Shure SM7b Microphone Mini Review

I recently got a Shure SM7b as a guest mic in our studio. I personally love the look of the mic and wanted to try it out on the air for this weeks show. Here is a clip of me using it. I still have to "Dial it in" on the DBX 286s. That will take some time to get the sweet spot. Based on using it for a few hours I like it. I wouldnt say its better then the TLM 103 but its a pretty nice microphone.

Shure SM7b video review

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tWC0...mment_received


Let me know what you think

Thanks for the review as I was considering that same mic for quite some time. Sounds pretty good although it is markedly different from your Neumann TLM 103. It tends to sound more neutral and almost like you acoustically treated your studio. Frankly, if I had to choose I think your voice sounds better on this end with the Neumann, but it's also nice to have options.

The Neumann is a condenser mic which picks up more of the room, the SM7B is dynamic which is why it sounded more like a treated room. Typically condenser mics have a brighter sound, with a little tweaking the SM7B can be brightened so it sounds a little clearer. The SM7B has stronger lower end which can sound muddy. That is probably why on the back of the mic there are 2 adjustments, a low end roll-off and an upper midrange boost.

The other thing I have noticed with this mic is the that the Mic level is lower than most, you almost need to add an additional mic-pre to get some headroom. That may not be the case with radio consoles but on regular audio consoles that are used for mixing bands, etc. It takes 100% gain with this mic.

Hello Mike,
I was pretty much tracking with you with your comments regarding the particulars on this SM7 although the last sentence of your post may have been scrambled. If I interpret it correctly, this thing' needs 137db to work properly? I knew that it needed a better than average mic pre, but dang!

That is 100 percent. It changed the percent sign to that &#37. On my x32 I have the gain all the way up and even did some additional digital gain in the console just so I have some headroom. Fortunately, the X32's Midas Heads are very quiet so I am not getting any noise at 100 percent.

Ahh Okay I see. That's a nice mixer you got there, so pretty much any mic pre/mixer of 60~66 is going to be maxed out in conjunction with a Fethead, Cloud etc., to keep the output smooth.

Well, that would deftly keep me from wanting to add this mic to my config. I already have a power-hungry RE20 but I don't think it needs quite that much juice.

I have an RE-20 as well, I do not have to do any digital gain with it and it is not at 100 percent but it is still much higher than most dynamic mics. I have been meaning to ask Mike Phillips if he knows why broadcast mics need so much gain vs other dyamics, even the Heil. My Heil mic's have more headroom than either the SM7B and the RE-20.

Interesting stuff for sure. It was my understanding that the PR40 was originally designed for Ham radio operators who are quite creative at running nuclear power plants out of their homes and shacks.

The fethead/cloud will boost your gain. So it would help with a dynamic mic for cleaner gain. It uses phantom power, but it does not pass phantom power through. Use a fethead and you won't have to turn your gain on your mixer so high.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNOkuqMwhcY

Not bad. Mike Phillips in the past has said he does not like the Shure SM7B. I agreed with him until I heard Andrew with it. I guess it comes down to how its configured.

I have heard some really bad setups

Remember also that after the SM7B that andrew is using there is a Mic Processor and then the processing of the axia. I do agree that andrew sounds good on the mic. On top of that, andrew looks good with that mic :) It is all about the looks, right? Sound is not important ;)

Yes, I agree with you Mike. I've read somewhere that sound processors for webcasts can't really be appreciated since the Internet is unable to reproduce any noticeable level of change.

I didn't agree with it when I first read it, and I still don't agree with it today. I can definitely tell the difference when someone makes an adjustment on their mic pre, etc. Granted, the difference is more noticeable when recording, but if someone tweaks their equipment during a live broadcast, it is certainly noticeable.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by techzentv

I have an RE-20 as well, I do not have to do any digital gain with it and it is not at 100 percent but it is still much higher than most dynamic mics. I have been meaning to ask Mike Phillips if he knows why broadcast mics need so much gain vs other dyamics, even the Heil. My Heil mic's have more headroom than either the SM7B and the RE-20.

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There's no mystery, it's just the physics of the design of the capsule, the magnet used, the positioning of the magnet, and such. In the old days, radio consoles had microphone input transformers. With a transformer, you can get "free" gain. Newer preamps are direct coupled. They struggle to provide enough gain for the RE20 and, to a greater degree, the SM7B. People think there's something wrong with these mics because they require so much gain, but that's just the way they are.

Running the trim control all the way up on a mixer is not a problem if the mic requires that much gain. If the preamp is noisy, you're going to hear more noise. That's why a lot of people like to use the FetHead and the Cloudlifter. If you can squeeze enough gain out of the preamp, these tools are not needed. (If you're going to run a dynamic mic into a Zoom recorder, you WILL need one for each mic.)

Another consideration is the level of the audio that the mic is picking up. If you put an SM7B in front of a bass drum, there is plenty of signal. Michael Jackson's vocals on his "Thriller" album were recorded through an SM7. Paul McCartney's vocals on his "RAM" album were recorded through an RE20. The engineer used their recording console preamps.

Most people don't know that the output of the capsule in a condenser mic is much lower than the output of the capsule of a dynamic mic. That's why a condenser mic requires phantom power: It powers internal circuitry that serves as a pre-preamp and as an impedance converter.