If you only have one mic, this ought to be it. It is a sturdy, inexpensive dynamic, doesn’t need outside power like condenser mics, not delicate like a ribbon, and it captures recordings with ease. I use my 57s for top snare mic position, and paired with a Sennheiser 421 on guitar cabinets. I’ll use a 57 on an acoustic to get a woody tone. I did that on Prince’s ‘Walk Don’t Walk’ on the album Diamonds and Pearls. The SM57 is small enough to be non-obtrusive in videos and it’s cheap enough to sacrifice while recording under water or in a volcano. They are legendary for being indestructible, but I proved that to be wrong while shooting a piano with a shotgun with Tool on the ‘Undertow’ album. The SM57 was in the line of fire and did not survive.
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