Published 18/7/09
Right-angled Shure SM57 Microphone
It’s not every day you see the time-honoured Shure SM57 mentioned in the ‘what’s new’ section of Sound On Sound, but the Granelli G5790 gives us a reason to do just that. As you can see from the picture, the G5790 uses the main parts of the venerable Shure mic, but makes it so much easier to position than the standard, straight model, thanks to the 90-degree elbow half-way up the body. But it’s not any old L-shaped joint from a plumber’s merchant: its a custom-designed piece of aluminium with “acoustically-engineered internal sound path”.
During development of the product, company founders and accomplished studio engineers John Grant and Tony Correlli, experimented with different materials with varying physical properties, and discovered that the sound that the mic produces can be compromised if the internal air gap that exists between the capsule and head amplifier sections of the mic is altered. So the team designed a joint made from a solid piece of aluminium that fills the existing air gap, and creates a new one of the same volume at the capsule end of the elbow. This, say the designers, does not adjust the frequency response or alter the pickup pattern.
But why change the design of one of the best-selling mics of all time? Well, when used on drums, the body of the standard SM57, plus the ‘tail’ of the attached microphone cable, gets in the way of other drums and cymbals within the kit, and sometimes leads to a situation where the drummer has to change his or her setup to fit the mic in, or where the engineer is forced to place the mic in a less than ideal position.
On amplifiers, especially on small stages, the full length of the mic plus protruding mic cable is more susceptible to being knocked by an over-excited guitarist. With the right-angled kink of the G5790, mounting and angling the mic becomes infinitely easier. The fully modified G5790 costs $150 and is available from Granelli direct.
www.granelliaudiolabs.com
It’s not every day you see the time-honoured Shure SM57 mentioned in the ‘what’s new’ section of Sound On Sound, but the Granelli G5790 gives us a reason to do just that. As you can see from the picture, the G5790 uses the main parts of the venerable Shure mic, but makes it so much easier to position than the standard, straight model, thanks to the 90-degree elbow half-way up the body. But it’s not any old L-shaped joint from a plumber’s merchant: its a custom-designed piece of aluminium with “acoustically-engineered internal sound path”. During development of the product, company founders and accomplished studio engineers John Grant and Tony Correlli, experimented with different materials with varying physical properties, and discovered that the sound that the mic produces can be compromised if the internal air gap that exists between the capsule and head amplifier sections of the mic is altered. So the team designed a joint made from a solid piece of aluminium that fills the existing air gap, and creates a new one of the same volume at the capsule end of the elbow. This, say the designers, does not adjust the frequency response or alter the pickup pattern.
But why change the design of one of the best-selling mics of all time? Well, when used on drums, the body of the standard SM57, plus the ‘tail’ of the attached microphone cable, gets in the way of other drums and cymbals within the kit, and sometimes leads to a situation where the drummer has to change his or her setup to fit the mic in, or where the engineer is forced to place the mic in a less than ideal position.
On amplifiers, especially on small stages, the full length of the mic plus protruding mic cable is more susceptible to being knocked by an over-excited guitarist. With the right-angled kink of the G5790, mounting and angling the mic becomes infinitely easier. The fully modified G5790 costs $150 and is available from Granelli direct.
www.granelliaudiolabs.com
