from my limited experiences, dynamic mics (sm57) aren't nearly as detailed as condenser mics are for vocals.....i do own sm57's though, i use them on my snare drum and it sounds good recording a Cab also

Hey
do you use one or two for the cab??

2, i use one straight on and the other off axis

They make good hammers, and could possibly be a formidable weapon. :lol:

Oh and what tonybran said.

Nah..the RE20's are great for hammers and great for assistant floggers as well! :lol:

SM57's are great for snares on top and bottom mic techniques..

Great for guitar cabs in combination with a Senheiser 421.

Vocals indeed are not for 57's...too brittle sounding.

Opus :D

I think the best way to use them is to pick up sound with. Sometimes i bang on my drums with them, but only when I'm bored.

Add to that list as being a great tool to throw at the guitarist that cries about you changing the settings on his amp... it will definitely shut him up.

(By the way, I am a guitarist, too.)

I have to finally say it, and I don't say this to open some big can of worms because I'm not going to defend the argument but I think the SM57 sux. It's decent for handling the high SPL's and taking the abuse of a cranked guitar cab and that's about it.

There.

I said it.

Sorry.

Nope...you're right in many ways mate! The sm57 is a great live mic but for studio work, yes, I'd rather have a Senheiser 441! :D

Opus :D

I'll agree that without a proper pre it isn't great, but with a really good mic pre the 57 can kick some major ass.

SM57

57s are nice for live use....so-so for snare and guitar cab...good beginner mic...a little muddy though...i just recently started using the senn e609 on snare and guitar cabs and the response is much smoother its worth the extra 10 dollars!!!

I used to own a decent sized club PA system. I owned 20 SM57's. Some newer(now they'd be 15 years old!) some very much older. Like everything else they all sounded different. I still have a couple of the best sounding ones. Unidyne III's. BIG difference in these and the newer ones. The problem now in finding a great condition, good sounding mic like these, is they have all been on the road, out in the club, used for hammers, thrown at idiots, etc etc.....

And dont be afraid to let it out Coyote....Its okay, we're all friends here. I agree and I disagree. Until you've heard a 57 (a really nice old one) through a mic pre that does it justice its easy to see why you'd think that. The Audix i5 mic is supposed to be a fairly good representation of an SM57. Its not. It kills them. For a snare a Beyer 201 is way more accurate. I know theres all these folks that are liking the 609 Sennheiser. I guess I gotta hear one but I've spent a lot of time with the 409 which it seems to be based on. WHAT could possibly sound like a 409 at that price????

So for Senorfedup....a 57 is NOT a vocal mic per se....but then this aint rocket surgery so use em on any damn thing you want to. Theres much better things than vocals...however.

Folks will probably think this is crazy, but I've actually had some really good luck using a 57 for vocals in a pinch. It captures the mids that really help vocals stand out in a loud mix without a bunch of tweeking, it can be used for darn near anything, and it's cheap. I wouldn't recommend it for everything, and a nice condenser is usually better, but I'd say give it a shot and see what happens.

haha Davedog, "rocket surgery"... one of my favourite Simpson's quotes...