Another Take On "Side-Addressed"

[Daniel McIntosh]

Check out this modified SM57:

http://www.granelliaudiolabs.com/

[Q]

I admire the work involved in that mod, but it really looks like a solution looking for a problem.  Using a 90 degree xlr connector on the cable to the SM57 will achieve nearly the same result.

[tourtelot]

Almost but not quite.  This is made pretty specifically to mic drums; probably for live reinforcement.  It makes it easier to get the mics into that crowded area around the snare and hi-hat.  It won't really help with the major problem however;  flailing rock drummers smashing the black grills off the mics with missed hits.  In my day, I replaced probably one or two A DAY on some tours (that shall remain nameless).  The cool thing is that the mic itself almost always kept working, a testament to their amazing resiliency.

D.

[John Blankenship]

Here's the line that gets me:

"Granelli Audio Labs uses brand new Shure® SM57s and inserts a custom-made aluminum part with an acoustically-engineered internal sound path."

So, just what does this "acoustically-engineered internal sound path" do?  Since the acoustical properties of the 57 that achieve the cardioid pattern are ports located at the back of the capsule assembly (not in the handle), it makes one wonder.  Maybe the elbow is designed so if a drum stick hits it, it rings your chimes.

John B.

[Granelli Audio Labs]

Hello everyone -

Greetings from Granelli Audio Labs.  Please allow me to weigh in.  John - re: "So, just what does this "acoustically-engineered internal sound path" do?"  Well, the short answer is: nothing.  That is to say that while you are correct that the ports in the back of the capsule are what achieve the cardioid pattern, the story doesn't end there.  Those ports open into a chamber in the bottom part of the handle which has acoustic properties that affect the frequency response of the mic (think of a sealed back speaker cabinet in reverse).

Our first prototype did not take this into account.  Because it was basically a big hollow elbow, we roughly tripled the volume of air inside the handle.  Although no one in the control room could tell which was which when we put it next to a standard 57 on a snare drum, we took it a step further.  We placed a brand new SM57 in front of a speaker, fed it white noise and measured its output with a frequency spectrum analyzer.  With the capsule end clamped to insure not only uniform distance but uniform angle to the speaker, we inserted our part and repeated the test.  We found we had significantly more bottom end.  While we were at it, we also measured the mic with the bottom half removed, just hanging by the wires.  In that case, the low end rolled off quite a bit.  This was obvious even to the naked ear.

As we researched the original patent drawings of the SM57, we began to suspect that the chamber in the handle had the acoustic properties I mentioned.  We revised the part a few times until we had a modification that had almost the same cavity volume in the handle as the original.  We did this by adding a piece on to the end of the elbow that extruded into the original cavity, almost completely displacing it, while also shrinking the open part of our elbow.

When we repeated the test we came up with variances that were tighter than those between different SM57s. We had Arthur Sloatman of Midget Electronics, one of the premier mic experts in Nashville, independently test our modification as well.  His results confirmed ours.  Finally, Shure tested a couple themselves and recently let us know we did our homework.  They told us that "on-axis frequency response is a near perfect match."

Tourtelot - re: "It won't really help with the major problem however;  flailing rock drummers smashing the black grills off the mics with missed hits." - you might be surprised - one of the benefits of our design is that you can get the capsule much closer to perpendicular on the snare drum head than would otherwise be possible.  As a result, my experience in the studio has been that our mic is less likely to be struck on the fragile plastic grille.  And trust me, the elbow can take it.

Q - I must agree with tourtelot - our mod offers a solution way beyond that of a right angle XLR.  Our first prototype went out with Santana earlier this year on drummer Dennis Chambers' snare.  They called to say they've been using it every night since the first day of rehearsals.  Prototypes 2 and 3 went to Cirque Du Soleil's touring production of "Kooza".  They are already using them on the kit.  The ability to tuck it under the hihat and get the null pointing at it gives better HH rejection.  Most drummers and other engineers that come into my studio, Secret Sound, want one.  That's what led to this venture.  Check out the quote on our site from Barry Rudolph (Lynyrd Skynrd, Rod Stewart, Hall & Oates, etc.)

I hope that that helps inform the discussion.  Thanks for your interest everyone.  If you happen to be in the neighborhood, we'll be at Summer NAMM - booth 347 - right near the concession stand!  Cheers,

John Grant/Granelli Audio Labs

[John Blankenship]

John G.,

Thanks for the explanation (and for doing your homework).

I didn't realize that the 57 used an infinite baffle behind the capsule as a low freq. tweek.  I appreciate you taking the time to clue us in.

John B.

[studiomprd]

so, sometimes those really simple things aren't all that simple...

this is another example of something designed for a small niche market sector. Though it seemed like 'nothing to it', it ended up taking a bit of effort to do it properly; and of course it is priced accordingly.

[Philip Perkins]

Even though there are a lot of alternatives that can be used to mic snares that are much smaller than a 57, many drummers are very attached to their sound and this is a good way to accommodate them and still get a good position in among the unbelievable density of a modern drum setup.  This mic came about because at least 50% of the positions a mic sounds good in on a snare have the mic in the way of something else, and the other 49% (it seems like) put the mic in danger of being whacked by a drum stick.

Philip Perkins