I am having difficulty finding a self noise value for the Shure SM57. Does anyone know what it is? Strangely, the Shure spec sheet makes no mention.

Can anyone point to info / techniques for measuring microphone self noise? I will be recording bird and wildlife sounds and soundscapes in very quiet surroundings in Africa.

OK..

I am extremely new to this and would love some chiming in.

I am planning on recording a choir/ensemble. There are 45 people in it and I was going to use 2 mics in ORTF configuration, right behind the director, 12' high. Then do an MS configuration somewhere behind the ORTF setup.

I'm considering a pair of Earthworks omni's for a variety of applications, such as drum overheads, rooms, upright bass, acoustic guitar, etc. The only thing that concerns me is their high self noise, especially with the TC30ks, which is what i would prefer since they're half the price of the QTC1s.