Review of the SM4 SM4 SM4 microphone

If you want to record your vocals for games, meetings or podcast or two, many brilliant microphone options are available. And, it must be said, a lot of these brilliant microphones are made by Shure, a company so rooted in the audio recording space that he might as well set up a tent. However, if the creation of content is your game, you can consider the update from a regular microphone connected to USB to deep water capture -based interception, and if so, Shure claims that it has covered you.

Shure SM4 is a kind of microphone that can be found in a home recording studio, i.e. a garage of your long -haired partner, which is skillfully glued with pieces of chest and a strange spiky piece of foam. It is a condensing microphone with a circulatory polar pattern, which means that it is designed to collect both from close distance and at a distance, and is suitable not only for recording vocals, but also to capture instruments, ambient sounds or everything you may want to pick up in a tiny room.

It has also been strongly protected to prevent unwanted RF noise from wireless devices, and is equipped with a 1-inch brass double diaphragm capsule, which at least on paper is a vast improvement for units that you will find on most stationary microphones. And it must be said that it is not inexpensive.

The microphone itself will choose you 219 USD/£ £ 209 for the basic unit with the clip of the boom ARM adapter, but Shure provided me USD 299/275 £ The Studio set, which contains elastic shocks, a detachable magnetic POP filter (designed to supplement the built -in pop filter in the microphone itself) and a handy case for transferring it to move in motion.

What does not contain is the XLR registration interface with Phantom +48 V DC POWER, you need to connect it to your computer, the right cable or a significant amount of talent. However, the first two of these things are available nowadays for amounts below 100 USD, and as someone who worked in creating content in some form or fashion through vast parts of my career, I have several of them knocking. They represent a step above the plugin and playback, shocking the sound of an ordinary user and a bold move towards pushing audio talents towards a vast wide world of content creation.

And, it must be said when we are moving towards semi-professional microphone territory, prices tend to shoot quite quickly-what is Shure MV4 is actually quite well valued for the market segment. Despite this, it is a lot of moolah for the microphone and whether you need one or not is something I will be for later.

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For now, let’s focus on the microphone itself. This is a wonderfully well -made set, with a type of weight and a gloomy finish that I associate with studio equipment. It will sound like a strange thing to say, but even smell professional. On the side of the shock there is a 5/8 inch thread, with 3/8 inches of the adapter’s brass ring for different sizes of the boom arms, along with another 5/8 inches thread hidden in the base of the microphone itself.

No, no desktop stands on you. It is a microphone designed for employ with the arm, a USD 120. Here is a tiny tip – while the Shure model will probably be quite good, you can pick up the 40 USD unit, which will probably also work. Fancy is a nice thing, but I used couples these tonor boom shoulders For years without incidents. Every saving helps, right?

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Attached to the appropriate arm of the boom and XLR cable and connected to USD 69 M-Audio XLR for the USB interface I lie nearby (I had to blow dust, but it does properly), Shure SM4 reveals itself as simply a pretty -sounding microphone. With a frequency response from 20 Hz to 20 kHz and the benefits of all this cover, in combination with its 1-inch brass capsule, tends to reject unwanted noise and capture a balmy, defined tone, with types of velvety, but also about the very costly studio microphones.

Shure recommends placing it from one to six inches from the mouth to capture vocal, which means that an additional, magnetically attached pop filter is useful to reduce PLOSVIVES. The built -in version performs admirable work, but I would say that an additional unit corresponds to accidentally registering the vocals “Puh” and “Buh”. In addition, considering the elastic shock fastening and the MICS tendency to reject unwanted noise, capturing a studio vocal tone is as uncomplicated as possible.

It is unusual how well rejection of noise is designed in the physical microphone itself, which means vocal work, which you can absolutely escape without canceling the noise of software, and this is more than I can say in the case of the most cheaper models.

However, this is the artist’s microphone, which means that it is better to buy a guitar and I would have a tiny pasta to test the cutlets for storing instruments. I no longer have a front room arranged with valve amplifiers, so what you listen to is the strict recording of my rusty playing by a tiny boss amplifier katana Practice with zero compression, studio trickeria, EQ or effects, except for a little delay and chorus of the amplifier itself. Here is a dear reader – my decreasing talent:

Forgive the sloppy work on the guitar, some time has passed. In any case, I would say that this is a pretty good microphone of the instrument in order, especially since it captures a tiny budget amplifier in a room treated by the UN through the interface of recording opportunities without filters, noise gates or corrections. It hurts lightly to put up a musical recording without equalizing the amplifier’s hiss and adaptation of the sound, but it is as harsh as possible-when raw signals leave, tiny rarsts breaks off extremely well.

Considering this, I would avoid placing it before anything capable of titanic size, simply because it is a condenser model. The diaphragm inside this brass capsule will probably take more beating than most, but something active like a classic Shure sm57 It is a better choice if you plan to close something malicious. Condensers are generally more sensitive, shortbread beasts, although it seems to be highly enough to at least employ more abuse than the average model.

The question that you should ask yourself is: how you invested in the idea of ​​recording your home. If you are already equipped with the XLR audio interface and appropriate cables and bom, I would not hesitate to recommend Shure SM4 as a brilliant comprehensive microphone of the creators. However, if you start, I think it’s worth looking at the exact employ of employ.

For those who are looking for a good vocal microphone on the desktop, we have the whole best game microphone that should cover you. And if it is pure vocals in the style of the podcast you are looking for, I think it would be better to serve with Shure MV7+. There is not the same wide interception and versatility as SM4, but it is a plug and a USB Type-C device, which really removes trouble recording vocals spoken at home.

And if you want audio streaming, SteelSeries Alias ​​Pro even goes to ensure a good audio interface, also with some genial programmable control at the front, for similar money. It also neglects the delivery of the boom arm, but it is hard to argue the interface to equate similar cash.

Considering this, if you really take your first steps to build your own recording studio at home, or maybe modernizing existing equipment outside USB, I am sold to the idea of ​​buying Shure SM4 as a solution to be done. His relief in external equipment is really a reflection of the character of a high -class sound and although the microphone based on USB is in order to specific purposes, if you want to take a step towards, say, creating content for life, you will probably want to consider buying a more talented configuration.

Shure SM4 would certainly be a worthy addition to this arsenal and I will be ecstatic to recommend it. However, for the average user it is probably more than you really need.