Sennheiser e609 and e906
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- Опубліковано 8 лип 2024
- This week we're looking at another pair of alternatives to the SM57 for guitar and percussion duty. With an almost 60 year history, the e609 and e906 come from a storied history that saw revision after revision of chasing the bottom line to the mics we have today. Love 'em or hate 'em the mics are still a live sound go-to and find their place occasionally in the studio as well.
**CONTENTS**
00:00 - Intro
00:26 - History of the 609 and 906
07:00 - Electric Guitar Test
07:01 - e609 3" from grille
07:15 - e906 flat 3"
07:28 - e906 Boost 3"
07:41 - e906 Cut 3"
07:55 - SM57 3"
08:10 - All Mics Same Order
08:24 - e609 3" From Grille
08:38 - e906 Flat 3"
08:51 - e906 Boost 3"
09:05 - e906 Cut 3"
09:19 - SM57 3"
09:32 - All Mics Same Order
09:43 - e609 3" From Grille
09:54 - e906 Flat 3"
10:04 - e906 Boost 3"
10:15 - e906 Cut 3"
10:25 - SM57 3"
10:36 - All Mics Same Order
10:44 - Conga Test
10:49 - SM57 12" Above
10:59 - 906 Flat 12" Above
11:09 - e906 Boost 12" Above
11:19 - e906 Cut 12" Above
11:29 - e609 12" Above
11:40 - Drum Test
11:45 - e609 Rack Tom 1
11:54 - e906 Flat Rack Tom 1
12:03 - e906 Boost Rack Tom 1
12:12 - e906 Cut Rack Tom 1
12:21 - SM57 Rack Tom 1
12:32 - All Mics Same Order
12:38 - e609 Floor Tom
12:47 - e906 Flat Floor Tom
12:56 - e906 Boost Floor Tom
13:05 - e906 Cut Floor Tom
13:14 - SM57 Floor Tom
13:23 - All Mics Same Order
13:29 - Conclusion
Excellent! Thanks..
Thank YOU!
Amazing vid. Liking the e609
Thanks for checking it out. They both sound great. Can't really go wrong for the price on the 609. I like the tone better than a 57...
The price of the 906 is a little wild comparing it to the 609. That said, I thought the 609 was pretty good! I have one and have used it pretty much how you suggested: as a live guitar amp mic when a stand wasn't available or when the low profile was necessary in the studio. I've never really been disappointed by it. I don't think I'd ever use it when an SM7 or a Royer 121 was available but the 609 has definitely been a workhorse in the past and never underperformed for me
Its not a bad mic at all. I do prefer the sound of the 906, but its not a night and day difference and for the money… its does what it needs to do!
I liked the 906 presence boost on percussion, really helped to bring them out, for me thats worth an extra 100
Just got a 409 in and will be revisiting this very soon. I agree with you on the percussion thing. I just pulled this out a few nights ago to do some guiro, bongos and shakers. Worked really well and i basically had to do no EQ on most of it.
I work in a lot of venues with small stages, so not having to use a mic stand and it's requisite floor space is awesome with these. I'm into the e604's & e904's for the same reason.
Something ive found invaluable… audix makes a thing called a cab grabber. Its a spring loaded clamp that fits on most guitar cabs and has an arm that reaches around front and allows a mic to sit centered by the speaker. Great for putting up a mic properly when you cant just drape one over like 906/609. The 604 and 904 are live staples for toms. Never used one on guitar. I gotta check that out! Thanks!
Loving your videos! The deep dives into the history of the mics and the equally detailed recordings and comparisons are fantastic!
I think the SM57 is so popular _because_ it's so popular… or rather, it's used on a lot of people's favorite tracks and albums, and if they're trying to “sound like x” then $99 is a cheaper way to do it!
That being said, I think the 609 at the same price offers a more “jangly” top end and better control over the low-end. Plus, the form factor makes it pretty compatible in tighter spaces.
The 906 on the Rack Tom seemed a little punchier in the mids. The ability to alter the Top End _at the mic_ is definitely useful! If getting the “right sound” is as easy as flipping a switch? Great! Or, if you're short on time, getting “close enough” with a good mic is probably gonna cut it. Not sure if it justifies double the price, but price aside, it's a welcome feature. Rather have it and not need it.
I agree that the 906 never sounded like the 609, but for most applications, it'll probably work just as well.
Hey thanks for the feedback. I agree 100%.
The mid and low end on the 906 seems to be more forward. After i fixed the 609 with new foam, it seems to have altered the response on it. Tamed the highs a little bit. That video will be up soon and its interesting to hear how a little bit of poly foam tames things.
I own an e906 microphone. I mostly use it as a top rack tom mic and combine it with a condenser mic at the bottom. This combination yields great results. Another use for the e906 is as a snare bottom mic. Due to its small footprint, I mount it with a gooseneck holder on the snare top mic stand. When used in conjunction with the Lewitt Pure 440, I find it very useful for guitar cabs because they complement each other nicely.
We just got the new royer flex bar. Gonna try this out w the 906 on bottom snare. The bottom end of that mic was surprisingly good. Thx for sharing!
Great informative video. I really enjoyed the history of the mic.
I have the 57, 906 and 609. I’ve never really got into switches on mics. So I tend to set the 906 and forget. I find I can pretty much get the same tone out of either the 2 senheisers honestly. Just a tweak in position relative to the speaker and they sound pretty much the same.
For me the 609 at half the price and pretty much the same (in the mix) is the winner.
Yeah, I have to agree. The switches dont really change the game on the mic enough to double the price. Thanks for checking out the video!
In the Demo as a rack tom mic you can clearly hear the way better noise rejection of both the e906 and e609 compared to the SM57. We bought the e906 to mic a guitar cabinett in our practice room to get the guitar signal into our IEM mixer. We started with an SM57 but got too much crosstalk from the drums and keys into it, the e906 improved this significantly.
The pattern is a little wider on the 57 so that makes sense. Ive never been a fan of the 57 on just about anything. For live use the 609/906 are nice in the you can just drape the mic over the cab and dont need a stand in the way as well. You get more proximity effect from doing that but you can roll off the bottom end at the mixer if you need to. Thanks for watching.
Down with the 57!
It is a sickness of sorts… lol
I have all three mics and use the 906 the most. Once in a while I'll use it for a scratch vocal and it's not actually that bad. I prefer my Beyers though.
Beyerdynamic vs a $100 sennheiser… yeah id be rollin w them too! Lol. Thanks for watching!
It's amazing how great a $100 mic sounds through an $1,800 preamp. Solid video though
Thats a topic i plan on taking on in a future video. Thanks for checking it out though! Apreciate it!
I've been using an e609 on guitar (mainly hard rock / metal) in my studio for nearly 10 years now and I love it. Originally I was using an SM57 because that was always lauded as the go to guitar mic, but I was never happy with the sound. I tried a few other options (condenser and dynamic mics) but opted for the e609. Initially I would record with an SM57 and the e609 but I found myself always winding the SM57 back and relying pretty much exclusively on the e609.
I was doing something similar with the royer 121 and 57. Got to the point where i was just not using the 57 at all and stopped putting it up. I have a guitar micing video slated for later this year that goes into how big of a tonal difference millimeters makes when miking up the cab. Had i known about this years ago i could have saved hours of post time spent trying to fix it in the mix. Check out the bench tips video next week on the refoam job i did on the 609. I feel it really tamed some of those highs and made the mic sound better (my opinion). Thanks for checkin it out. Appreciate it!
Thanks - incredibly informative about the Sennheiser 'dangle over cab' duo.
Hatred of SM57 eh? LoL... I hear you, most of the time I see the SM57 as a 'necessary evil' to get the heavy guitars heard in the mix, especially if they need to be scooped in a rhythm part... Particularly interesting to me in the rather short snippets you provided with the heavy guitars was that the e906 'CUT' sounded very close to the SM57. I do own an e906 mostly due to the placement convenience factor (otherwise, I would doubled up the more versatile SM57 - which happens to record the US President at every press event for decades now), and I will try the 'CUT' setting on the e906 for the first time. e609 you ask... I will pass, thank you...
I do not know if you have noticed, but there are some 'SM58 on guitar cab' fans out there, including You Tube metal royalty (!) Ola Englund... I own both, and I know about the difference with vocals, but I never tested my 58 on guitars (lazy I guess...) Does the SM58 get any use in your studio at all? Cheers!
Hey, thanks for the comment. The 58 does get used in the studio, mainly for vocals but occasionally on instruments. (we usually have way better options available) The diaphragms for the two mics (57/58) are identical. The head basket is different and the 58 has a plastic cap that goes over the diaphragm under the "ball". This leads to some tonal variation but I wouldn't say one is "better" than the other. just different.
The 121 is still my "GO TO" mic for electric guitar (especially heavy guitar). I don't bother combining mics or anything for the most part anymore. The Dynamount has fixed that for us at the studio. We can just sit in the control room and listen to the sound as we move the mic around the speaker to find the right spot for what we're looking for.
I had a jazz band in the studio the other day and busted out the e906 for that recording and it actually worked really well. Jazz guys tend to play with a TON of low end and i felt the 906 handled that a little better than the 57 and even the 121 in that case. (but not by much... the 121 was fine, but the bottom was a little TOO thick... the 906 made it so i had to do a little less work in post). Always experiment when you can though, only way to get to know the gear and what works/ doesn't work.
Put it up against an SM7 and an OC818 for a male backup vocal (on a rich-voiced female lead) and the 906 (presence boost and high-passed) sat perfectly. Just goes to show horses for courses as they say.
Thats why we have more than just ONE mic! :) (at least thats what i tell the wife…) Thanks for checking out the video!
Maybe I missed the call out on the speakers in the 4x12 but, what model are they?
Ill be honest and say im not 100% sure. Its a stock 1960 cabinet so either celestian or emenance i would assume. But i really should open that up and see whats in there. Ill report back soon.
Just opened it up… celestian g12T75
Thank you sir! I'm actually going to use those speakers in my next cab build.@@meistudiony
Nice! They can handle just about anything. (4x12 handles 300 watts) We have some low watt amps in house and then a boogie triple rec... thing doesn't break a sweat and stays together no matter what we throw at it. A lot of people like speaker breakup... im not one of em though. I dont feel it records well.
906 on flat and cut sounds great to me on high gain guitars. Would have easily mistaken the marshall cab for a mesa.
I tend to like my mic's a little more on the darker side, so I have to agree with you here. I'm considering changing the foam surround like what i did on one of the 609's as I like the way the foam rolled off the very top end. (was in my re-foaming video)
I use the 906 live and love it. I think it just has a better tone to it than the 57. Opinions are subjective, of course
I wont refute that statement one bit... lol. Thanks for checkin it out!
Great video, I've never really been a fan of the 609 or 57 on guitar, but they're certainly cheap and convenient
Same here. 121 is my go to in studio. I've used a 421U or a 7B live. The 421 tends to just sound better and the 7b is great when you have a guitarist that can't seem to understand stage volume lol.
I have a few decades old 409113. Probably needs cleaning. I almost never use it.
If the capsule hasnt been enveloped with rotted foam, probably worth taking out!
Thanks for watching!
Why'd the 906 skyrocket in price? Last time I bought one it was much cheaper (years ago). I forget the exact price but the 906 wasn't 200 (the 609 was still $99 though)
Thats a great question. Considering the ONLY difference is the switch and filter caps/resistors... makes no sense. The capsule (as far as i can tell by eye) are identical, the housing is identical (with the exception of the tiny slit for the switch). Perhaps they felt if the prices were too close, they wouldn't sell as many of the less expensive ones for the added filters. It's all about the $$.
@@meistudiony - Thanks. Yeah super weird. I just did a quick email inbox search to see past prices. Seems I bought it in 2014 for 169, then in 2021 musiciansfriend sent a sales email saying the e906 is $70 off. That makes me think their overhead on making these is super low and they're hoping to get as much as possible since it's more high volume than most their other mics. Honestly for home studio work on a Vox amp I wasn't that impressed with it which is why I sold it. I got better results recording with the 609 in tandem with an inexpensive AKG condenser I had laying around. My goal was to give that celestion blue Vox chime justice
@@ikigai47 id put money on it being a perceived value thing. Two mics only a few bucks apart… theres gonna be a winner and loser. Make one double the price and they no longer compete.
Am I the only on that thinks the Boosted e906 sounds the best for guitar? I also own all three mics but have been using the e906 on my guitar cabinets (flat) live
The boost adds some nice grit to the sound. I'm a fan of darker tones on most things and sine the two mics are pretty much identical when set flat, I'd probably 609 it for cost alone. It's nice to have that option at the mic if things aren't quite working elsewhere.
@@meistudiony it also seems like the SM57 has a "warmth" to it.
How ? old was the e609 to get the foam already like that what ?
Less than 10 years i think.
@@meistudiony You got to be kidding me, i got 6 of them 10 years ? i thought like maybe 24 years since it came out in 2000 i think thats nuts did someone sing into it all the time ?
@@christopherdunn317 no one ever sung into it. Was being used on guitar cab only. The material that the foam is made of breaks down naturally and turns into that sticky tar. Terrible choice for mic manufacturers. Depending on atmospheric conditions it will breakdown faster or slower. EV and the RE20 suffer from this as well and its a LOT more foam inside, but the capsule is better protected.
Well, I have a 57 and e906. I bought the 906 because it claimed a crisper top end. Well, I use the flat setting anyway. lol. In every example here, I prefer the sound of the 609 over any of the switch settings for 906. 🥸
Yeah it's kind of an enigma. The 609 and 906 seem to have the same capsule. Yet even in "flat" mode, the 906 and 609 dont sound the same, so theres definitely some other "thing" happening in there. I'm not sold on the 906 myself. The 609 I still like better than the 57 and i can't justify the 906 price, esp. if the voicings aren't bringing anything to the table that is useful. Thanks for checking out the video!