SM57 LC : THE SM57

The SM57 is good on anything because you always know what you're going to get - detailed sound of a solid dynamic mic.

Built to withstand the toughest of handling, the SM57 is a workhorse microphone which will work with almost any sound source from vocals to guitars (acoustic or electric), woodwind to brass and drums to percussion. It's also a great live or studio mic which makes it a go to for stage or studio.

There is nothing to it, no switches, cut offs or switchable patterns... not even an on/off switch. What you see is what you get. And in this you get a seriously robust, unbreakable* microphone with an equally reliable sound and characteristic.

So what's bad about it? Can a budget mic really be this good?

Well, yeah! It really is this good. Which is why all major studios have loads of them (and the SM58s - which are pretty much the same but with a different 'mouthpiece').

Being hyper critical, one of the things which I have to keep in mind when using this mic is proximity - you have to be close the get the sound source. This is the nature of dynamic microphones so it's not a fault of the Shure as such. You'll see these mics on stage and singers are touching their lips against it just to make sure the sound is level... Other than this, you can't fault it. Especially at this price.