always heard about this mic being a great mic for rap vocals, we had it in our mic closet at our studio but, never used it n instead we was using a Neumann u87 A, running thru a Avid Pre, But the booth was always to small for this mic, even though we had alot of absorption panels inside it was technically a rectangle and obliviously not a good place for a sensitive condenser, so i decided to hook up the Sm7b turned up the gain and ill I could was my artist in front of it no room ambience, my point is which mot people know by now, but if your working in a untreated room or room that may still give a echo the sm7b is no joke with good gain and proper mixing! do not let that price fool you this mic is a beast!

High-end mic with low price

definitely after i mixed it down it sounded like amazing, best mic in its price range prob even under $1000 to be honest although the room was a problem why the u87 was'nt shining its best, i just loved what it did to the vocals it just layed right in the beat, and this was on a 2 Track not even a tracked out beat, so i can't wait to play with it then wow is all i can say

can you post a link?

I use mine on everything!
vocals.
paired with a ribbon mic on a guitar cab.
bass cabs
paired with subkick on a kick drum.

SM7b is a great secret weapon. Most clients just assume it's a higher end mic and don't question when I use it.

@epotts06 yes soon as i go back out to the studio i will get the song and post it. But, Ya this Mic just cuts thru the mix better then i thought it would, it sounded great i could crank it after the song was mastered and it still sounded great! It literally is a secret weapon, i've always been a huge fan of condensers and tubes,when it came to vox on rap/hip hop songs but now that i have hear the SM7B forget all the thousand dollar mics, if you know how to mix correctly you can make this mic sound better then most high end mics IMO, i am curious though on what else it will sound great on....

Yep ,SM7b is a killer vocal mic. Nice thick round tone. It so easy to track with and takes EQ and compression like it's nobody's business! And my gosh, it blends so well in a mix it's almost effortless.

Sure it's a great mic but there are tons of other options that sound better IMO. I think the sm7B tends to be a little boxy. It does work well, don't get me wrong. I am not trying to take anything away from it but I am also not going to give it undue praise either. I find it to be average sounding. Almost all the whole Shure lineup borders on the very "safe", not much character or flavor.

Don't be a Debbie Downer, man! LOL. The boy is excited about his new SM7b. It's a high quality mic. I've found that the mic tonality can be drastically changed by choice of preamp and impedance.

Yeah, I guess you're right.

I've been curious to hear an A/B between an SM7b vs an SM57 with its A2WS windscreen on male vocals.

I saw a video on YouTube comparing the 57(with and without the A2WS) with a 58. I preferred the sound of the 57 with the windscreen

@guitarboy94 exactly it does take eq and compression very well!, but ya i mean i've used at least a good 70 mics, and with the right pre, right voice, room size, treated or not, its always gona give you a different sound, i mean we had a u87 which is used a almost every commercial studio but the room was not right paired with, my main point of the post of this thread was this mic is great even if the room is not properly treated, alot is rejected, and with the right pre this thing will shine, you put a good pair of ears with it, and the sound is incredible

don't get me wrong though there are other mics with their own sound and may sound better in a different environment, example i love adk custom shop mics they sound great in a well treated room paried with a great pre, but for what im using it for, and the mix im putting on it, it sounds alot better then i thought it would for being so cheap compared to other top end mics

SM7b is no slouch, man! This has been said a million times before, but I'd rather use a top of the line dynamic mic over a budget condenser any day of the week. The SM7b's rounded tone is what makes it sit so well in a mix. Condensers, even high end ones, can sound a little too sharp and detailed and often are more challenging to mix in my experience.

You are right... there are better mics even on the same budget there are better options however I agree that this is the wrong thread for that discussion.

Shure SM7B,
one of my favorite dynamic microphones
gotta have one

ya def a mic to keep around, i used and am not looking back, it does and sounds just how i want it to for what our studio is using for, def a keeper

Does the SM7B capture more low end than the SM58? FR chart comparison says so, but I wanted to know what you guys thought.

I sometimes call the SM7 the "Butterstick" when it comes to vocals.
Run it through a dope pre, and you'll know what I mean.
I've patched it through a Chandler LTD-1, UA-610, API 3124, Syteks, & it has never disappointed me.

Recently I've gotten into the Large Diaphragm Dynamic mics from Heil. Also super sick sounding.

its definitely thick sounding, as far as the low end is there but nice tone, easy to eq like mentioned earlier, I mean if your one of those people who record on the go its a great mic, but even in a treated studio environment its still great and yea i know it has to sound great thru a number of good pres, especially a clean pre with lots of gain, but honestly the most i pushed yet was 60db we have lots of loud guys come in(sometimes i drop it to 45-50db), which by the way the mic handles well but i never like to record in the red even really in the yellow keeping all green lol, but ya definitely a mic to have in your mic locker you really can't beat, i love tube, condensers and ribbon mics but for this price i was very impressed, can't go wrong with it. To me its one of those mics that just sound good on almost anyones vocals, just started using it so ive only recorded about 20 artist but all them where more happy with the sound(without any Plugins). Their may be ppl out there who don't like this mic for whatever reason but its a good mic. I think most critical engineers who really enjoy their love for music would agree.

Can someone please post samples. I gave yet to hear good results from a sm7b.

kinda my fault there everytime im at the studio i forget the songs stored on the studio HD, but i found this impressive Warm Audio Microphone Pre-Amps | WA12 Mic Pre because this pre is paired with the sm7b which alot of ppl in other threads i seen, were wondering also how good this pre sounded, now here u get best of both, i dnt think its raw(could be) at the studio with a77x which is different from my home setup. But still sounds pretty good to me running thru this pre which is a low budget pre but with some say a good pre for the price

Watch Anthony Kiedis absolutely make love to the SM7b in this video

Go to 1:07:30

Red Hot Chili Peppers: "Funky Monks" Uncut Full Documentary (1st Edit Uncut with bonus footage) - YouTube

]
You can watch him use it all the way through the documentary, uses it on every song. Amazing mic.

Bought one yesterday. Before, I used a Shure Beta58a on my vocals but the SM7 sounds much better on my particular voice. I have a somewhat harshy hi pitched vocal and the Beta58a did a good job, but accentuated the unpleasant part of this harshiness. With the SM7, this is the same kind of sound, but I feel it is better suited for my type of voice. My voice doesn't like condensers, they tend to put in front the unmusical elements of my voice. So, in the end, buying the SM7 really depends on the type of sound you are recording. Anything harsh that needs clarity while being musically pleasing would benefits from the SM7. I'd probably not use it on a super soft kind of vocal though, I feel it is made to be driven harder because of the little compressed-like sound it has and the radioesque color of it.

As expected, with the SM7, I needed a lot more gain on my preamp than the Beta58a (the beta has such a big output, which is why I love it for live).

About the setup:
- I sing tenor hard rock vocals a la Bon Jovi.
- Used presonus Eureka preamp with impedance set to 1.5K, +51db of gain, output -10db
- This goes through TRS to a Firepod at +4db-ish line level.
- This results in a bulky but full of headroom source sound that required less EQ than what I needed with the beta58a (again, regarding my own vocal needs).

Note: the 1.5K impedance setting on the preamp I find really important. It gives that crispy condenser-like reaction to dynamic microphones, makes them come alive a bit more and sits better in the mix.

yea shure dynamic mics are some of the best mics period, the sm7b with a good pre is just crazy, we had a lot of vocalist sing on the u87 and honestly i didnt like the sound that much more then likely because of the live room but it also gives off a sound that i was not 100% happy with, its just not my style of what i wanted to hear coming into my ears, a buddy of mine who is a head engineer at another studio agreed that he didnt not like the u87,matter of fact not downing the u87 but Bryan Tyson a Platinum Plaque engineer who engineered and mixed some of the rapper "Plies" songs including "Hypnotized" ft Akon told me the same thing that he did not like the sound of the u87 he actually records everything with a Se Electronics Z5600a ii and it sounds great, but for the price of the sm7b its just great, sure you can take a tube or condenser stuff it in a small tracking room but you more then likely will pick up a boxy sound, sm7b doesn't do this because it really just picks up whats in front of it not the room so much, which like i stated works for me just perfect.

I completely agree. The SM7b is a competent tool on a variety of sources; however, it is not a high-end LDC. It is boxy, radio DJesk, and very lowfi sounding on some sources. But, many people love the lowfi vocal sound of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It guess it depends on your desired sound, but the mic is average in my opinion. It is not my "go to" vocal mic unless a vocalist plans on screaming. I feel the exact same way about Senn. 421s.

Dude, not true. Chili Peppers are all over commercial radio. Their music is in no way lo fi sounding. The boxiness you refer to diappears with a splash of EQ and compression and a decent preamp. It's actually almost as crispy as a condenser after you remove the foam.

Wilco, Dylan, Springsteen, M. Jackson, Chil Peppers, Metalica, Dave Matthews first record, John Mayer's first record... just to name a few tracked vocals with this mic. None of these guys sound lo-fi

The EV635a, on the otherhand, is a lo-fi sounding mic.

As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't sound "lo fi", it has it's own character which is perfect for some application where clarity is needed but harshness tamed. I would not use it on a piano or anyone that sing quietly. I would probably try to use a good condenser at first for vocal, but depending on the timbre of the singer (like mine), the SM7 is a better match than an over-clear U87. The SM7 gives me a feeling of clarity and rounding at the same time. I use a Waves Renaissance Vox and L2 later in the chain and it is warm and clear and cuts through the mix without being "disconnected". Again, always depends on the application and the sound source.

It's a good useful mic on a variety of things..but it begins to excel with a straight-wire type, clean preamp with enough gain. IMO.

These SM7b threads crack me up..you could probably do some phony shootouts with a bunch of decent dynamic mics--- then label them as the Sm7 and not even use an SM7b in the shootout and nobody would have a freaking clue.