I want to loop some beat boxing and other sounds for me to play bass over and I have a lot of questions.
SM57 versus SM58
The SM58 has a low end roll off that sounds nice but I’m concerned it might interfere with sampling sounds. (This is what I bought but I’m still within the return window.)
The SM57 seems like it can get a little harsh, but the full range might be a better fit.
This is all new to me and I don’t know what I don’t know. I do know people have recorded whole albums with just an SM57. Any recommendations?
Short answer is sm57 is designed for recording instruments and sm58 for vocal use
they are both classics either is great to have
yes the sm57 is just a great mic to have as it can record most things to a passable pro level…there are better mics at different things but it is the classic allrounder mic
the sm58 sounds good and can take rough handling (live environments and mic drops) so is the classic live club mic but is recorded with often also
I don’t think you will need this. Instrument and mic signals are generally high impedance already.
One thing to note is instrument and mic level are also not the same so there may be some volume issues with direct use of guitar pedals, but it won’t hurt to try.
I decided to check the Shure’s specifically and for instruments this is correct but I was actually wrong on this for mics. They are actually low output impedance (150 ohms for the Shure’s specifically.) So the low-Z to Hi-Z cable would actually improve the sound going in to a high impedance input, like the RC-1 (1Mohm).
Both cables will work but the converter will sound somewhat better going in to a Hi-Z input.
Sorry about that. I had thought they were high impedance as well, glad I decided to verify.
(This also solves a mystery for me about some of my recording as I had been running my SM-58 into a Hi-Z input and the vocals sounded dull).
@Al1885 Yes, I already have the RC-1. I like the dial showing the loop progress. Otherwise, it’s just a simple looper. There are others with more loop time, but I don’t really need that.
@howard Yes, I went through all the stuff you posted. I didn’t understand nearly as much of it as I would have liked but you did point me in the right direction to figure it out. Thanks for posting all that.
Based on the recommendations here and other research I’ve done, I’m sticking with the SM58. The SM57 may be more versatile, but I don’t need all that versatility. I just need it to do this one thing well.
I’d tend to use an SM57 or an Audix i5 which I prefer myself. They’ve pretty much been a standard for live mic’ing as long as I’ve been doing it. Another option is an AKG D112 MkII which is most often used to mic a bass drum but it will respond well to mic’ing a bass cab as well. I would chose those over an SM58.
