I think some great points have been made here.
The SM57 has some qualities that make it a very good little mic.
1, It's accessible, within the reach of nearly everyone..ie cheap
2. It's well-built, and like the man said above..."It takes a beating and keeps on ticking"
3. The product is uniform, in that, one 57 sounds pretty much the same as the next one
4. The results are predictable to those who work with them on a regular basis
5. They can be field replaced in just about any city or country...ie If one breaks, you can buy a relacement anywhere
6, On some singers, they sound better than mics costing $10K
7. And they'vbe been a fairly standard choice to mic guitar cabs for many years
8. They can also be used on many kinds of instruments with pretty good results.
9. In a pinch, you can record everything with a 57, entire albums have been done with just a 57.
(Note: some people are such good artists and engineers that can take a complete piece of shit and make it sound wonderful, many people are not so blessed with these innate talents and cannot expect to achieve these great results)
The 57 may very well be the best mic in the world for the money, but that is not the same thing as saying it's THE best mic in the world. If one were to try to define THE best mic in the world, there would be all sorts of controversy and independen t judgement calls involving subjective taste and the important consideration of the engineer's ART.
Someone said the 57 is the sound of rock and roll, and that's probably true to a large degree..but it ain't true in ALL degrees. There are other mics that are important, many may be far more important than the 57. I dunno.
Here's what I do know, all Pros should have a good selection of mics, cheap ones, mid range, and expensive ones. 57's and 58's should be in that tool kit, but so should many other mics. And the final decision on which mic to use is where the element of art and experience come in. And they are blended with a everlasting willingness to experiment. Don't forget, the only way science gets anywhere is by constant experimentation, and here, with audio, you have the ultimate meeting of science and art.
Last point, a paper on mics without some discussion of the scientific aspects and some sort of camparative analysis of different mics would seem to me to be inherently flawed..Completely ignoring the science from the discussion could result in a paper that is nothing more than "magazine-review-speak"...something that makes no lasting contribution to anyone's knowledge.
I would hope that you set higher goals for yourself and write a paper that is far more than fluff, I would hope you could write a paper that even the members of the Audio Engineering Society community would want to publish.
If you set your mind to it, you can do something that will be worthwhile.
I hope you do a "Great Paper," and get an A+. Good luck with this.
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Topic: YOUR URGENT HELP NEEDED WITH THE SM57 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>&g (Read 4092 times)