Through all of my life’s musical meanderings, the only two instruments I’ve ever stuck with long enough to garner some talent is the bass guitar (duh, of course) and the didgeridoo. For those of you who don’t know what a didgeridoo is, it’s a native Australian droning rhythm instrument. Here’s a sample:
(Interestingly, the guy in the video - Lewis Burns - is a buddy of mine; I have his artwork hanging in my office, he made two of my didgeridoos for me, and he once painted a wall in my house).
Anyway. I was thinking it might be kinda cool to record some didge-n-bass stuff. To do that, I need a microphone. I don’t want to spend a lot of money, but it has to be something decent enough to handle the range of the didgeridoo… they can get really low and bassy, but also have high spikes with the yelling and clicking. I’ve seen small mics that, I guess, clip on to the bell end and record it that way, and I’ve seen others record with a, I guess, “standard” mic on a wee stand in front of the bell.
I know nothing about microphones, and wouldn’t know where to start looking for a microphone good enough to record didgeridoo. But I know we have some really talented, eh, “recorders” around here who might be able to point me in the right direction.
Can’t go wrong with Shure, I have a SM58 that’s been beat to shit, and it still works great. You see these mics everywhere. I also have a Blue Yeti and I love it. Plenty of controls built in to dial in gain, etc, and it’s a USB mic so that really helps keep the recording process as simple as possible.
In 6th grade my music class made didgeridoo’s from PVC pipe and repeatedly dipping one end into hot wax to create the mouthpiece. I held onto mine for years and it was always a blast to play!
SM57 would be my vote.
The 58 is more for voice.
The 57 is for horns, saxes, drums, you name it.
I have no clue or idea about why at makes one what or the other. It’s just what everyone says. They are both the same price and since they are bulletproof can be had for less used (also check local GC used).
For miking voice: Shure SM58
For miking instruments: SM57, or SM beta 57A
They are simply the best choices for anywhere near the price. Do not go cheaper, TMOT. The clones (even Shure’s own) are not even close.
These are like the Fender P-Bass of mics, if Fenders were substantially more ubiquitous.
Shape of the cardioid response area (58 vs 57), and slight response curve difference between the 57 and the beta 57. The choice of which 57 is basically personal preference.
That made my day and I couldn’t agree more.
Reminds me of the old Timex watch commercials which said they take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’, as they dragged them behind a speedboat.
I have had both the Shure SM57 and the SM58 mics for many years and they both still work great and like @John_E and @howard stated the 57 is for instruments and the 58 for voice.
You know those are my thoughts also but, in the past, at large gigs with a PA, and so called sound engineers, I kept getting told that my acoustic guitars were best served using the Shure SM57. I have used the SM58 and it seemed fine to me.YMMV
I don’t see any reason a SM58 wouldn’t work fine for recording instruments, even if a 57 would be slightly better for some applications. I would likely buy a 58 over a 57 for instruments as well to have a backup vocal mic.
My SM58 will be found by future archaeologists combing through the ruins of our civilization. They will plug it in, and it will work.
