Sm-57 or pick up?

[Skin it Back]

What is your preference, an SM-57 mic or a pick up for your mandolin? If a pick up is the answer, what are the favored makes?

[Greg H.]

That would depend entirely on the surroundings in which I'm playing. If playing with a drummer and electric instruments or playing really large auditoriums etc. (as if that would ever happen to me) then a pick-up would be the only logical way to go. But playing with a BG band at festivals and smaller venues I prefer the sound of a miked mandolin. It's easier for me to control the dynamics by varying my distance from the mike (and how hard I play). A miked mandolin also just sounds more natural to me (I realize this difference could just be in my head, but that doesn't make it less of a difference).

Then again, one of the best shows I've ever seen was Mike Marshall and Edgar Myers where they chose 'none of the above' and played it w/o any amplification (probably around 140 people there and I don't think anyone missed a note because it wasn't amplified).

[dmamlep]

I use the 57, you can move in and out, I am afraid to mike my mandolin, because I might over power someone else.

[dmamlep]

But then I went to a festival Sat, and saw the new coon creek girls and pam the mandolin player had a cord plugged into the bottom just like a guitar, and man can she play

[Flatpick]

SM 57 is a great mic. I've never used a Pickup just the SM 57......works fine lasts a long time http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

Flatpick

[walshb]

I've never played my mando in public yet, but when I record, an SM57 is the only mic I ever use.
People are buying up my songs left and right. I also have this bridge for sale....

[Gerry Tenney]

I use an SM58. I think they give a warmer, rounder sound.Try it and see. Sound people are always surprised at this choice. I use the 58's for both manolin and vocals.
Gerry Tenney

[Crowder]

I use an SM58. I think they give a warmer, rounder sound.Try it and see. Sound people are always surprised at this choice. I use the 58's for both manolin and vocals.
Gerry Tenney
I agree. SM-57s are great for high-gain situations like miking a guitar amp, but I've never liked them for acoustic instruments. The 58 is made for vocals and makes more sense for any acoustic instrument.

All in all, I'd rather have my AKG C-1000 than either of them.

[Lefty&French]

What is your preference, an SM-57 mic or a pick up for your mandolin?
Both! I use a schertler Dyn-M (direct to the board) and a SM-57. You can move and the mike adds "color" and volume when you need it.
But if you use a pick-up, you have to learn to control your volume.

[mythicfish]

"I agree. SM-57s are great for high-gain situations like miking a guitar amp, but I've never liked them for acoustic instruments. The 58 is made for vocals and makes more sense for any acoustic instrument. "

The 57 and the 58 are identical except for the "globe" on the 58. It is called a "vocal mic" because it wont slip out
of the vocalists hand.

Curt

[Givson]

The ball on the SM-58 does alter the frequency response of The SM-58 vs the 57. Inside the ball is foam which tends to reduce the treble end, and thus, enhance the bass.

I also went from a dynamic mic (AKG D190) to an AKG C1000, a more sensitive condenser mic with a richer frequency response. Not a lot more $ than the Shure.

[Flatpick]

The foam inside the Ball is there to reduce the sound of your breath hitting the mic and causing a "poof" noise or a popping sound if you will. Some mic's have the foam on the outside of the Ball. If it reduced the frequency responce or cut the treble it would not be a good voice mic.

The SM 57 is a directional mic and makes a great instrument mic for which it was designed..... http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/coffee.gif

# # # # # # # # # # # #Flatpick

[Kevin Briggs]

From the pessimist:
You can't get the acoustic sound of your mandolin through a pick-up or a mic.

From the optimist:
A good mic - a SM57 or preferably better than that - can do a agood job of recreating the acoustic sound of your mandolin. You just need to know how to mix it and how to work the mic.

[Don Stiernberg]

One thing I try to do is find out what everyone else is doing.
To my ears, a band made up of some pickers using mics and others using transducers is a distraction. It takes a gifted sound engineer to blend those elements musically. So consequently, if the guitar player plugs in, so do I.

In my own group we come ready to do either.(The string bass player almost always uses a D.I., there seems to be no good mic for live sound for bass.) If the preference
of the sound engineer is to have us use D.I.'s, we will, given that he knows the room/venue better than we do..

the transducer I use is the L.R. Baggs. The guitarist in my band has a Fishman. There are subtle differences between brands, but more critical I feel is the preamp. I again use the Baggs, it stays with me on stage and therefore I can tweak EQ or volume during the show. Very devious and sly, I know!

SM 57's and SM 58's are more alike than they are different.You may want to go to the Shure website or catalog and research frequency response, proximity effect, and suggested applications for both. I've had one of each for about 30 years,and their reliability is obviously no joke.

The old trick of using a mic for the house(natural sound) and the transducer for the monitors(no feedback)works too, although I've found engineers think of that as overkill, leading us back to the "one or the other" approach.

When sound pressure levels allow, a condenser mic can be used. In other words, if it's a lower volume gig, or there won't be too many mics open on stage, or if you have a genius engineer who knows how to run a bunch of condensers without feedback. I recently came into a KSM 137. On two shows it has sounded wonderful. Condensers of course usually require phantom or battery power, and yield a more detailed frequency response, thus giving us that more "natural" sound. Here your research should include the pickup pattern the mic has--if it sensitive to sound coming from every direction, it is more liable to feed back, right?

Good condensers are a bit more expensive and prone to theft so touring bands need to devise ways to protect them as they travel on airplanes. A beer soaked SM 57 may not draw the same attention...

Sennheiser makes some great dynamic mics that make a mandolin sound good. AKG has some terrific condensers. Actually most mic companies make both styles and then some.
The point here is that it really doesn't boil down to a choice between a pickup and an SM 57, there are lots of options.

Well to keep in mind that artist endorsing or advertised with certain mics may not be working in the same venues we are. For instance, some one using a KSM 44 multi-pattern condenser may also be travelling with an in-ear monitor system and salaried sound tech. That same mic at a community college coffeehouse through floor monitors may send the band running to the green room for safety...

Someone said here a pickup might be preferred when working with a drummer. I agree with that--you need all the help you can get. I often have a small full range amp(designed for transducer/acoustic rigs) with me as a monitor, and send the
pickup's sound from the preamp directly to the PA while using the amp on stage to hear my own thoughts. Again, good sound techs make this sound natural and musical. I've had people ask what mic was inside the mandolin-there isn't one!

Moving "in and out" to control volume on a mic is great and an art in itself. When using a pickup, you can do the same thing with your right hand touch. We should be able to play at all dynamic levels anyway, right? Or, a volume pedal or switcher in your circuit could have a similar effect.

All I ever wanted to do was play the mandolin. Now here I am carrying around all this other stuff! Oh well, whatever allows people to hear the notes. That's what music is, that's what makes people happy--the notes. The notes need to be clear and have a nice warm tone too. There's a lot of ways to get that and it seems sound gear and tech people get better all the time.

I hope some of my experiences and observations are helpful to you and I wish you good luck with the quest for a comfortable rig that lets your audience hear the notes.

[johnbaxter]

Don, that's great information! Thank you for your insight and sharing your experience. You brought up a lot of points I've never considered.

[AlanN]

#All I ever wanted to do was play the mandolin.
I used to say that (and still do, when no one is looking) http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif