I decided to do a comparison of various vocal microphones to find the best sounding microphone for my voice when singing live into a PA system... I reported this on a thread on www.acousticguitarforum.com...
I've now lived with the Beta versions of the Shure mics for about 4 days. The Electro-Voice... only one day. So please keep this in mind. Also, the tests I made are not scientific... these are just my own observations of the mics with my voice, not anyone else's. While all mics are great mics in their own right, there are distinct differences that can easily be heard. Whether they suit you or not is hard to tell. But these are my own conclusions based on what I hear for my own voice and my own preferences.
Also please note that my voice is rather "thin" in comparison to other male tenor voices. It doesn't have much depth to it when I sing. So I rely a lot on proximity effect (rising bass response when singing up close to a mic) to get some depth to my voice.
Also, these tests are geared for LIVE use... not for recordings. I'm not listening for the best recorded sound... I'm listening for the best live sound through a PA.
Shure SM58...
This is the standard by which most mics are probably compared to and that's most likely due to the fact that it has been around FOREVER. It's an old design, but one that has definitely lasted. I've used this line of mics for probably 40 years. The one I'm using to compare is perhaps 3 years old and hasn't really been used all that much. Relatively new, I'd say.
By itself, the SM58 is great. It's very smooth sounding and has a decent sound for most voices in my opinion. I've heard this mic used by a lot of people over the 40 years. Everyone seems to be pretty good sounding with it. While it claims to have a rising frequency response, you don't really hear that when you compare it to the other mics in this test. By itself, perhaps. In comparison.... no.
While some may say it's muted, I don't think it really is. I think its response is just smooth and so when compared to others that definitely have brighter sounds, it makes this mic sound muted.
Shure Beta 58a...
This was the obvious choice to compare against the SM58. Essentially, it's the updated version of the SM58. In comparison, it was louder than the SM58, slightly brighter, but seemed to lack bass response in comparison. I think this may be due to the relative level of frequencies, but not actually lacking in bass. Since the brighter high frequencies are more pronounced, you feel you are having less bass. Even singing close up on the mic (lips touching the screen), I don't seem to be able to get back the bass I think it should have for my voice. Mid frequencies also seem more forward to me. So with these two areas being emphasized more, the bass seems a lot less in comparison.
Shure Beta 57a...
This mic is advertised to be an instrument mic, more so than a vocal mic, although many people use the Beta 57a for vocals as well. In the past, I had a standard SM57 and recall it to be great sounding for vocals as well as instruments. An SM57 would work great for snare drums, toms, percussion and guitar amps (from what I'm told... although I never needed to mic my guitar amps in the past.)
The Beta 57a is similar to my recollection of what an SM57 is capable of as it seems to be much brighter than both the SM58 and Beta 58a. Of all, it had the least amount of bass response with my voice. Even singing with lips touching the mic, I could not get a decent bass response increase with proximity effect. So it could be that its proximity effect is very low, or that perhaps it just has low bass. I'm not sure what, but it definitely cannot give the kind of bass I hear with the other three mics. But due to its clear high frequency range, I see this mic as something that would be a killer sound if you want clean, crisp percussive sounds reproduced. For this, I agree, it's probably best suited to mic instruments...especially percussion instruments.
Electro-Voice N/D767a...
My first initial impression of this mic was, "Wow... this is so much louder than the other three mics!" Then, my next impression was, "Wow, this mic sounds funny..." Why? Well, with the gain moved up so much more, I found I had to move farther back from the mic than with the other mics so that I wasn't influenced by the shear volume increase! So my thin voice sounded even thinner and actually sounded really bad. I was extremely disappointed on my first try with the mic.
Then, I found out something interesting with the EV... it absolutely sounds awful if you sing without your lips within perhaps 1 inch or less to the screen! When I turned the gain down on my PA to compensate for the increased volume and I started singing with my lips literally touching the windscreen, this mic was AMAZING! Of all the mics, it has the deepest proximity effect but it doesn't seem to make the mic muddy sounding in the low-end! This is probably what they advertise as their VOB effect (Vocally Optimized Bass.) It actually works! Deep clean bass for thin voices.
The upper-end clarity is there as well. Very clean sounding. Mid frequencies are not too forward, but very clear as well. For my thinner sounding voice, this mic is what does the trick for me. It makes me sound a lot deeper than I actually am without a mic, but doesn't make me sound boomy. And it has a lot more clarity on the high frequencies than the SM58 or Beta 58a. Brighter than the Beta 57a? I'm not quite sure. It may be on par with it... I just can't tell. The two mics are so different that I don't think it is fair to compare them together with my voice.
Can the EV mic work with instruments? I haven't a clue. I didn't try it. But my gut feeling is that this mic is really a vocal mic. It's best qualities really only work when you are within about 1 inch or less from the windscreen. That would be hard for an instrument to be played properly with that kind of requirement.
In conclusion, for me, the Electro-Voice mic wins for my thin voice. Will it work for your voice? Who knows. Get one and try it. I'm really curious what it will do for people with deeper voices. I've read reviews where they all say it's great on female voices. But not many mention about male voices with this mic. Perhaps my thin male voice works with this as it falls closer to a female voice due to lack of depth. I don't sing as high as a woman... but the thin quality puts it as a good candidate for this mic.
Also, I'd like to mention that I don't think the EV mic would make a good general mic to use for various people who need to pass the mic around for announcements. For that, the Shure SM58 would be best. Why? Well, the EV needs your lips within one inch to make it sound good. Anything farther away lacks all bass and volume. Most people are afraid to sing or talk into a mic within one inch of the windscreen. Ever see what people who never use a mic do when you hand them one? It's probably about one foot away from their mouths! You'd never hear anything out of the EV mic if it was held that far away! With the Shure SM58, it's overall smooth sound and lack of need to be close to it would definitely work best. Very bright mics would just squeal in feedback if you turned up the gain to compensate for someone holding the mic a foot away from their mouth.
So in conclusion, for my voice, I'd rank the mic preferences like this:
1. Electro-Voice N/D 767a
2. Shure Beta 58a
3. Shure SM58
4. Shure Beta 57a
With your voice? Who knows...
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