Question on PC recording.

[lordcyrus]

I've been recording guitar stuff with a crappy 10 dollar mic, so I recently bought an SM-57. I also bought adapters for it so I could plug it into my sound card. The problem is that for some reason my 10 dollar mic had better recording quality and the SM57 sounds terrible, does anyone know what could be causing this? I've tried adjusting mic volume ect.

[Azrael]

AFAIK the SM57 mics need phantom power supply. a regular soundcard does not provide an 48V phantom power output. you´ll have to get a mixer with a phantompower supply or an extra phantom power supply. else it will sound like crap.

[Dr_simon]

Azrael.... shame on you !

AN SM57 doesn't need phantom power, it is a dynamic mic. just like a SM58.

However the SM57 does not produce a lot of signal, which means you need a relatively transparent preamp (lots of gain required and this can lead to lots of humm).

Solution, get a pre amp. You can pick up a Behringer pre on eBay for under 50 bucks. They are the real bottom end of the market but much better than not having a pre ! The pre will also (probably) be able to supply phantom power (do not try to power the SM57) for when you get a condenser.

I use SM57s all the time and they are one of my fave bits of kit. The fact that they are dynamic means that amongst other things they can handle very high SPLs great for recording a Marshall ! That said mine is usually used for vocals. It is funny, my voice sounds really horrible through an SM58 put almost passable through a SM57.... lovely bits of kit ! Good on drums too !

[Azrael]

interresting... i used to have an SM 57 with phantom power.. *confused*.. or was that maybe a special edition of the SM57 o.O

[The Ace]

Its ok Azrael... you can still be my hero.



(wait a minute no you're not....)

[Dr_simon]

Yep and he can still play circles round me ! Poo !

[noticingthemistake]

That is the biggest pain in the arse when it comes to buying recording equipment. You buy something that you think it going to be great, then you find out you need something else to make your great new purchase to work right!