Shure SM7dB Dynamic Vocal Microphone w/Built-in Preamp for Streaming, Podcast, & Recording, Wide-Range Frequency, Warm & Smooth Sound, Rugged Construction, Detachable Windscreen - Black

Podcast industry standard for a reason. If you are just chatting or want a solid mid grade mic that is good enough to record songs on this is a good pick. If you have the money there are better mics on the market for the purpose of song and instrumental recording such as a Neumann. Just be ready to shell out four digits per mic for those.Those of us that want a good general use mic that we will most likely not outgrow get the SM7(dB). You WILL have to buy extra stuff to make this mic work, and WILL NEED to spend time setting the mic up. It is not plug and play. You can slap everything together needed and just go with it, but you will sound bad. Search online for how to set the mic and your XLR amp up properly.The SM7dB is the upgraded version of the the series and I bought it over the normal SM7 because it takes into account customer feedback about the older version. If you want to save some money the normal SM7 just needs a good dial tunable XLR amp and some decent audio software to make up for its shortcomings. The money you save getting the baseline SM7 over the SM7dB will allow you to buy a decent XLR amp if budget is a concern. So the choice over the SM7 or the SM7dB is budget vs personal preference.Things you will need to run this mic:-Mic stand or boom arm-Special adapter to fit the mic to the stand or boom properly if needed-XLR amp-XLR cable (do not be cheap)-High quality USB-C to USB-A cable or USB-C only cable to connect the XLR amp to your PC-Recording software of choice (freeware works fine)-Fine tuning of operating software settings to match the micMy setup with the SM7dB and everything mentioned above totaled about $900 USD all said and done. You can save a couple hundred by picking the SM7, a cheaper XLR amp, and a lower price boom/stand than I did, but this should give you a rough idea what the true cost of this mic will be. Keep in mind this is still below what it cost for just a Neumann TLM 103 mic with nothing to run it, and that mic is what professional radio and recording studios have considered industry standard for over 25 years. So if you aren't doing professional singing and want to be able to run the whole setup for less than what the cost of a Broadway quality mic alone is, get the SM7(dB).

Have this mic for awhile now and the reviews on this are spot on. You want quality from the build to performance this is the mic. Whether you sing or use for podcasts you can't go wrong.When I first ordered the mic this wouldn't work and I was like what a piece of junk but like anything every once in awhile you simply get a defective one and I tend to have that luck. So to be fair I returned it and got the other one and then the experience of what I ordered and expected with no problems has been very nice. Shure microphones are worth every penny, I know they aren't cheap but would argue they are not overpriced like many other run of the mill mics. I bought a really nice budget mic from moano prior to this and its a solid mic but no comparison to this one. This shure mic is very crisp and clear and you definitely want a boom arm for this at your PC. The shure arm was also worth every penny.

I'll start by saying that I absolutely hate that I have to write this review. I've been using Shure microphones for over 3 decades and have never had such a terrible experience with one of their products, or with Shure as a company.I purchased the Shure SM7dB on 11/29/2024 as a part of Amazon's Black Friday deal for $449.00, which is $50 off the original price. I figured it was a good deal and I've been looking at them for a while, so I decided to splurge on this rather than buying the original microphone that I intended to which was also on sale (the Super 55 which was $189.00).The item arrived the next day, the packaging was factory sealed, and the microphone was in perfect condition. When I connected the microphone, I could not get a signal to my audio interface. I read the manual thoroughly and started troubleshooting. I'll preface this by saying that I'm extremely familiar with professional audio equipment and own several components. I verified that all of my settings were correct. I even swapped out cables 3 times to ensure that wasn't the issue. To confirm, I connected my Shure BETA 58A and got a signal immediately. I also connected both the SM7dB and BETA 58A to an analog mixer and still received no signal from the SM7dB. I even disabled the built-in preamp on the SM7dB and added an inline preamp (Triton FetHead) which provides +27dB of gain and still could not receive any signal from the microphone.I was really confused at this point. There's no way that this brand new microphone should not work. I must be doing something wrong. So, I turned to Google. Well, it turns out that this problem has been happening to several people since late last year. I read several reports of the exact same issue that I was experiencing. The microphone was defective.I contacted Amazon's customer service, who was less than helpful and could not offer a replacement, only a refund. I opted for the refund, which has been picked up and it can take up to 30 days to get my money back.After dealing with Amazon, I also decided to reach out to Shure, since they're known for their outstanding quality and customer service. Surely they wouldn't be selling a product that they know is defective. Maybe it just hasn't been reported to the right people? I was optimistic that Shure couldn't possibly have known about this being a widespread and ongoing issue for over a year.I completed Shure's online contact form and was told I'd be contacted the next business day, which did not happen. After they failed to contact me, I became impatient and talked to someone via their online chat. He informed me that this is indeed a known manufacturing defect and there are some defective microphones still floating around out there. I asked him why Shure didn't do a recall of the affected items along with how many units were affected, and he could not answer my questions.So, Shure knows that there's defective microphones and they're selling them for $500 anyway, without issuing any kind of recall or even a notice on their website. It seems like they're trying to keep this information from becoming public knowledge, which is really surprising to me and even more disappointing. The only way to know if you have a bad one is to try your luck and hope for the best.I'm currently waiting for a follow-up from Shure, but if they don't take action to rectify this situation appropriately, then I highly doubt that I will ever purchase another one of their products or recommend them to anyone else when they ask me. Companies are never too big to fail, and not that I wish that on any company, but they sometimes need a reminder that we are the reason that they exist and there are other companies out there with quality products.