Hi!

My name is Hans, i am from Chicago and i decided to do my first assignment 

as a blog. I've always felt comfortable writing about subjects i'm interested in, 

so i think for me this is a good start. 

My lesson today will be about my favorite recording microphone, and how that relates 

to the lesson we had about microphones.

As we saw in the lecture, it's very important to decide which microphone you use for 

the things you want to record with it. 

First of all you have to consider the environment you're in. 

In my case that's a room that on the front (window) side has a lot of traffic and a sidewalk 

directly in front of me. Not ideal, by far.

Furthermore there's radiators and other sounds that i have to try not to record.
I'm sure those of you who have used microphones in a home setting know what i mean..
The microphone that i keep going back to is the Sure SM57

                                   The SM57 is a dynamic microphone with a cardioid polar pattern.

                                       ( the heart shaped figure in front of the microphone)

This means that the microphone has to point towards the object that you're going to record.
At an angle of around 150 degrees the pickup drops off considerably.
This makes it very useful to prevent it picking up those ambient sounds i just mentioned.

The challenge with this microphone is that you have to set it up and place it very carefully to get good results.
I had to get used to what the microphone requires for a good recording and once i got comfortable with that, i started using it more often. As i said, it now is my go to mic.

The microphone is also a favorite because it's so versatile. I record acoustic and electric guitar on it, use it to record percussion and drums and i even use it for vocals.  
Although it is not perfectly suited for recording acoustic guitar, it does a perfect job for me given the 
environment i'm in. In theory it records best with sounds more solid that acoustic guitar, but it is very flexible
when you need to give it a bit more microphone pre-amp for this purpose. 

It has a frequency response of 40 to 15000 herz, which for me is great for my style and instruments.

It doesn't pick up well in the frequencies below or above that, which again helps to eliminate unwanted sound.

I also use it often to record electric guitar. I normally place the microphone exactly in front of the speaker cone, but i can dramatically change the timbre of the sound by placing it at an angle or put some more distance between the speaker and the microphone.

                                          Directly in front ..

                                          ..and at an angle with more distance

This is very useful when you are trying to find the right "color" of the sound. I always try to consider the "air" in between the microphone and whatever i record. These terms of course relate directly to "Timbre" and "Amplitude" respectively in the video lectures we have seen on microphones. 

I use the SM57 with my audio interface, i connect an XLR cable to the interface directly or through a directbox. I also record through direct input (DI) with a semi acoustic guitar, and record it with the SM57
at the same time. This gives great options in my DAW, for i can use both the electric and acoustic input at the same time or not. 
If i use them together it gives me a lot more options to change the dynamics and overall sound of the recording.


Well, this was my first assignment. I really enjoyed making it! I love recording and talking about 
"sound", so this wasn't a chore for me at all. I hope you enjoyed it and found it interesting.
Thanks for taking the time to read it!


Hans Hendriksen