John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum

My wife Gillian is a vocalist and entertainer.
She teaches voice and has done paid sessions for TV, TDK, Coca Cola etc.
She still sings up to 4 x 160 minute live shows some weeks.
She has been doing this for a long time and she still undervalues herself - very humble. Hard to find in singers.

But she rocks....and takes no crap. Believe me!

She has always been an SM58 fanatic for live and prefers Rode S1 or Neuman M147 in the studio.

Our 6th wedding anniversary was coming up and I had a surprise in store for her...(Ok fellas keep it clean ....)

We had a show in the country 4 hours west of Sydney in front of 500+ pumped punters who had just seen the end of a day's "quick shear" sheep shearing competition - and there was a lot of hot sun, dust, sweat and beer involved. So let's say they were "prepped" for some live music. We had to load in and setup PA and be on stage playing in 45 minutes with a drunk and abusive DJ who was trying to get the crowd offside by saying were had "better be good" because in his opinion 45 mins is a long time to load in and set up!!! (no sound check either). Despite the fact that he took 2 hours to set up himself ...anyway...we kept our cool..

As part of the surprise I had managed to run a new hidden spare cable to sit beside her wedge prior to starting....
I had also asked an old mate to hide the mic and run up through the crowd at the right time....and present it to her.

Our opening song was tarnished by a faulty mic cable - so we humbly apologised for the technical fault and whilst on stage in front of our crowd I called on my mate who ran up to the front of the stage and presented her with a surprise anniversary present from me - a neatly mounted brand new electric blue and chrome Shure Super 55 Delux mic. I told the audience it was modelled off the first Shure Bros 55 from 1951 to gasps of awe in the crowd - people have seen pictures of this beast but never in the flesh....

It seemed rehearsed...but it wasn't.

We sparked up and launched into the rest of the first set to standing ovations - the tear in her eye and smile made my year. And hers too, she took the mic back to the hotel that night and propped it up on it's own pillow.... She was so proud.

Neither of us have heard a live mic of such fine quality, gain before feedback and full bodied , detailed and rounded sound - I have engineered and played since 1979 - she has had similar experience singing here, the uK, US and Canada.
This mic is worth it's weight in GOLD!

We don't work for Shure but music can bring us a lot of joy and this is one story that by my reckoning is worth mentioning. B)

PS If you find a potential partner that would love an iconic mic as a gift - marry 'em!!!



Eliot
http://www.raggedyan.com
SongCave Studios (with Tascam DM4800 + DR1)

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Sideshow
http://www.songcave.net

thanks for the heads up Eliot.

I'm glad thoses country /nightmare gigs don't just happen to me!

I always thought the 55 was still a SM58 diaphram?

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inkspotproductions
www.bantamstudio.info

2nd that , i had to work for a certain carter family member lately and wow, is all i can say
DF

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An eye for an eye will leave the whole world blind.
Mahatma Ghandi.

The new 55 does not have a 58 capsule. The grey reissue (1990s does have that capsule)
The electric blue model - WOW. This is definitely not a 58.
The only similarity is made by and dynamic

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Sideshow
http://www.songcave.net