Many guitar sounds, snare drums, certain horns, higher toms... I couldn't get by without a dozen (even if there were a dozen U87's around).

when you look up microphone in an encyclopedia there should be a picture of a 57... good all round mic... perfect?? hardly.... but useable.... very mic locker should have several... but... its what you build your frame of reference against... and why you'll appreciate the rest of the flavors....

I own alot of mic's and a sm57 has it's own unique(sound) freq.response/proximity effect.It's a must have for me

i can't believe more people don't prefer the Audix i5 to the SM57. It's all opinion, but I'd say the i5 is a much higher quality mic for $10 more.

I own an i5 and it is an excellent dynamic mic.But I get better freq. balance in a multi guitar mix when I use a variety of mics and also screw around with mic placement.I have also found some pretty creative uses for a e609 silver which alot of people slam

I always said that you don't know what a 57 sounds like till ya heard one recorded with a great pre.

Just did some session work at a Studio in Nashville.
They used a 57 on my amp pluged into a API Legacy. SO sweet............

But you said any source, YMMV

Peace.............Scoobie

any other i5 lovers?

Mguitar34 wrote: any other i5 lovers?

Sure. We could go on and on in a virtual lovefest about the i5 and the Sm57 and the Beyer 201 and the Senheiser MD421 and the........

See? Its all about choices and how you use those choices. Its a function of the engineering to decide, given a source, what to use to capture that source at its full potential.

In a perfect world, as the original poster suggested, would you use a mic such as the SM57, given a plethora of other mics to use.... Well of course you would always find a sound that simply could NOT be captured completely without the use of the 57. It could be any sound and all the inherent sound altering factors coming into play in a certain way would cause this to be the ONLY choice that would work.

The other criteria would be simply one of familiarization and choice. John's not EVER going to do a session without a 57 or eight lying around ready to go. Me neither. Do I always use the 57? No. Is it always the first mic to go up on snare and electric guitar amps? Yes! Do I own and use an i5? Yes. Love it and the 5 other Audix mics.

Scoobie mentioned the effect of a high-end pre in the chain with a 57, and how you really havent heard what they sound like until this happens. I happen to agree with this completely. Most mics are affected one way or another by the source amplification. Some mics are affected in ways that are almost magical. The SM57 is one of these mics. Try one through a ViPre. Then tell me that you need a bunch of other stuff to make a decent record...........

I like my i5's and have posted this before. I think that as, say OH's in a live situation, they are smoother and more extended than a 57. And ditto for some other apps, like brass. But on, say, a cranked Marshall, I'd go with the 57 or 421, where that extended top end is not wanted.
Just another paint brush for this idiot's pallette.