The Shure SM7 is a professional cardioid dynamic microphone, commonly used in broadcasting applications since 1973. Designed by Shure, it has been described as an "iconic" industry standard microphone for its focused, directional sound and its widespread adoption in radio, television and recording studios. In 2007–2008, the SM7B model became popular for professional podcasting. [1] [2]
Shure designed the Unidyne microphone element in 1939, then greatly improved it in 1959, based on research and development by Shure engineer Ernie Seeler. The smaller Unidyne III appeared six years later, designed by Seeler to be the transducer inside the SM series of microphones, including the popular SM56, SM57 and SM58, used live on stage and in the recording studio. "SM" stands for "Studio Microphone". [3]
Adapting the Unidyne III element for increased bass response, Seeler designed the large and heavy SM5 microphone in 1966, intended for broadcasting applications such as for announcers in radio stations and television studios. In 1973, the SM5 was updated and reduced in size to become the SM7, which was widely adopted in radio and TV, but occasionally used in recording studios. Compared to the SM57, the SM7 has a flatter (more neutral) frequency response, but also has two recessed switches for tailoring the response curve. One switch is a high-pass filter to reduce low frequency rumble, and the other is a mid-frequency reduction to attenuate and flatten out the SM7's inherent "presence" peak. [4] [5]
In 1999 the SM7A model appeared with extra shielding against electromagnetic interference (for instance from television CRTs), and in 2001 the SM7B model added a larger windscreen to reduce breathy plosives. [4]
The SM7 is one of three very popular microphones in radio and television stations, used by deejays and voice-over announcers. The other two are the American Electro-Voice RE20 (1968) and the German Sennheiser MD 421 (1960). The Sennheiser and Electro-Voice models are used widely on the concert stage and in recording studios. [6] The EV RE20 was updated to the RE27N/D. [7]
Portrayed on television in the early 1990s, the SM7 was seen in the series about the fictional town of Cicely, Alaska: Northern Exposure with KHBR radio deejay Chris Stevens (John Corbett) providing commentary and narration for each episode. The microphone was used without its windscreen, revealing the extended metal grille protecting the microphone element. [8] [9] The typical radio station mounts the microphone in this manner, hanging from a robust boom arm extending out over the workspace.
The wide frequency response of the SM7, and its ability to withstand high sound pressure level (SPL), have led audio engineers to use it in the recording studio, to pick up a variety of sources such as horns, vocals, electric guitar and bass guitar amplifiers, and parts of the drum kit—especially bass drum or "kick". [4] The Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger's vocals were recorded in the mid-1970s with two microphones—an SM7 and a condenser microphone—with one or the other chosen during mixdown, or a combination of the two. [1]
Engineer-producer Bruce Swedien used several microphones including the SM7 to record Michael Jackson's vocals for Thriller in 1982. The SM7 was the only vocal microphone on "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)", and was probably used for "Billie Jean", according to Swedien's session notes. [10] Swedien owned six SM7s, and was a big fan of its sound. [4] [11] He also used the SM7 in 1981 for James Ingram singing "Just Once". [10]
Because it can handle high dynamic range, the SM7 has been used for heavy metal vocalists. The 1982 album The Number of the Beast by Iron Maiden employed an SM7 for the vocals of Bruce Dickinson. [12] In 2001–2003, the SM7 was used to record the voice of singer-guitarist James Hetfield for the Metallica album St. Anger , as seen in the documentary Metallica: Some Kind of Monster . [13] The 2008 Black Ice album by AC/DC was supervised by producer Mike Fraser who chose the SM7 for Brian Johnson's "crooning" vocals. [11]
Other recordings using the SM7 include Jack White of the White Stripes working with engineer Joe Chiccarelli starting with Icky Thump in 2007, and engineer Michael Barbiero choosing the SM7 in combination with other microphones for Whitney Houston in 1983–1984, heard on her debut album in 1985. [11] Bassist-engineer Michael Bradford put an SM7 in front of Kid Rock for the album "The History of Rock" in 2000; he had learned of the SM7 from Gerard Smerek who used it on Bob Seger and Anita Baker. [14] Sheryl Crow sang into an SM7 for The Globe Sessions in 1998, and Bob Dylan has recorded with it, starting with Love and Theft engineered by Chris Shaw in 2001. [2] The vocals of Red Hot Chili Peppers' Anthony Kiedis in "Give It Away" were recorded into an SM7 in 1991, as were the vocals of Maroon 5's Adam Levine on "This Love", recorded in 2002. Donald Glover used the SM7 for some songs on the Childish Gambino Camp album in 2011. [1]
The SM7 was largely unknown outside of professional audio circles until it began to be used for podcasting in the mid-2000s. The early podcasters shared equipment ideas, and the SM7B gained a new audience. The microphone was used for the podcasts of 99% Invisible , The Joe Rogan Experience , My Favorite Murder , WTF with Marc Maron , Snap Judgment , Song Exploder and more. Shure saw a steep increase in sales. In 2014, gamers and streamers began using the SM7B, including Shroud. [1]
The podcast Twenty Thousand Hertz dedicated an episode to the SM7 in May 2021, written by Andrew Anderson, calling it an "iconic" microphone with highly directional sound. [1] [15]
The success of the SM7B in professional podcasting applications led Shure to devise a new microphone for home podcasters and streamers. In 2020, Shure introduced the MV7 model, keeping the style of the SM7 but reducing it in size, designing a completely new transducer element with greater acoustic isolation, and providing it with active digital audio circuitry, connecting via USB cable. The MV7 swiftly picked up a large share of the home podcasting market, [16] and was named the best podcast microphone by Rolling Stone magazine in 2021. [17]
Type: Dynamic (moving coil)
A microphone, colloquially called a mic or mike, is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, hearing aids, public address systems for concert halls and public events, motion picture production, live and recorded audio engineering, sound recording, two-way radios, megaphones, and radio and television broadcasting. They are also used in computers for recording voice, speech recognition, VoIP, and for other purposes such as ultrasonic sensors or knock sensors.
Surround sound is a technique for enriching the fidelity and depth of sound reproduction by using multiple audio channels from speakers that surround the listener. Its first application was in movie theaters. Prior to surround sound, theater sound systems commonly had three screen channels of sound that played from three loudspeakers located in front of the audience. Surround sound adds one or more channels from loudspeakers to the side or behind the listener that are able to create the sensation of sound coming from any horizontal direction around the listener.
Shure Incorporated is an American audio products corporation. It was founded by Sidney N. Shure in Chicago, Illinois, in 1925 as a supplier of radio parts kits. The company became a consumer and professional audio-electronics manufacturer of microphones, wireless microphone systems, phonograph cartridges, discussion systems, mixers, and digital signal processing. The company also manufactures listening products, including headphones, high-end earphones, and personal monitor systems.
A boundary microphone is one or more small omnidirectional or cardioid condenser mic capsule(s) positioned near or flush with a boundary (surface) such as a floor, table, or wall. The capsule(s) are typically mounted in a flat plate or housing. The arrangement provides a directional half-space pickup pattern while delivering a relatively phase-coherent output signal.
The Shure SM58 is a professional cardioid dynamic microphone, commonly used in live vocal applications. Produced since 1966 by Shure Incorporated, it has built a strong reputation among musicians for its durability and sound, and is still considered the industry standard for live vocal performance microphones to this day. The SM58 is the most popular live vocal microphone in the world. It is a development of the SM57 instrument microphone; in both cases SM stands for studio microphone.
The Shure SM57 is a low-impedance cardioid dynamic microphone made by Shure Incorporated and commonly used in live sound reinforcement and studio recording. It is one of the best-selling microphones in the world. It is used extensively in amplified music and has been used for speeches by every U.S. president since its introduction in 1965. In 2004, honoring its four decades of "solid, dependable performance", it was inducted into the first-ever TEC Awards TECnology Hall of Fame.
Georg Neumann GmbH (Neumann), founded in 1928 and based in Berlin, Germany, is a prominent manufacturer of professional recording microphones. Their best-known products are condenser microphones for broadcast, live and music production purposes. For several decades Neumann was also a leading manufacturer of cutting lathes for phonograph disks, and even ventured into the field of mixing desks. Currently it is also a manufacturer of preamplifiers, studio monitors and headphones.
A wireless microphone, or cordless microphone, is a microphone without a physical cable connecting it directly to the sound recording or amplifying equipment with which it is associated. Also known as a radio microphone, it has a small, battery-powered radio transmitter in the microphone body, which transmits the audio signal from the microphone by radio waves to a nearby receiver unit, which recovers the audio. The other audio equipment is connected to the receiver unit by cable. In one type the transmitter is contained within the handheld microphone body. In another type the transmitter is contained within a separate unit called a "bodypack", usually clipped to the user's belt or concealed under their clothes. The bodypack is connected by wire to a "lavalier microphone" or "lav", a headset or earset microphone, or another wired microphone. Most bodypack designs also support a wired instrument connection. Wireless microphones are widely used in the entertainment industry, television broadcasting, and public speaking to allow public speakers, interviewers, performers, and entertainers to move about freely while using a microphone without requiring a cable attached to the microphone.
Bruce Swedien was an American recording engineer, mixing engineer and record producer. He was widely known for his work with Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Paul McCartney and Barbra Streisand.
The RCA Type 77-DX microphone is a poly-directional ribbon microphone, or pressure-gradient microphone, introduced by the RCA Corporation in 1954. It was preceded by the Type 77-D introduced in 1948. Its popularity and classic design has resulted in the 77-DX becoming an iconic microphone, used by broadcasters and media personalities such as Edward R. Murrow, David Letterman and Larry King.
AKG Acoustics is an acoustics engineering and manufacturing company. It was founded in 1947 by Rudolf Görike and Ernest Plass in Vienna, Austria. It is a part of Harman International Industries, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics.
The proximity effect in audio is an increase in bass or low frequency response when a sound source is close to a directional or cardioid microphone. Proximity effect is a change in the frequency response of a directional pattern microphone that results in an emphasis on lower frequencies. It is caused by the use of ports to create directional polar pickup patterns, so omni-directional microphones do not exhibit the effect
Westlake Recording Studios is a music recording studio in West Hollywood, California.
The Shure Beta 58A is a rugged dynamic supercardioid microphone developed by Shure Incorporated specifically for live vocal performances. The microphone won a TEC Award in 1996 for outstanding microphone technology.
Spill is the occurrence in sound recording and live sound mixing whereby sound is picked up by a microphone from a source other than that which is intended. Spill is usually seen as a problem, and various steps are taken to avoid it or reduce it. In some styles of music, such as orchestral music, jazz, and blues, it is more likely to be accepted or even seen as desirable.
In live sound mixing, gain before feedback (GBF) is a practical measure of how much a microphone can be amplified in a sound reinforcement system before causing audio feedback. In audiology, GBF is a measure of hearing aid performance. In both fields the amount of gain is measured in decibels at or just below the point at which the sound from the speaker driver re-enters the microphone and the system begins to ring or feed back. Potential acoustic gain (PAG) is a calculated figure representing gain that a system can support without feeding back.
Benjamin B. Bauer (1913–1979) was a Russian Empire-born American acoustic engineer, who worked for the Shure microphone company and produced over 100 patents. His early work in acoustics lead to the development of modern sound technology via the Uniphase Electrical Principle. This principle is the source of the famous Unidyne Microphone's name and functionality.
The Shure MV7 is a cardioid dynamic microphone used for podcasting and home studio applications. The MV7 was developed in 2020 by Shure as a digital audio reworking of the classic SM7B professional broadcasting microphone. The MV7 was rated the best podcasting microphone by Rolling Stone in their 2021 Audio Awards.
The Sennheiser MD 421 is a German cardioid dynamic microphone, widely used for speech in broadcasting and for music in live concerts and the recording studio. Introduced in 1960, the internal large-diaphragm transducer element of the MD 421 is still produced unchanged by Sennheiser. The MD 421 is considered a classic, an industry standard. More than 500,000 units have been sold.
The Electro-Voice RE20 is an American professional cardioid dynamic microphone, commonly used in broadcasting applications since 1968. Designed by Electro-Voice using the company's patented Variable-D technology and a large-diaphragm element, it has been described as an industry standard "iconic" microphone for its natural sound and its wide usage in radio, television and recording studios. In 2015, the RE20 was inducted into the TEC Awards Technology Hall of Fame.