Shure SM57 Transformer Mod
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- Опубліковано 10 лип 2024
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Put that transformer into a £17 Pyle SM57 knock-off and you've got yourself another interesting variant.
I had never heard of this. However, I was told that broiling a Telefunken MLA makes it sound as warm as money burning.
The stock SM57 did it for me so I won't be rushing off to make any microphone soup. Since I record voiceovers rather than instruments I prefer
Julian Krause's solution of using parametric EQ and an A2WS foam windshield to match the SM57 to the SM7b.
I liked the stock much better, it’s brighter and most importantly lot more open and wider tonal range.
Thanks… I’ll just get a pair and use them stock!
Im into aliens.
Subbed for that reason.
Thanks! I like the mod on the stair for sure. I think I liked the mod better. I might try one of mine. Super Cool!
the wire leads also need to be tightly twisted together as much as possible to maintain interference rejection. it makes a big difference.
also the phantom power shouldn't be a problem; it's a positive voltage that is EQUALLY applied to BOTH audio conductors with reference to pin 1 (chassey ground), usually in the neighborhood of +48VDC. since there isn't a voltage differential across the voice coil, no dc current should be able to flow, thus no damage. think about it, the voice coil wire is going to be about the same gauge as the transformer secondary. if it could melt the voice coil wire, it would likely also blow the tranny leaving you equally screwed (lol).
i.m.h.o. the mod is worthwhile for recording e-guitar, adding bite to drive and bells to clean sound - and with louder sound source the higher noise floor won't be a concern. Agreed on the statement about choosing other mic options in other cases :-)
In general you produced a fine video. Forgive me if i may do some myth busting regarding what you said. Your first statement suggests that the stock 57 has a transformer to offer a means to match the impedance of the mic to the first preamp and to increase gain which 'helps reduce Gain Before Feedback.' This is not entirely correct. Only the mic capsule design attributes to better GBF. The xfmr has little to do with that. Yes the xfmr is there to match impedances and yes will affect the frequency response of a mic if improperly done. But not necessarily add gain. Regarding the presence of phantom voltage, A properly wired stock or mod 57 or any dynamic mic for that matter will be subject to a voltage surge only while the mic is being connected or disconnected from the phantom source. But not when the mic is already plugged in. When the mic has already been plugged in and phantom voltage applied, no phantom current flows through the mic or xfmr. As far as phantom voltage is concerned the circuit is open. I have used xfmr-less mics live for decades without issue. I appreciate you clarifying the proper use of phantom voltage and if I may add, I'm sure everyone here has experienced hearing an audible click coming from a dynamic mic while plugging it in or upon unplugging. And as you mentioned, this should not be done as it may eventually damage the mic. General rule as you stated, is to leave the phantom off for all channel strips and pres until all microphones are connected. Then apply phantom as needed. This brings me to the most important lesson. Just like your ISA428, most quality pres include a control to electronically 'match' the impedance of the pre's input to the mic. Setting proper impedance is where significant tone and mic characteristics can be achieved. Thank you for your time.
after removing the transformer, and getting cables through the hole you must seal it with hot glue. area behind the capsule works like a resonance chamber, and to work properly it must be closed.
@@taylorsharp5928 tuning to the exact same frequency range isn't that important as sealing, but You are right, to do it right way it must be filled to achieve the same volume
I removed the transformer in one of mine years ago. I just stuck the mic in a clamp and used a heat gun. It comes out easily and doesn’t make a mess. I still have the transformer in case I want to reinstall it or use it for another project. Worth just buying a cheap heat gun to do this.
But isn't the transformer dead now anyway?
@@---pp7tq Naw the transformer is fine. All you have to do is solder the wires back up.
Yeah. Tons of noise on the transformerless 57 at time. For me across the board it sounds way more brittle.
From what I've been seeing the thing to do is swap out the stock xformer with an AMI T58.
Thank you for this cool experiment. For me there was a very clear difference on the clean guitar in the high end, much harder to hear on the snare I agree. No clue if it sounds like an SM7, seems unlikely tho. Might be worth trying out if you had a spare sm57 though just for a little something different.
If 2 tiny twists on the pepper is you adding flavour, I would hope I never have to eat your food
Good video, it does what you want - a comparison of the stock and modded mics. One small gripe though - please tune the guitar properly next time 👍🏻
Nice video, thank you! Though I feel that a better way to do the comparison with the amp would have been to place the mic at the exact same position. The mod one sound more bright with the guitar amp but it's also more close to the center which give a brighter sound. A test with a pre-recorded guitar and reamp with the exact same mic placement would have been more accurate.
Was thinking the same thing
not to be a dick, but the guitar test i feel is very unreliable in this case as I believe you had the modded one much closer to the center which made it sound brighter ! From what Ive heard the modded one usually rolls off some off the highs and sounds abit darker(just like your snare test showed!
Thanks for your comments James (and sorry for taking a year to reply!). Yeah we kinda rushed that bit haha!
Good stuff. Thanks for sharing. But I felt that the stock sounded better in all cases. However, I am not a trained musician or anything. But thanks for the experiment.
Stock sounded better on the snare, and there was a lot of background hiss from the Soup 57 on the spoken word.What sounds better? This. . . . . or this?
I’d stick with the stock 57.
I assume the background noise is because as Cosmic said, it reduces the input by 10db. That was probably his preamp so I wonder if it would make a difference if he had used a Fethead or CloudLifter then reduced the gain by 16db compared to stock to have it at around the same volume.
oh man you must show us the pop version of the mic thought this was so funny and good info sorry but you made me smile
I use moded sm57 , very cool mic ,less muddy.
Mmmm a soup that tastes and sounds good 😀
One should take notes on what colour wire goes to which lead. I took mine apart and now(still havent put it back together yet) I dont know what colour wire went to which lead! Also one can wire a 680 Ohm resistor across pins 2 and 3 of the mic to raise the impedance as taking out the transformer lowers the impedance!
Might be possible that the modded one reacts better with EQ. Even on mobile you can turn on some EQ and see. But it can be more clearly heard when you put your ear close to the speaker how snare is muddier in the stock one. Though from a distance it becomes less noticeable, and then even the stock one becomes "better".
Voice test was broken due to camera amp, it was said before.
Listening might have helped before commenting... it sounds like it's in soup a little bit... but then more open and lively on guitar... it's interesting... then the vocal, it sounds less boomy... its defiantly makes it it in to a less "sure" lol microphone... it like that live wire that makes everything worst apart from those gold moments when it's just brilliant... swinging and missing then one hit and it's out of the park... every match was lost... but that one hit... whoop!
I don't understand why the (modified) mic would be damaged or even explode, if you connect it to phantompower. You give +48V to pin 2 and +48V to pin 3. So the voltage difference between Pin 2 and 3 is ZERO Volts. Nothing. So nothing will happen. ;-)
congratulations, you've killed all the top end on your SM57. You're a genius !
ok what im hearing (im on the snare part) is that the transformless one pick up more bottom end. Am i right or wrong ? I think im right because that will explaind why the stock one seems to sound brighter
When you say the transformer is "dead" does that mean it can't be used again?
If it's hot glue, you can release the bond with rubbing alcohol, and pull it out without damaging anything.
I heard the most tonal change with the guitar. Sounded like the roundness in the low mids dropped out on the modified 57. Also, the noise on the modded was worse, obviously because more gain had to be applied for it to sound equal in volume. I guess if you were looking for a certain type of tone and the 57 wasn't cutting it that might work in a recording situation, but I think the 57 is already good enough at most things to not bother with modding in the first place, unless the transformer died, and you still wanted to make use of it!
If it’s just to get it to sound clearer, I would drop the extra $25 for a 545SD which has a bit more clarity than the SM57.
I´m with you, the difference isn´t as big bas i thought. So my alternative for snare is a Beyerdynamic m 201 it´s variation of the Revox company the m 3500 or double the SM57 with a shure SM81condenser or the Sennheiser MD 416.
maybe with a in-line preamp with no phantom let through added to ensure safty and give that boost it might need also
You don't apply phantom power to a stock 57 so I'm curious why you mentioned it for this mod?
I was going to skip this video until the microphone soup cutaway.
Bradford Craig that made us all laugh, we’re glad it made you stay!
I find the difference in snare and guitar quite marked, like a different mic. Much more body in the snare, and quite a scoop in the guitar. I was thinking though (as someone else here remarked also) that mic position (axis) on the cab does contribute quite a bit. Voice - neglectable. Not sure this hack is any more productive than simply choosing a different mic, but an interesting experiment anyway. Thank you!
I thought there was quite a big difference personally. The soup mic sounded poor to me. Some nasty stuff going on in the highs and I could detect some low end distortion on the snare. The guitars lost a lot of info with the soup mic, felt like one of those cheap 20 quid mics I used to buy when I first started recording. The voice recording clearly had a lot of broadband noise with the soupy. Great video but I will definitely not be boiling my 57!
Thanks Ewan, we started a new UA-cam channel back in March, so please head on over and check out some of our videos there!
ua-cam.com/users/PresentDayProduction
@@CosmicAudio thank you, I will subscribe right away!
Is that true that a (stock) SM57 works better with vintage or old mixers due their impedance matching?
Thanks for your question! Yes it can, the SM57 was designed for preamps with an impedance of around 600ohms, but it’s only really a tiny change in gain and tonality you may hear. I’ve answered your question in more detail in the video below. Thanks for asking!
ua-cam.com/video/A--GEIhj7iU/v-deo.html
I bet you enjoyed Mighty Boosh.
Also what was with the noise in the vocal demo(on the modded one)? I think there was something wierd going on there, The mic shouldnt be that noisey if it was modded correctly!
James Cassidy I think maybe the excess wires caused the hiss. He shud have twisted the wires as many times as possible to reduce interference. But with the excess length of wires jammed in and not properly twisted, I feel you shud get a lot of hiss.
Hey James, the extra hiss was due to the rubbish mic pre's on the camera - the necessary gain increase on the modded 57 really showed how noisy those pre's are, it wasn't really noticeable when using a 'proper' preamp. Thanks for watching
@@CosmicAudio why not record through the focusrite and drop the audio in when editing??? It's a very interesting idea for a video and mod which I appreciate. But I fear you have rendered it somewhat useless by using a relatively low quality preamp on just one of your three input sources... the comparison becomes fairly meaningless as a result. I only mean this as a constructive criticism. your vids are great :)
Ben Weedon Hey Ben, thanks for the feedback! We usually do use the Focusrite and drop the audio in, but for the vocal section at the end had the stock model and the modded model plugged into the pre’s on the camera - just to show how much extra gain you need on the modded model, and how a cheap preamp can affect that. But I forgot to mention that in the video! But really, the conclusion we came to is that the mod isn’t worth bothering with, and we haven’t used the modded 57 since we shot this two years ago! Thanks again for your comments, Ben!
Turns a Shure sm57 into a Pyle of garbage..
@@borrisrenfield8770 rubbish not garbage...lol jk
*This Guy "Blows"!* See it for yourself. 6:08
Yes, however.. “capsule” not “capshule” 😂
Wouldn't it be better to take the guts out and put them in a bigger housing like the SM7B has for more resonance? No idea if plastic vs metal makes a difference for the sound (probably does) but you could make a plastic housing pretty easily
Okay, soldering... but why is it pronounced "capshool", when there is no "H" in the English word "capsule"?
How you change impedance?
No Soup for You! Ha!!!
I thought the soup sounded thin
Squirl! 'Merica! J/k.
Could someone give me the link to the magazine he mentioned?
Hey Sid, big Boosh fan! tapeop.com/
I think the stock sounded better on the snare.
Drop a lil' 250 on the stock 57 .....DONE !! Whole lot to do about nothing really , but ya' never know until ya' try I guess .
Wait a second… if the transformer does cancel out phantom power, does that mean, that a SM7 would get fried by phantom power as well? 😨 As far as the Soup goes: Nah, not worth it for me. No soup, thank you! 😅
from what I could hear over my bad earphone: stock wins on all instruments. Getting rid of frequencies you don't like most probably is easier to maintain using EQ, isn't it? :)
U can hear it when u speak words
You told completely stuff. If you'd right wiring phantom power won't damaged it.
I like this video just for the SODDERING comment!
The mod’ed one sounds noisy. Glad I didn’t mod mine.
I honestly couldn't tell a difference.
Lol “Solder” vs “Sodder.” Yet you say “li ul “ instead Of “Little” . Cool vid!
Or "bah-um" instead of "bottom".. I wouldnt start a vid out by dissing accent and pronunciation. Reminds me of that I love Lucy episode where Lucy goes to England and says "sorry I dont speak english"
SAY "WATER BOTTLE" and then tease me.
I wonder what would happen if you modded a better transformer into a 57?
what would make a transformer better than the stock one?
Michał Bugajski look up Jensen transformers and Radial Engineering. Radial has videos explaining audio transformer technology, and it does make an audible difference. I have no complaints about the original 57... just an interesting idea 💡
Turns a Shure sm57 into a Pyle 78
there is SOO much hiss on the spoken word section, i'm concerned that the -20db pad was on. neither the modded or stock 57 should have THAT much hiss. even on my behringer mixer
Hey Greg, the extra hiss was due to the rubbish mic pre's on the camera - the necessary gain increase on the modded 57 really showed how noisy those pre's are! Thanks for watching
@@CosmicAudio Well it fucked your test all up.
Tune the freaking guitar.
Who thinks about boiling a mic . Crazy.?
Throw in some garlic, oregano, and tomatoes, and you could have a great mic sauce!
Ok... but the capsule will fry if one accidentally connects this mic to phantom power... what's more, the microphone is no longer balanced output and the impedance of the capsule is the one that pre-amp sees -> that's not ideal at all.
I would understand someone wanting to change the transformer to a better one, but this is just... nope...
too many disadvantages.
It's still balanced but lower z
@@jonathanread2297 No it's not. The voice coil of a dynamic microphone doesn't produce balanced signal.
That's a lie. Phantom power doesn't blast ur mic. Or preamp. I've done multiple times with my transformer less mic And nothing happened.
Jesus,,mic positioning is EVERYTHING in guitar recording. Youve got them the width of a mic difference directly on the speaker cone...that'll change MUCH
why not compare the soup with an SM7? stating the obvious maybe , but isn't that the scope of the experiment ...? just sayin'...🤓
nice, but how do you cook meth ?
Sorry, but you just humiliated your microphone. 57 is now like a Chinese fake!
I hear no difference what so ever u can not hear any diff at all unless u speak
A guy who says "squirro" at 2:18 is concerned about who's pronouncing the letter L correctly?
It actually is soddering. The L is silent. The British actually mispronounce the word.
Skwerl and Sahlder. Not Skwirro or Skwirrell. Not Soulder. Not Sodder.
Sodder is a regional pronunciation in the US. Northerners say Sodder for solder, just like they say cock for caulk.
It's aluminum not aluminininininium.
Hey Frank, no, it’s definitely ALUMINIUM! 😂😂😂
I have a PYLE clone that sounds way better than your modded 57 …
($11 US).
Are you saying you have a PYLE or a PYLE clone? Lol
PYLE is probably the best sounding sm57 alternative IMO. Similar low mids. The highs are a bit more 'tinny'
Better? How about different. It’s gonna take a lot to knock the 57 (or 58) off the throne. Many have tried over the last 40 years and they’ve all disappeared. Motto...don’t try and reinvent the wheel.
Squirr-el, Solder...because there's an L in it, yet you pronounce Tuesday "Chewsday", and you leave the R's off the ends of words that end in R's and take the T's out of the middle of words. Also, Jaguar is not Jag-U-ar! You don't get to tell us how to pronounce the name of a cat from the Americas when the Jaguar isn't native to Britain.
Ahhh but Phil, you don’t get to tell us how not to pronounce the name of the cat native to America when you yourself aren’t native to America! Now go shoot a bunch of squirls! 😝 And don’t even get me started on “fixing some eggs”. What the fuck is that all about?!
@@CosmicAudio how do you know he's not native American? As a native American I'll tell you he's right.
Furthermore you have no idea what a biscuit is.
There's no H in capsule. Just sayin' ;)
Pffft. "Capshual".
There is no “SH” in the word capsule. (Just an American observation)
It is not worth doing.
Bottom, not ba um. The claim was it would sound like an SM7. And you never compared it to an SM7. FAIL!!!
A good 57 mod is to replace the old transformer with this one. www.tab-funkenwerk.org/product/t58/ It smoothens out the mids but retains all the advantages of a transformer for an extra $90. I have an SM7B and this mod does not make a 57 sound like one but the mids are smoother which is one of the points of getting an SM7B.