My Ode to the SM-57

I run sound for a lot of different events. Most often they are rock shows that are centered around worship. The average church using acoustic drums has fallen prey to the joys of the small clip on mic and given up on the power of the sound of a '57

Granted the 57 takes more effort to get into place, its larger and requires its own boom stand but the sound rocks. I mean seriously its great. I have been using the Sennheiser mics alot and they do sound good but they seem to have an EQ pattern that gives every tom a ring that lasts way longer then the actual tom does. I have been able to work around that effect but that means I am using up my EQ, gates and compressors to "repair" the sound not to tweak the sound to desire.

In my opinion (and I believe fact backs this up) there is nothing that replaces mic placement as the first and most crucial variable in the sound of an instrument. For example while my love for the 57 may never cease no matter what you do if you dangle the mic over a guitar cabinet the sound is gonna suck. The sound just doesn't enter in the mic correctly, the physics of it make it so. Not to say you can't screw around with it for an effect but thats not gonna get you what you are looking for live.

Now I realize that the SM-57 is not the best mic for every situtation but if I had to choose only two mics to last me for the rest of my sound careers one for sure would be the SM-57...

stay posted for the other mic