The SM7dB is Shure’s modern take on the company’s ubiquitous Shure SM7b studio and broadcast microphone. Unlike the original, which requires significant amounts of low-noise preamp gain to function at healthy recording or broadcast levels, the SM7dB features 18 or 28dB of super clean internal gain, selectable (and bypass-able) via a switch on the back of the mic’s barrel, and which only functions when phantom power is engaged on your external preamp – an unusual requirement indeed for a dynamic mic.

A tiny bit of background here though, before we describe the SM7dB in more detail…

The original Shure SM7 came out in 1973, when television in Australia was broadcast in black and white and seatbelts in cars were optional. Little about this mic has changed in the five decades since, illustrating just how well suited to its various roles the original design has proven to be. Over the couple of iterations of the SM7 there have been only minor improvements made to protect against radio and electronic interference, the addition of more pronounced switches, and now with the release of the new 7dB, a slightly longer barrel and the aforementioned internal preamp gain. Over the same time period cars have learnt to drive themselves and computers have taken over the world.

The SM7 and its variants, were then, and remain now, iconic studio microphones, famous for their smooth, rich and solid dynamic tone. They have an impressive ability to cope with very loud sound sources, like screaming vocalists and guitar amps cranked to 11, as well as the capacity to reject extraneous room ambience, which is why they’ve often been a favourite mic amongst countless recording engineers worldwide for tracking ‘live’ vocal takes with a loud band in a single acoustic space. Here the SM7dB will typically capture the vocals well while rejecting the vast bulk of the spill.

If you’re recording multiple instrument and sound sources live to your DAW or tape machine, the SM7dB is certainly a mic to consider for your arsenal – it sounds smooth and clear, has a tight cardioid polar pattern that’s quite deaf to sounds impinging on its rear end, and it rejects plosives well, although no mic is infallible on this front. If you want to be more certain of plosive protection on your precious recordings, live-to-air broadcasts or on-camera videos, you’ll need to either add a conventional pop shield, or swap the mic’s standard shield for its larger variant, which comes supplied with the mic.

One of the SM7dB’s signature features is its minimisation of proximity effect. This is achieved by having the capsule set back about 40mm from the front of the metal grille, which makes it basically impossible to ‘climb all over the capsule.’ Sure, you can get right on the pop shield, but you can’t get right up on the capsule.

Like all its predecessors, the SM7dB is great for vocals and electric guitars, sounding essentially identical to the SM7b in these roles. This should come as no surprise, given that the two share the vast bulk of their componentry. Although an important point worth mentioning here is that mics don’t make sounds, they capture them. The outcome of any recording made with an SM7dB is dependent on the tonal characteristics of the source.

TRACKING SOME SOUNDS WITH THE SM7dB

Playing my ’67 Gretsch Streamliner through a small Goldentone amp, the SM7dB captured a messy, distorted tone that added balanced weight to other guitars on a track. Like the ubiquitous SM57, the SM7dB provides an accurate and unhyped aural image of an electric guitar, albeit with a slightly more pronounced low end at around 80 to 100Hz. If you’re used to recording a guitar amp with a 57, the SM7dB will provide a bit more low-end body at any volume.

On main vocals the mic imparts similarly balanced characteristics. Vocals sound clear but absent the top-end detail or sheen of a typical condenser mic. You won’t have to spend hours de-clicking the vocal with an SM7dB either, because all those high-frequency palate artefacts typically captured by a large-diaphragm condenser are essentially ignored by the SM7dB. It sounds great on loud singers, and in front of nervous ones, the physical appearance of the SM7dB can sometimes be less intimidating.

If you have 10 condenser mics in your collection for vocal recording, but no SM7s, the SM7dB is well worth considering. It sounds essentially identical to the SM7b but is far more capable of recording quieter sound sources without the need for a high-gain quality preamp. If you have ordinary preamps, or perhaps your favourite vintage pres only provide 50dB of gain before they turn into white noise generators, the SM7dB’s additional 28 will take the pressure off by providing additional gain.

As far as dynamic mics go, the SM7dB isn’t cheap, but it’s versatile, very well built, has a track record longer than the yellow brick road, and sounds solid on countless sources. If you’re a studio owner, or a musician recording at home or playing live, this mic should be high on your list. It provides a good ear to almost any sound, whether it’s an acoustic guitar or a stick of dynamite. With an SM7 in your recording chain, it will almost certainly be the last thing to distort. Before that happens your other components will likely have melted or shut down.

The sound of the SM7dB is balanced and accurate, and effectively a bullseye for vocals of any description. It represents the ‘middle of the road’ in many ways; tending to pull vocals onto the centre line, rather than drag them into uncharted sonic territory. To some that may sound like conservative thinking or safe recording logic. To others, this new classic Shure microphone mics represent certainty.