Q: Why do some singers prefer the Shure SM57 microphone for vocals over the SM58?

A: This is a silly question. The SM57 and 58 are identical to each other except for the rounded shield on the 58 which is designed to shield the diaphragm from explosive air bursts from vocalists’ mouths such as B’s and P’s and so forth. If you have a 58 and want to make it into a 57, just screw off the ball shaped screen! There is no internal difference between these two microphones!

The more interesting question is, why would anyone prefer to use either of these mics? The 57 and 58 are both 50+ year old designs which were state of the art when they first came out (in 1966), and were so revolutionary and amazing at that time that they were the gold standard for live performance microphones for two decades. But they haven’t been state of the art for a very long time. Believe it or not, microphone technology has improved in the last half century… thus, there are FAR better mics out there today, in the same price range (e.g. Sennheiser e845). Why people still use 58’s (or 57’s) is a mystery to anyone who has actually listened to the quality of their sound in a side by side comparison with other more current mics. For any application you can name, there are other mics available that put these two dinosaurs to shame.

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