Shure KSM-44

[adam79]

I've heard great things about the Shure KSM-44 mic. One of the things I've
heard is that it's great for a heavy guitar sound. Any other applications
that it works well on? Is this more of a specialty mic or a versitle one?
It's in the $700 range. Is there a mic that is good with male vocals,
acoustic guitars, and electric guitars? More so for the first two (vocals
and acoustic). I just started taking an audo engineering class one day a
week at a local art school. They have a lot of equipment you can rent out
and use in their studios. The mic that popped out at me right away was the
Neumann U87. I forget if they had a KSM-44. Atleast now I have a place to
test out mics and pre amps. Any suggestions/comments?

Thanks,
-Adam

[Fletch]

On Dec 18, 10:45 am, "adam79" > wrote:
> I've heard great things about the Shure KSM-44 mic. One of the things I've
> heard is that it's great for a heavy guitar sound. Any other applications
> that it works well on? Is this more of a specialty mic or a versitle one?
> It's in the $700 range. Is there a mic that is good with male vocals,
> acoustic guitars, and electric guitars? More so for the first two (vocals
> and acoustic). I just started taking an audo engineering class one day a
> week at a local art school. They have a lot of equipment you can rent out
> and use in their studios. The mic that popped out at me right away was the
> Neumann U87. I forget if they had a KSM-44. Atleast now I have a place to
> test out mics and pre amps. Any suggestions/comments?
>
> Thanks,
> -Adam

The KSM-44 is designed to be Shure's version of a large diaphram
multipurpose microphone that should find applications in vocal,
acoustic guitar, drum overheads and room mics, as well as just about
any other application in which it would sound good, which is of course
a subjective assessment of what "good" means to you.

An idea I used years ago in A/Bing gear was to choose a song and put a
click track down. I then was able to get gear from my vendor and test
it all, mic pres and mics.

What I did was record the track with X mic pre and Y microphone(s).
Then, when I got another set of gear, I would use the click and record
the song again with A mic pre and B microphone. Each time I got sample
gear, the track would be recorded again.

Later, after amassing my sample pres and mics, I would sit down and
listen to them all without EQ added so I could hear a reasonably
"neutral" recording of that same song but with different stuff and
hear the differences. I would punch between the various guitar and
vocal tracks. And because it was clicked, there was little to no
interruption of the flow of the song.

I would hear the pre and/or the mic and how they sounded together in
various combinations.

Kind of like A/Bing speakers with specific program music.

--Fletch

[adam79]

What ended up being your favorite pres and mics after those tests?

"Fletch" > wrote in message
...
> On Dec 18, 10:45 am, "adam79" > >>
>
> The KSM-44 is designed to be Shure's version of a large diaphram
> multipurpose microphone that should find applications in vocal,
> acoustic guitar, drum overheads and room mics, as well as just about
> any other application in which it would sound good, which is of course
> a subjective assessment of what "good" means to you.
>
> An idea I used years ago in A/Bing gear was to choose a song and put a
> click track down. I then was able to get gear from my vendor and test
> it all, mic pres and mics.
>
> What I did was record the track with X mic pre and Y microphone(s).
> Then, when I got another set of gear, I would use the click and record
> the song again with A mic pre and B microphone. Each time I got sample
> gear, the track would be recorded again.
>
> Later, after amassing my sample pres and mics, I would sit down and
> listen to them all without EQ added so I could hear a reasonably
> "neutral" recording of that same song but with different stuff and
> hear the differences. I would punch between the various guitar and
> vocal tracks. And because it was clicked, there was little to no
> interruption of the flow of the song.
>
> I would hear the pre and/or the mic and how they sounded together in
> various combinations.
>
> Kind of like A/Bing speakers with specific program music.
>
> --Fletch

[Fletch]

On Dec 19, 10:06 am, "adam79" > wrote:
> What ended up being your favorite pres and mics after those tests?
>
> "Fletch" > wrote in message
>
> ...
>
> > On Dec 18, 10:45 am, "adam79" > >>
>
> > The KSM-44 is designed to be Shure's version of a large diaphram
> > multipurpose microphone that should find applications in vocal,
> > acoustic guitar, drum overheads and room mics, as well as just about
> > any other application in which it would sound good, which is of course
> > a subjective assessment of what "good" means to you.
>
> > An idea I used years ago in A/Bing gear was to choose a song and put a
> > click track down. I then was able to get gear from my vendor and test
> > it all, mic pres and mics.
>
> > What I did was record the track with X mic pre and Y microphone(s).
> > Then, when I got another set of gear, I would use the click and record
> > the song again with A mic pre and B microphone. Each time I got sample
> > gear, the track would be recorded again.
>
> > Later, after amassing my sample pres and mics, I would sit down and
> > listen to them all without EQ added so I could hear a reasonably
> > "neutral" recording of that same song but with different stuff and
> > hear the differences. I would punch between the various guitar and
> > vocal tracks. And because it was clicked, there was little to no
> > interruption of the flow of the song.
>
> > I would hear the pre and/or the mic and how they sounded together in
> > various combinations.
>
> > Kind of like A/Bing speakers with specific program music.
>
> > --Fletch

I really liked the Amek 9098 preamp, it was very quiet and clean
sounding, if not a little coloured. But not terribly so. The
microphone I was testing at the time was the Audio Technica 4050/CM5,
also a very versatile microphone. It was the test mic for all pres.

I also tested the TL Audio tube pre in the Indigo line. That was a
nice warm little unit, but being a hybrid with a solid state output
stage, it was not really working at the time. I didn't get this
because I had two channels of pre included in the C1 compressor I
already had, but I wanted to hear if there was a difference between
the pres on the C1 and the Indigo pres. To my ears, no difference.

I tried the Focusrite Green range, too. I actually like these and own
a couple. These are like the Red series, but with SMD's, and so
cheaper to produce. But I like the sound.

There was another, I believe, but I can't recall what it was.

--Fletch