Shure SM7B / SM7dB - any experience

[Armistice]

I seem to be continually fighting with the vocal mic I've used for a decade now, the Rode NT2. Maybe what and how I'm singing is changing but I seem to be spending a bunch of time trying to soften particular vowel sounds in the high mids. Annoying and not always successful. And dealing with plosives even though I'm not particularly close to the mic.

So I'm thinking, seeing I haven't bought a microphone forever, perhaps a new microphone will at least give me a new set of problems to deal with.

@Bubba suggested the SM7B, which I was aware of but had never really looked into.

Apparently it's very popular with podcasters, but because they don't have much output they struggle to get a decent volume unless they have a very modern interface, so they buy a Cloudlifter and add that in. Anyway, there's a new version of the 7B called the 7dB which has an inbuilt Cloud preamp in it. So I guess I could get either, depending upon how much grunt my interface pres have. Price differential isn't worth worrying about.

All that aside, anyone have any actual experience with this mic on male sung vocals? Obviously what podcaster thinks of it isn't hugely relevant to me. You know my voice. Low baritone. And I can go from very quiet to middling loud all in the same song.

In theory, this mic should suit me perfectly, but I don't want to spend that amount of $$ if there's some obvious reason I shouldn't.

Cheers

[Farview]

The sm7 mics are really good for aggressive vocals. Michael Jackson, Metallica, classic Megadeth, etc...

I'm wondering if your Rode placement might be tweaked to solve your issue. When I had singers with the problems you are describing, I would hang the mic higher, aiming it at the bridge of their nose at a 45degree angle. Then I would use a pop filter in front of their mouth as a target to sing into, so they wouldn't sing up into the mic.

[Farview]

The sm7 mics are really good for aggressive vocals. Michael Jackson, Metallica, classic Megadeth, etc...

I'm wondering if your Rode placement might be tweaked to solve your issue. When I had singers with the problems you are describing, I would hang the mic higher, aiming it at the bridge of their nose at a 45degree angle. Then I would use a pop filter in front of their mouth as a target to sing into, so they wouldn't sing up into the mic.

[Lt. Bob]

The sm7 mics are really good for aggressive vocals. Michael Jackson,

Michael Jackson? Aggressive? lol

[Greg_L]

Michael Jackson? Aggressive? lol

They would dress the mic like a little boy to get more from MJ's takes.

[Lt. Bob]

Michael Jackson? Aggressive? lol

They would dress the mic like a little boy to get more from MJ's takes.

You know why he really liked 'Boys To Men'?




















thought they were a delivery service

[vomitHatSteve]

I'd describe MJ as a dynamic vocalist. Some of his vocals were quite aggressive (the "whoo"s and "shamon"s), but he was also a pop singer and that often meant very soft vocals.

[Greg_L]

I like how crater-faced metal shitbags have always declared the SM7b as the default mic because it's allegedly the only thing that can handle their hardcore badass ass kicking vocals, meanwhile little girls with podcasts about unicorns also like the SM7b.

[CrowsofFritz]

I’ve always preferred the RE20, but I do like the idea of the new 7db that helps with the gain issue most newcomers to audio had.

The “should I get the 7b and a cloudlifter with my Focusrite Sapphire?” was easily the most common question in the Reddit audio engineering sub during the pandemic. Tons of them a day.

[Tadpui]

I've been meaning to use some YT revenue to buy and "review" an SM7B or the dB version. Not that the world needs yet another video about them, but I've never used one myself so I don't have any personal experience with them. I'd love to be able to speak from experience about this mic. From what I've gathered from others that love the mic, it's the character of the high frequency rolloff that seems to please them. It's not "dead" sounding, but has a kind of tame hi frequency response that seems to make people happy once it's processed. That's about all of the secondhand info that I have.

[vomitHatSteve]

I've been meaning to use some YT revenue to buy and "review" an SM7B or the dB version. Not that the world needs yet another video about them

But if you review it, the mic is tax deductible, right?

[Greg_L]

I've been meaning to use some YT revenue to buy and "review" an SM7B or the dB version. Not that the world needs yet another video about them, but I've never used one myself so I don't have any personal experience with them. I'd love to be able to speak from experience about this mic. From what I've gathered from others that love the mic, it's the character of the high frequency rolloff that seems to please them. It's not "dead" sounding, but has a kind of tame hi frequency response that seems to make people happy once it's processed. That's about all of the secondhand info that I have.

I like it on guitar and bass cabs for sure. I actually hate it for vocals.

[Farview]

The sm7 mics are really good for aggressive vocals. Michael Jackson,

Michael Jackson? Aggressive? lol

listen to his delivery on thriller. There is a lot of percussive elements to his vocals. The sort of thing that would "over-excite" an LDC.

[rayc]

I only know what I've read or heard - no experience at all. It's big n looks impressive in a video/poscast.
Try Julian Krause for a review...he often refers to it as worst case scenario when it comes to preamp noise due to low signal.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... rause+sm7b

[Bubba]

To this day, my favourite vocal of mine that I've ever recorded was with an SM7B. And I hate my own vocals.lf I was still recording regularly I would want one for myself and I think it's definitely worth a punt.

[Farview]

It's used for voiceover and radio because it isn't as bad about proximity effect, controls plosives and doesn't over-hype the high end.

[Armistice]

It's used for voiceover and radio because it isn't as bad about proximity effect, controls plosives and doesn't over-hype the high end.

Which is sort of what I was thinking. Anyway, I'm at the end of an album and won't be changing anything right now, it was just more forward thinking for where do I go from here.

I'll try your suggestions re. angle and placement later on today when I am doing the vocals for a new song. They certainly can't hurt. What I'm not comprehending is that I don't think I've changed anything much in the way I'm singing, but all of a sudden I seem to be doing a lot more work to get the vocals to sound half decent. This isn't making sense to me.

It could also be that I'm hearing things that I'd not previously heard, but that were there nonetheless.

Anyway, thanks for the tips. I'll see how it goes!

[Farview]

If the mic is old, it might be going south on you somehow.

Mics tend to last forever, but everything goes bad eventually.

[Armistice]

If the mic is old, it might be going south on you somehow.

Mics tend to last forever, but everything goes bad eventually.

Could be. I've moved to a very humid environment, so maybe that's causing some deterioration in response. It's 15 years old or thereabouts. But we'll see how it goes today. I'm used to singing into a pop filter so should be able to not singing directly into the mic with it up higher.

[rayc]

Moisture on the diaphragm is a BIG problem. It happened to one of my condenser mics in Stanwell Park. Just a tiny bit of mould on the thing and it started to deteriorate. That place was humid - ran a dehumidifier quite a lot. We are in a very humid place now and I'm struggling to get some rooms down to about 65%. Air conditioning deals with humidity well but you recording space may be immune.