Best Mic for Vocals?
Discussion
Hello all, first time posting in here, so pleaser be gentle! Mrs FTR is singing with several projects now and is after a new mic. She currently has two SM58s and isn't happy with either of them! One of them is about ten years old and has been dropped a good few times (I actually dropped it first, just a few days after she bought it! 
The second one, bought from our local branch of a well known national chain of music stores, is thought to be a fake and neither perform that well. She's a bit fed up with Shure as a brand now, so she's thinking about a Sennheiser E845 as we've heard some good things about them.
Any thoughts on these? Are there any others we should consider? She's an alto, if that makes any difference, and she sings mostly soul, disco and pop with function/covers bands.
TIA
The second one, bought from our local branch of a well known national chain of music stores, is thought to be a fake and neither perform that well. She's a bit fed up with Shure as a brand now, so she's thinking about a Sennheiser E845 as we've heard some good things about them.
Any thoughts on these? Are there any others we should consider? She's an alto, if that makes any difference, and she sings mostly soul, disco and pop with function/covers bands.
TIA
Edited by Frankthered on Wednesday 12th October 22:27
Telefunken U-47, failing that the Neumann U-47 version.
But maybe you'd be better off visiting SoundOnSound and reading their mic reviews from over the last few years - you've got loads to choose from!
This is one of their comparisons from a few years back: http://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/vocal-mics
Perhaps consider a tube mic? if you google 'tube vocal mic' you should see SE Electronics and Rode both do well respected tube mics for around £150.
But maybe you'd be better off visiting SoundOnSound and reading their mic reviews from over the last few years - you've got loads to choose from!
This is one of their comparisons from a few years back: http://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/vocal-mics
Perhaps consider a tube mic? if you google 'tube vocal mic' you should see SE Electronics and Rode both do well respected tube mics for around £150.
Edited by ReaderScars on Wednesday 12th October 22:38
ReaderScars said:
Oh, just realised - this is probably for stage use rather than recording...?
Yes, she needs something for live gigs and those U47s are a touch over budget! Useful site for future reference though, thanks!Hear good things about the SM58 Beta, is it worth the extra? TBH, it might be a little over budget too just now.
Evening.
I've been a singer in a variety of rock covers bands for over 20 years now. During that time, I have bought and borrowed a huge different variety of live microphones, and struggled with all manner of sound quality, acoustic and feedback problems, in a huge variety of different venues!
By quite a considerable margin, the only live microphone that I ever use these days is a Shure SM58 Beta. I have several of my own, and have got rid of anything else over the years.
58 Betas are quite 'bright' microphones, far brighter than the standard SM58 - so brilliant for most rock / pop applications, as they faithfully transmit a wide scope of vocal nuances and detail. That's nice in a live situation, especially for higher vocal ranges, as the vocalist has a better chance to be heard with a degree of interest and clarity over the rest of the mix. I find that a stock SM58 just renders the vocals as a rather muddy part of the mix, without detail or expression.
I also find that the 58 beta has a far better propensity than any other mic for dynamic proximity - by that I mean, it will project a far greater volume and depth, the closer you sing to the mic head. I have a fairly high vocal range, most of my power is higher up in the register, and consequently I do not have a great deal of power at low notes. However, for the few occasions when I have to sing at a low frequency, I just bring the Beta closer to my mouth and to the audience, the volume does not drop off, despite the fact that I am projecting far fewer DB's.
Finally, yes, you are correct that there is a HUGE black market for fake mics, especially 58's and 58 Betas. Looking round the internet, it is vitally important to buy from no-one else other than an official Shure dealer. It's just not worth the risk to do otherwise.
It is also clear that if you DO buy a fake - it's gonna be crap, and you'll blame Shure for that, even though you might not realise that you're using a fake! Take it from me, and my experience - a real SM58 Beta bought from a main dealer is a brilliant, dynamic vocal mic, which is really hard to beat.
I'm just saying from my own experience, I have no affiliation....but you might want to have a look round any random Google images of bands playing live, and zoom in on the mic being used.....I bet in 9 out of 10 cases, it will be a 58 or a 58 Beta. Thousands of sound engineers can't be wrong!
HTH
I've been a singer in a variety of rock covers bands for over 20 years now. During that time, I have bought and borrowed a huge different variety of live microphones, and struggled with all manner of sound quality, acoustic and feedback problems, in a huge variety of different venues!
By quite a considerable margin, the only live microphone that I ever use these days is a Shure SM58 Beta. I have several of my own, and have got rid of anything else over the years.
58 Betas are quite 'bright' microphones, far brighter than the standard SM58 - so brilliant for most rock / pop applications, as they faithfully transmit a wide scope of vocal nuances and detail. That's nice in a live situation, especially for higher vocal ranges, as the vocalist has a better chance to be heard with a degree of interest and clarity over the rest of the mix. I find that a stock SM58 just renders the vocals as a rather muddy part of the mix, without detail or expression.
I also find that the 58 beta has a far better propensity than any other mic for dynamic proximity - by that I mean, it will project a far greater volume and depth, the closer you sing to the mic head. I have a fairly high vocal range, most of my power is higher up in the register, and consequently I do not have a great deal of power at low notes. However, for the few occasions when I have to sing at a low frequency, I just bring the Beta closer to my mouth and to the audience, the volume does not drop off, despite the fact that I am projecting far fewer DB's.
Finally, yes, you are correct that there is a HUGE black market for fake mics, especially 58's and 58 Betas. Looking round the internet, it is vitally important to buy from no-one else other than an official Shure dealer. It's just not worth the risk to do otherwise.
It is also clear that if you DO buy a fake - it's gonna be crap, and you'll blame Shure for that, even though you might not realise that you're using a fake! Take it from me, and my experience - a real SM58 Beta bought from a main dealer is a brilliant, dynamic vocal mic, which is really hard to beat.
I'm just saying from my own experience, I have no affiliation....but you might want to have a look round any random Google images of bands playing live, and zoom in on the mic being used.....I bet in 9 out of 10 cases, it will be a 58 or a 58 Beta. Thousands of sound engineers can't be wrong!
HTH
Ray Luxury-Yacht said:
Evening.
I've been a singer in a variety of rock covers bands for over 20 years now. During that time, I have bought and borrowed a huge different variety of live microphones, and struggled with all manner of sound quality, acoustic and feedback problems, in a huge variety of different venues!
By quite a considerable margin, the only live microphone that I ever use these days is a Shure SM58 Beta. I have several of my own, and have got rid of anything else over the years.
58 Betas are quite 'bright' microphones, far brighter than the standard SM58 - so brilliant for most rock / pop applications, as they faithfully transmit a wide scope of vocal nuances and detail. That's nice in a live situation, especially for higher vocal ranges, as the vocalist has a better chance to be heard with a degree of interest and clarity over the rest of the mix. I find that a stock SM58 just renders the vocals as a rather muddy part of the mix, without detail or expression.
I also find that the 58 beta has a far better propensity than any other mic for dynamic proximity - by that I mean, it will project a far greater volume and depth, the closer you sing to the mic head. I have a fairly high vocal range, most of my power is higher up in the register, and consequently I do not have a great deal of power at low notes. However, for the few occasions when I have to sing at a low frequency, I just bring the Beta closer to my mouth and to the audience, the volume does not drop off, despite the fact that I am projecting far fewer DB's.
Finally, yes, you are correct that there is a HUGE black market for fake mics, especially 58's and 58 Betas. Looking round the internet, it is vitally important to buy from no-one else other than an official Shure dealer. It's just not worth the risk to do otherwise.
It is also clear that if you DO buy a fake - it's gonna be crap, and you'll blame Shure for that, even though you might not realise that you're using a fake! Take it from me, and my experience - a real SM58 Beta bought from a main dealer is a brilliant, dynamic vocal mic, which is really hard to beat.
I'm just saying from my own experience, I have no affiliation....but you might want to have a look round any random Google images of bands playing live, and zoom in on the mic being used.....I bet in 9 out of 10 cases, it will be a 58 or a 58 Beta. Thousands of sound engineers can't be wrong!
HTH
Thanks for this (and others for their responses), it does seem like the SM58 Beta is the way to go.I've been a singer in a variety of rock covers bands for over 20 years now. During that time, I have bought and borrowed a huge different variety of live microphones, and struggled with all manner of sound quality, acoustic and feedback problems, in a huge variety of different venues!
By quite a considerable margin, the only live microphone that I ever use these days is a Shure SM58 Beta. I have several of my own, and have got rid of anything else over the years.
58 Betas are quite 'bright' microphones, far brighter than the standard SM58 - so brilliant for most rock / pop applications, as they faithfully transmit a wide scope of vocal nuances and detail. That's nice in a live situation, especially for higher vocal ranges, as the vocalist has a better chance to be heard with a degree of interest and clarity over the rest of the mix. I find that a stock SM58 just renders the vocals as a rather muddy part of the mix, without detail or expression.
I also find that the 58 beta has a far better propensity than any other mic for dynamic proximity - by that I mean, it will project a far greater volume and depth, the closer you sing to the mic head. I have a fairly high vocal range, most of my power is higher up in the register, and consequently I do not have a great deal of power at low notes. However, for the few occasions when I have to sing at a low frequency, I just bring the Beta closer to my mouth and to the audience, the volume does not drop off, despite the fact that I am projecting far fewer DB's.
Finally, yes, you are correct that there is a HUGE black market for fake mics, especially 58's and 58 Betas. Looking round the internet, it is vitally important to buy from no-one else other than an official Shure dealer. It's just not worth the risk to do otherwise.
It is also clear that if you DO buy a fake - it's gonna be crap, and you'll blame Shure for that, even though you might not realise that you're using a fake! Take it from me, and my experience - a real SM58 Beta bought from a main dealer is a brilliant, dynamic vocal mic, which is really hard to beat.
I'm just saying from my own experience, I have no affiliation....but you might want to have a look round any random Google images of bands playing live, and zoom in on the mic being used.....I bet in 9 out of 10 cases, it will be a 58 or a 58 Beta. Thousands of sound engineers can't be wrong!
HTH
As for fakes, to be fair, both the SM58s she has have been ok. (To my uneducated ear, anyway!) The old one (we believe genuine) is just a bit too old and beaten up these days. The newer one (believed fake) has probably been more of a problem for the sound engineers than for anybody else. She had a gig back in June where they were really struggling with the set-up and traced the issue to her mic. They sorted the problem by lending her a mic and told her hers was a fake.
If we'd bought this from Amazon/Ebay or wherever, this wouldn't be such a surprise, but we didn't. We bought it from a nationally recognised music store, some branches of which are linked as dealers by Shure's own website. (Not the one we bought from, though.)
I guess you just can't be too careful! Thanks again!
Frankthered said:
Hello all, first time posting in here, so pleaser be gentle! Mrs FTR is singing with several projects now and is after a new mic. She currently has two SM58s and isn't happy with either of them! One of them is about ten years old and has been dropped a good few times (I actually dropped it first, just a few days after she bought it!
The second one, bought from our local branch of a well known national chain of music stores, is thought to be a fake and neither perform that well. She's a bit fed up with Shure as a brand now, so she's thinking about a Sennheiser E845 as we've heard some good things about them.
Any thoughts on these? Are there any others we should consider? She's an alto, if that makes any difference, and she sings mostly soul, disco and pop with function/covers bands.
TIA
I am a sound guy with 30 years in the business of live music. I was also the head of sound and ran one of the most notorious live music venues in the country.The second one, bought from our local branch of a well known national chain of music stores, is thought to be a fake and neither perform that well. She's a bit fed up with Shure as a brand now, so she's thinking about a Sennheiser E845 as we've heard some good things about them.
Any thoughts on these? Are there any others we should consider? She's an alto, if that makes any difference, and she sings mostly soul, disco and pop with function/covers bands.
TIA
Edited by Frankthered on Wednesday 12th October 22:27
It really depends on what type of live situations your missus will be in and how she actually uses the mic that will determine a suitable choice.
However, I'll suggest this for now. If the mic is to be hand held, close to the mouth, playing in a loud band with high on stage monitor volumes then a sennheiser e945 is the weapon of choice. Remember she will have to hold the mic properly and actually sing into it properly. So many artists get this basic wrong. Cupping the mic, singing too far away. For the type of music you describe she should be fully on it with a suitable compression ratio on the console.
On a mic stand playing guitar an e935 or 58. 58s are kinda industry standard because every engineer knows what they sound like and know what they can get away with quickly.
Forget about condenser mics, betas, because the benefits that such item may give will be usually out of control of the user. They are picked for a situation that an engineer or somebody that really knows what they are doing can exploit. Sometimes such items are not welcome in some situations.
It all comes down to mic technique, proximity effect, room conditions, vocal dynamics, compression on the desk/sound engineer.
BTW dropping a mic is never good.
Edited by V8A*ndy on Thursday 13th October 18:41
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