{"id":464121,"date":"2022-05-27T10:00:53","date_gmt":"2022-05-27T08:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/?p=464121"},"modified":"2023-11-08T11:24:22","modified_gmt":"2023-11-08T10:24:22","slug":"shure-sm58-living-microphone-legend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/gear\/shure-sm58-living-microphone-legend\/","title":{"rendered":"Shure SM58 – Living Microphone Legend"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Everyone knows them: The microphones from Shure, above all the SM58<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0SM57<\/a>\u00a0.\u00a0The two mics have been an integral part of the world’s stages since the mid-1960s.\u00a0Let’s take a look at the history of these classics and their siblings, some of whom have been recording instruments and voices worldwide for decades.<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Live only?\u00a0What does “SM” mean?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Luckily, such a\u00a0Shure SM58<\/a><\/strong> is by no means limited to live use. In professional or home recording studios, these popular mics were able to continue to do their job during the covid-19 pandemic period. Fun Fact: Even though the SM58<\/a><\/strong> is probably a little more common on stage and in rehearsal rooms, the “SM” originally stood for “Studio Microphone”. But now that live operations are picking up speed again, the well-known dynamic mics can go about their work anywhere again.<\/p>\n

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\"Shure<\/p>\n

Shure SM58 LC microphone<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Shure SM58<\/a>\u00a0is considered a very robust and reliable microphone<\/strong><\/h2>\n

And even if a\u00a0Shure SM58<\/a><\/strong> has not been used for a long time, this does not detract from the robust sound transducers: There are verified reports of some that have been briefly in the fire, been run over by a car or even buried in the ground for a whole year – and still work flawlessly.<\/p>\n

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Why the SM58 is the best known and most popular mic<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Its robustness makes the\u00a0Shure SM58<\/a> <\/strong>a reliable tool. In the worst case, the mic’s grille can get dented in the event of a serious fall. But you can always buy it as a spare part<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The most important characteristic of a microphone is of course the sound!\u00a0The\u00a0Shure SM58<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>is considered to be particularly powerful with vocals.\u00a0In the case of spoken voices, speech intelligibility is also high.<\/p>\n

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Shure SM58 Bundle \u2013 Microphone Set<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The enormous level stability of the SM58<\/a><\/strong> is important for loud voices, but especially for instruments . Whether on a loud percussion instrument or in front of the membrane of a ripped guitar amp, the microphone transmits without distortion. At the same time, the rear sound is very strongly dampened by the cardioid polar pattern characteristic.<\/p>\n

Although the “58” has its beloved tonal characteristics, it is still neutral enough to be used as an all-rounder. There is hardly a sound source in the world that has not already been recorded with a Shure SM58<\/a>.\u00a0And because the\u00a0Shure SM58<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and sibling microphone\u00a0SM57<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0are the world’s best-selling microphones, every engineer knows their characteristics very well.<\/p>\n

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Shure SM58<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
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Shure SM57<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

Don’t forget: A Shure SM58 is affordable for everyone!<\/p>\n

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At the heart of the SM58 (and some other Shure mics): Unidyne III capsule<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The\u00a0Shure SM58<\/strong><\/a> has strong family ties.\u00a0The Shure SM57<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0,\u00a0Shure 545SD<\/a>\u00a0,\u00a0Shure 565SD<\/a>\u00a0,\u00a0Shure SM7b<\/a> , Shure 55H<\/a><\/strong> and many others, including some wireless microphones, use the same microphone capsule! The Unidyne III capsule was developed in 1960 by Shure employee Ernie Seeler, the son of German immigrants who was born in Cuba. In the 565 and SM58 it is installed in what is probably the most well-known microphone shape, the \u201cice cream cone\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Shure SM57<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Shure 545SD<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Shure 565 SD<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Different properties despite the same capsule<\/strong><\/h2>\n

However, the Shure microphones mentioned are not identical because of the Unidyne II capsule.\u00a0The Shure SM57\u00a0, which is used more as an instrument microphone,\u00a0and the\u00a0Shure SM58\u00a0differ in their frequency response, and the SM58’s basket avoids problems with close voices – and leads to the iconic appearance.\u00a0By the way: On official occasions, generations of US Presidents speak into a pair of\u00a0Shure SM57s\u00a0with the\u00a0A2WS<\/a><\/strong> foam windscreen and the A55M<\/a><\/strong>elastic mount!<\/p>\n

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Shure A55M<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Shure A2WS windscreen black<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The Shure 55H “Elvis microphone” has a slightly different frequency response simply because of its striking metal basket, while the Shure SM7b speaker microphone, which is popular in broadcasting and podcasting, convinces with its two filters. It does this so well that it can often be seen live and in the studio as an instrument microphone.<\/p>\n

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Shure with almost 100 years of history<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Shure<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0is now 97 years old!\u00a0Mr. Shure initially sold tube radio kits and components in Chicago, Illinois.\u00a0A little later, from the 1930s, Shure began to build microphones.\u00a0Not only dynamic moving coil microphones were created, but also ribbon microphones, condenser microphones, piezo microphones and \u2013 no longer common today \u2013 carbon transducers.\u00a0Among the condensers, the\u00a0Shure SM81<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0small-diaphragm microphone in particular has achieved great fame: this is also considered a widespread classic.<\/p>\n

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Shure SM81<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The American company is now a global player.\u00a0In addition to wired microphones for all kinds of applications,\u00a0Shure also produces wireless systems and has brought interesting USB microphones and similar products onto the market. The catalogue includes hi-fi and studio headphones<\/strong><\/a>, as well as in-ears, consumer headphones and a whole range of conference technology devices. But Shure will probably always be associated with the most important microphone for the company – or actually: the whole world: the SM58<\/strong><\/a> . And we’re pretty “shure” it’s here to stay \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

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The Shure SM58 \u2013 your feedback<\/h2>\n

Are you using the Shure SM58? Or another mic? We look forward to your feedback in the comments!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Shure SM58, a standard mic since the ’60s! But what’s so special about this “ice cream cone” mic? Read on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":464732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tblog_post_audio_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1083,10720],"tags":[16220,20874,20876,20872,2912,5939,10240,20878,20880],"class_list":["post-464121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gear","category-learn","tag-best-mic","tag-classic-mic","tag-industry-standard","tag-live-mic","tag-mic","tag-microphones","tag-shure","tag-shure-sm58-en","tag-sm58-en"],"category_colors":{"color_key":"gear","css_classes":{"text":"cat-gear","text_light":"cat-gear-light","bg":"cat-bg-gear","bg_light":"cat-bg-gear-light","border":"cat-border-gear","text_on_bg":"cat-text-on-gear"}},"reading_time":{"minutes":4,"formatted":"4 min"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}