[LAU] [a bit OT] Vocal microphone

[Gene Heskett]

On Friday 12 July 2013 22:29:50 Kevin Cosgrove did opine:

> Last year one of our Pickathon (shameless plug, pickathon.com)
> sound crew was asked to pick up an SM58 on the way to load-in for
> the weekend.  He did that, but he also picked up a Sennheiser
> e840 ($130USD).  There was no comparison.  The Sennheiser was
> much clearer and was less prone to feedback than the SM58.  The
> 58 went back to the store, and the e840 stayed up, along with the
> guy buying another e840.  Next time I need a vocal mic I'll get
> an e945 ($220USD), a step up from the e840.
> 
> I'm also familiar with Beyer Dymamics, which are fabulous, but
> about $300USD.  The e840s have a bit more presence in the vocal
> sweet spot, and have a hotter signal by 6-10dB.  The Beyer's are
> also much nicer sounding than the SM58.  We also use AKG 330s,
> and the Sennheiser keeps up with them too.
> 
> The advantage, as far as I can tell, of an SM58, is that a drunk
> singer can drop them from the stage onto concrete 2m below,
> and they're likely to still sound the same.  Also, they don't
> sound all that bad to start with, and they're not too expensive
> ($100USD).  For live sound there's a lot to be said for cheap and
> indestructible.  In a studio someone might want a bit more.
>
Indestructible is a pretty strong word.  Quite a few years ago when I was 
the CE at a tv station, I'd convinced TPTB that the mic situation in news 
was untenable, and with a lot of yelling and screaming, got perms to by 6 
of them, so we'd have one for each camera crew and one spare.

Two things.

Every time one of them was laid down while setting up the camera, it would 
leave, but a radio shack $20 lookalike would come home with the reporter & 
the reporters didn't know the diff & couldn't be bothered to learn.

In 2 months we had one left and it was smashed as if a fire truck had run 
over it, about 1/2" thick.  Maybe it did for all I know.  One failed with 
no visible damage in a week, sent it back, they fixed it, we had the tape 
on the air about 10 days later when it went away again, sitting on a stand 
in full view of the rolling camera while interviewing a football coach.

You have no clue how destructive a reporter, who is gung ho to get the 
story, alligators in the pool be damned, can be to even the relatively 
heavy SM58.  Better than 80% of whats out there, at <50% of the price, but 
not indestructible.

Cheers, Gene
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