HI all,
I'm recording a couple of pedal demos and am playing at a little above conversation level and I have an ancient SM57 I swapped for a pedal on here a couple of years ago. Currently I'm having to max out my Presonus Audiobox preamp gain to get any sort of a respectable signal.
Don't know if it's my particular mic or all SM57s, but is there something fairly cheap I can stick in front of my combo and get a decent level/tone without too much fannying about?
Thanks in advance for suggestions.
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Been uploading old tracks I recorded ages ago and hopefully some new noodles
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They are usually bullet proof, but maybe it has developed a fault, have you got any other way of testing it?
Audio is passing through it - it's just not a hot signal unless everything is boosted to max.
Been uploading old tracks I recorded ages ago and hopefully some new noodles here.
Try and sing a line into the 57, they have been used as vocal mics with some great success, and if the level is still too quiet then you might have a shot mic.
Been uploading old tracks I recorded ages ago and hopefully some new noodles here.
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Eqd Speaker Cranker clone
Monte Allums TR-2 Plus mod kit
Trading feedback: http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/60602/
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I don't believe "Any old £20-£40 dynamic mic" would be better.
Eqd Speaker Cranker clone
Monte Allums TR-2 Plus mod kit
Trading feedback: http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/60602/
For low level recording indoors a cab sim or speaker simulater is a better choice
Been uploading old tracks I recorded ages ago and hopefully some new noodles here.
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Had to down tools due to family coming home but will test again tomorrow.
Thanks all
Been uploading old tracks I recorded ages ago and hopefully some new noodles here.
How are you positioning it?
On Axis, Off Axis?
How far from the cone?
Most of those amazing albums that used them were recording to tape in excellent sounding rooms by brilliant musicians being produced by the best engineers and producers through killer consoles and outboard.
It isn't really the SM57 that was the make or break element of those tones.
The actual sound an SM57 is quite honky but it suits a guitar's range, especially when blended with a condenser or a ribbon mic.
For the last 15 years or so it has been typical to pair an SM57 with a Royer 121- the Royer fills in the gaps that the SM57 has.
I prefer using a Sennheiser E906 (or 609) myself, I usually blend it with a U87, Josephson E22 or C42.
Preamp matters too- that Presonus is pretty average sounding, but it is typical of preamps in that price range.
Same with the converters, and then monitoring chain.
It all matters and a lot of it is relatively small increments of improvement but they do add up.
FWIW I tend to EQ but not compress to disk (as distorted electric guitar is already quite compressed)- meaning I do my EQing in the analogue domain and that EQ'ed single is what gets recorded into the DAW.
How far you want to take this is up to you- but it is unlikely to be an issue with the SM57 unless that particular SM57 is broken.
They don't break very often- that is part of their appeal- they can take a real beating.
You might find pairing another mic with the Presonus will help but I'm pretty sure that if you used a working SM57 with a nice channel strip (Neve, API, Chandler etc) into a great converter you'd be happy- but that is going to be a much more expensive proposition.
Feel free to post some examples.
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