Which microphone to buy?

[Hoblit]

I plan on buying a microphone to go with my drum mic kit, basically for the snare. {EDIT} Primarily for studio recording {/EDIT}

However, I would like a multi-purpose mic... perhaps good for a guitar cabinet, acoustic guitar, vocals, etc.

Main purpose: snare drum
2nd purpose: guitar cabinet

I kind of want a microphone to cover those two main bases but maybe more.

I've been planning on the Shure SM 57
I've ALSO been looking at the Audix I-5
A friend of mine is swearing I should be looking into the Sennheiser 609

Doing my homework, there isn't enough on the Audix to go on, and it's hard to judge the 609 because people either love it or hate it, and the SM57 gets its share of love, but it also gets the 'industry standard' tag as both its pitfall and saving grace.

Ya'lls opinoin? I'm making this purchase tomorrow after work.

[ken]

Given the choice of those three, I suggest the Audix I5. I've used all of them, and I think it sounds the best on both snare and guitar cabinet. The Sm57 is great, but scooped. The e609 is nice on guitar cabs, but only ookay on drums. The I5 sounds like a hiFi version of the SM57. The other option might be to get a 57 with the TAB T58 transformer in it. Then it sounds more like an SM7, which rules on just about everything.

Ken

[tuuur]

Can't really go wrong with the SM57.

At the venue where I briefly tried to learn the basics of live audio engineering that one was used both for snare as well as for guitar amp cabinets. In the right hands, that sounded pretty darn good (those weren't my hands of course, no talent at all, so I quit).

[Hoblit]

Can't really go wrong with the SM57.
At the venue where I briefly tried to learn the basics of live audio engineering that one was used both for snare as well as for guitar amp cabinets.

Here I should clarify that this is for the studio primarily. I've rarely used my drum mic kit outside of the studio. Just haven't needed to. Although, between our guitarists equipment and mine, we could run a small club... yikes. Scary gettin' old.

However, thanks... I do appreciate your opinion and thats what I'm hearing, pretty standard but a solid standard none the less.

Given the choice of those three, I suggest the Audix I5. I've used all of them, and I think it sounds the best on both snare and guitar cabinet. The Sm57 is great, but scooped. The e609 is nice on guitar cabs, but only ookay on drums. Ken

The Audix was suggested by the Guitar Center guy and it wasn't a pushy sale either. In fact he asked me if I had internet access and wrote it down complete with a website to go to.

[ken]

Yes, you are basically comparing $99 dynamic mics.

[Billy's Little Trip]

I like the sm57 for the things you described, but I've never used the two other mics that you mentioned. The sm57 is a no risk purchase, but I've come to realize that Ken's advice is spot on 99.9% of the time.

[jute gyte]

Pumpkin Buzzard used the Audix I5 recently for snare micing and it sounded lovely. Haven't tried the other two.

[Paco Del Stinko]

No expert here, but I use Both the 57 and 609, and have never tried the I5. I like the 57 because it does the amps and drums, like we know, but if you had to, you could even sing out of it. The 609 I find great for recording amps and I use it to record the side of my snare drum while the 57 records the top. Mix'em together afterwards. We need Blue to pipe in, he's a known fan of the 609 and even had pics up here somewhere of him recording his snare with one.

[Hoblit]

I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with the Audix I-5 at this point but keep the advice coming if you'd like. I may eventually purchase the 57 down the road for the 'just to have one' mindset.

[ken]

I think we all know that having one mic to rule them all is not ideal, and that a good mic locker would have all three of these mics. I have two of the three, and a few variations on the sm57. Do I use them all on each session? No, but I'm glad to have options and flavors.

Keep up the good work team!

Ken