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anonymous 23 April 2005

the black plastic cylinder surrounding the metal grille on the tip of the mic...

is it supposed to be able to swivel round and round?

-i just bought a brand new sm57 and noticed that i can turn this part round and round and it doesn't get tighter or looser than it was before..is this normal?

cheers!

Comments

moonbaby Sat, 04/23/2005 - 17:14

Try this...take a stock 57, hook a rubber band around that black plastic cap at one end, put the other end of the rubber band around a makeshift pulley hooked up to a variable- speed drill...let 'er rip! Just kidding....even THAT can't make a 57 sound bad! I have taken a couple of wireless '57's and mounted them to a ceiling fan with a Fender Bandmaster Reverb aimed strategically at it....My point is that... CONGRATULATIONS!!! You have managed to discover the ONLY "weakness" of the amazingly versatile ...57!

anonymous Sat, 04/23/2005 - 21:54

They don't have on off switches though do they? .....Wouldn't make a good vocal mic for a local band then......

To speak on behalf of 99% of FOH engineers out there: ON/OFF SWITCHES CAN GO TO HELL! The singer bumps the switch into the "off" position and who gets all the crap about it? US! Not the band, US!

I personally choose to stay away from the 57 on vocals because it just doesn't seem to do enough justice (plus it looks like a cuban cigar when being sung into which makes me daydream instead of listen or think). I go up to the 58 for vocals.

I use my 57's as "utility mics". I only use them when and where they are needed at the time and nothing else.

jonnyc Sun, 04/24/2005 - 12:05

I just recorded a band and the lead singer insisted that he use his ,get this, PG48 because it had an on off switch. Now this poor moron knew nothing at all about recording and this mic was his choice onstage. Next he wanted to hold the mic while he recorded, now while this isn't so bad with a dynamic it didn't help that every other take had bad pops where he'd accidently hit the switch. He then proceeded to tell me my rig was crap and he wouldn't be back. The band he was in kicked him out and their new singer is in the studio and he's amazing to work with. Long story short switches on mics are retarded, period.

anonymous Sun, 04/24/2005 - 21:16

Dave62 wrote: Right on Brian!!! Mic switches are a very bad idea, useful in a church setting only IMO.

Our church's wireless mics are modded so the switches DON'T work. Its a collaboration between me and another FOH at our church. It was funny on time because our pastor noticed the loud pop went away when the music minister turned his mic off (he always hits the power switch instead of mute; they weren't labeled). He came up to the booth to ask what we "figured out" and then he saw the soldering iron sitting next to the console. He's learned from being around me that that iron being near me means the warranty (if it still exists and is useful) either just got voided or something just got "fixed". The mute switch still works, but the power is always on and the switch is out of the circut.

I worked for a band a couple weekends ago that the vocalist asked "where's the switch?" and all I could say was "back here by me". Now, I have modded a mic to have a switch before, though. I don't think switches are appropriate in churches, but where there is no one at the console/mixer, then its fine. No one should ever be at the console at a church before either being trained or being there over 50% of your life (me, in other words).

anonymous Sun, 04/24/2005 - 21:19

Has anyone mentioned the sm57 is the only mic capable of surviving a nuclear blast?

I wouldn't mind testing that theory. I could probably do TNT or MEK. A friend of mine works in the lab at Imation here and tends to bring me their "magnetic film cleaners" for my pyro enjoyment. It just happens that these "cleaners" are Toluene and MEK. :lol:

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