Is the Shure SM7B overrated?

[minervx]

TLDR: Good mic.  Has a place in a microphone collection.  But not the end-all-be-all.  Not necessarily better than every mic under its price for every person and every use case.

 

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SM7B is the microphone that many beginners without much audio knowledge buy when they want to upgrade their sound quality.  They see many podcasters and streamers use it.   But it's not necessarily the best choice for beginners and it's not for everyone.  If you're just looking to voice chat in games or stream on twitch, I'd argue it's overkill.

 

Shure's marketing is exceptional and it creates a positive feedback loop.  It established an advantage in the 60's to 80's and snowballed from there.  And it's easier to convince a company to have a business expense for a product that's from a well established company for 50+ years like Shure, than to justify an expense from a lesser known company.   If someone goes on a forum to ask for a mic recommendation under $500, you will see a lot of comments in favor the SM7B.  But did all those commenters try a wide variety of mics at that price point?  Probably not.  They know of the SM7B.  More people will have a favorable view of the SM7B than other mics because they've tried it or heard of it.  There are probably many mics as good as the SM7B that we haven't heard of or tested?

 

Background Noise.  There's a myth that dynamic mics reduce background noise.  This is because they're less sensitive to gain and people under-supply them with gain, and the overall output volume is lower.  At lower volumes, background noise is quieter but that's because all noise is quieter.  The background noise information is still in the signal.  A microphone has no way of distinguishing the distance of where sound travels from, or arbitrary things like what noise the user views as essential vs. meaningless background noise.  At equal volume, the SM7B will pick up as much background noise as other cardioid mics.  But being even less sensitive to gain than many other mics out there.

 

(^ Same logic applies to opinions about it being great for loud vocals because you can scream into it as loud as you want.  You can scream into literally any mic, even the most sensitive condesner mic, if the gain is set appropriately)

 

Sound quality.  The frequency response is largely flat with a light boost at 5-6k and cuts at 7-9k (which reduce sibilance, but also presence; some people may want that treble in their voice).  I'd describe the tone of the mic as neutral, slightly warm, calming and soothing.  But there is subjectivity in tone.  This tone may be flattering for some voices, but it may not be for everyone.  And it would be fallacy to assume that just because it's a $400+ mic, that its tone is automatically better for your voice than any mic under it.

 

Design.  One reason why it sounds good on many people is because it's design encourages proper use.  The capsule is buried inside of the mic, so you don't get too close and have an excessive proximity effect sub-bass.  The windscreen is very generous in blocking plosives.  The mic has a swivel to adjust it to face your mouth.  But you can do all of these things with literally other any microphone; the SM7B is just more idiot-proof.

 

The truth.  Your mic choice isn't the only factor in your sound quality.  Your recording environment, mic placement, acoustic treatment and knowing how to use fx plugins are factors too.  Getting a higher-end mic doesn't fix these other factors.  In many cases, the solution is knowledge; not just throwing money at the problem.

 

Is this worth buying?  If you're a professional studio or have a lot of disposible income, yes.  It's a no-brainer for a studio; they already have an ideal recording environment, and of course, they're going to buy the mic that many of their clients want to use.  But if you only have several hundred to spend on an audio setup and you don't have an ideal recording environment, spend money on improving the environment.

 

 

 

 

[NinJake]

What SM7B alternatives would you recommend that aren't as overrated?

Maybe something up to $150, another mic up to $300, and lastly a mic with a budget up to $500.

[HAL90000]

If it's half as good as my Shure 840A headphones it'll be excellent.

[ToboRobot]

Professional tools like this or a Red camera probably won't give average people without professional skills (and time) the same professional results.

It's hard to consider a whole workflow system and not just a single product. 

"If podcaster/streamer X uses it, I need to have one to become the next influencer..." is a very profitable game to play.

[minervx]

2 hours ago, NinJake said:

What SM7B alternatives would you recommend that aren't as overrated?

Sterling ST55 probably?  Behringer C1?  MXL has a few good options, including the V67G.  And maybe use some kind of large windscreen on them, and/or at least a pop filter.  EV RE20 is another option, also common on podcasts/radio, though same price range.

 

2 hours ago, NinJake said:

Maybe something up to $150, another mic up to $300, and lastly a mic with a budget up to $500.

Past a certain point, more money doesn't mean better.  It's subjective; I use some of my <$100 mics more than my SM7B.  

 

All mics with a reasonable frequency response curve essentially do the same thing.  Pick up the sounds recorded to them mostly faithfully, with maybe some light eq boosts.  Mics haven't gotten any better since the 50-60's, the technology reached a cap a long time ago.  They just became cheaper and companies started marketing them to consumers; but they haven't fundamentally changed.

 

And when you take into account mic placement, proper technique, sound treatment and post-processing, the mic choice (as long as you don't have a mic that's just flat-out bad) isn't too important.  

[minervx]

To illustrate my point, you don't need to watch the whole video, but skim:

 

2:00 is a $50 mic used in a good environment
3:30 and 4:00 are a $1000 mic used in a bad environment

 

[Fluph]

It is a mainstay for a reason.
You could also add the RE20.
For many a SE ELECTRONICS DYNACASTER would be their end game dynamic.  Not quite as smooth and maybe not as durable but it is more than good enough and 99% of your listener wouldn't hear any difference.

Also Microphones are not a one size fits all.  Some voices just don't sound good on certain microphones.

If you like delving into rabbit holes then look for Podcastage on Youtube (no affiliation to me but the guy makes microphone reviews funny and informative!)

[minervx]

28 minutes ago, Fluph said:

It is a mainstay for a reason.

Yes.  But being a mainstay isn't just about being good.  Marketing is also a factor.  It's a good mic but it's also famous for being famous.

 

Most people who decided on the SM7B didn't compare and research 20 different <$500 microphones, and then independently picked which one they liked the most.  There are probably hundreds of mics out there just as good, but those companies didn't market their product as well, nor had the advantage that Shure had as a company, getting into the microphone space early.

 

And I'm not saying everyone should go out and try to be a nerd about microphones.  Someone working on their podcast is probably focused on their business and their content.  And buying a mic is just one of the thousands of decisions they need to make.  If it's good and many other people in the industry used it to success, that's enough for them.

 

It's okay that we have blindspots.  We're humans, and we don't have time to devote to doing everything perfectly.  But at the same time, it's at least good to be aware that we have limited knowledge.