SM58 I miced around the center of the cone pretty much and it worked just fine. Will this work for the SM57. Thanks.

 

[SixVeeSix]

The SM57 will do a fine job, you have heard hundreds if not thousands of albums where it was used on the guitar. Having said that, there are lots of great mics, the only bad mic is one that is broken. Spending more may or may not get you the sound you are looking for. Do any friends have mics you can borrow and try out?

 

[Ravensha]

This is actually a great topic all together ... how do you mic and record your Mesa sound?

Lately I have been using a Shure SM57 at an angle up next to the grill, and a Shure Beta 87 condenser mic a few feet back. Those go into a Mackie mixer then to Steinberg Nuendo.

I would love to hear what others are doing to record their guitar tone.

 

[jazzwannabe]

Something I have learned: Get the right mike, but don't ruin your sessions by using a cheap mike preamp. Get the best preamp you can afford.

 

[mrd]

I use an SM57 and a Sennheiser e609 to mic my guitar, run both of them through two small tube (a single 12AX7) mic pre-amps that I bought a while back. That then runs into a 20 channel Mackie, then to my M-Audio Delta 1010, then finally to Cubase. All in all, a pretty sweet setup, took me quite a while to buy all the gear. I probably have almost $10,000 worth of amps and pedals and another $10,000 for computer/recording hardware. Hefty bill, but it's worth it. I was thinking of buying some new mics soon, I've noticed that there are certain aspects of my tone that don't get picked up by my mics, mostly the complex harmonic articulation that Mesa amps produce, especially when they are very loud.

But yeah, for starting out, the SM57 is a great mic. Good bang for the buck. The e609 is great as well, very similar price tag, and they compliment each other wonderfully.

 

[PreventThis]

Yeah. I think im going to get the SM57. I might get another mic later on. Probably a condensor if I do to get the sound from a different angle. I have a tone that I like that im going to try to record when I get the mic. Hopefully it doesnt change the tone much because everytime Ive recorded something it ended up sounding like crap pretty much.

 

[cellardweller]

If you take the "ball" off of the SM58, you essentially have a SM57.

Ditto on the SM57/e609s combination.

 

[Restless Rocks]

The SM-57 is a great and proven mic. I love the Shure Beta 57a. It has the same basic sound as the SM-57 but with a higher and lower frequency response. Only a few dollars more. I use it both to record and for live amp micing. It is also great for drums and vocals. Lot's of drummers like it on their snare.

 

[Ravensha]

Thanks for the Senheiser 3609 suggestion! I wasn't aware it existed!

When you use this mic, where have you found the best placement is?

 

[Platypus]

I dig my SM57.. works like a champ.

 

[cellardweller]

Thanks for the Senheiser 3609 suggestion! I wasn't aware it existed!

When you use this mic, where have you found the best placement is?

I don't have an E609, but rather the reissue E609s.
I've found it's not as picky as the 57 as far as positioning goes, but nonetheless requires a little experimentation.

YMMV.

I'm saving my pennies for an MD421
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Sennheiser-MD421-MKII-U4-Microphone?sku=270820

 

[Grendeltone]

We recorded this weekend.. and the 609 is a great mic... it seems better for distortion than the 57 for distorted.. but it is in the same ballpark...

Very great tones...

 

[Anonymous]

used the sennheiser and shures many years - go for the akg condensor types for overhead now.

they are performing much better than the shures especially fresh sizzling highs and the bottom end on a wide dynamic range, even low volumes are no prob.

this is for studio of course, live the shure is still king

 

[123thefirst]

I'm saving my pennies for an MD421

Yeah, that mike gives you a nice high end sizzle that really brings out the best in electric guitar if you want something lively IMO. I've heard that John Petrucci combines an SM57 with a MD421 to get his sound.

 

[Charlie]

From Steve Ablini's site:

http://electrical.com/item.php?page=1&pic=pictures/1.jpg

He's got a list of mics with info about them here:

http://electrical.com/class.php?page=microphones

Btw, personally I've found the sm57 to do a good job but I've got to assume this guy knows a lot more about recording than I do.

 

[richt]

The 57 is a classic, to be sure, but there are plenty of good mics out these days that will do just as well or better. Like guitars and amps, it's largely a question of how much do you want to spend? Some suggestions (cheap to expensive):

*Shure Beta 57/58 (dynamic)
*Sennheiser E609 (dynamic)
*AKG C1000S (condensor)
*Sennheiser MD421 (dynamic)
*EV RE20 (dynamic)
*AKG C414 (condensor)
*Royer R121 (ribbon) - This is the best IMO!
*Neumann U47/U67/U87 (condensor) - only the 87 is still made.

Then of course the mic preamp has a big impact on the sound. A tube preamp is definitely suggested if the destination is digital, as like with guitar amps, the rounder tone and the "sag" are desireable qualities.

Getting a great sound is easy with good equipment, but really who cares if the playing is not great or the material doesn't move you? Have fun with it though, because once you get into recording it's a whole new world

That Albini link is great, he's an excellent engineer/producer and knows his stuff!

Cheers,

Richt

 

[PreventThis]

Yeah. I think im going to get an SM57. Ive heard alot of good stuff on this mic on this board and other recording boards and from people I know. Now I just need some money since I just dropped almost 1600 bucks on my ROV.