Dynamic or Condenser... When?

[Alexrkstr]

When do you use each one? I know the SM57 has been used to mic cabinets for the longest time in studios, and the SM58 has been used for vocal performances but when do you use a condenser and when do you use a dynamic mic?

[Fran Guidry]

At the very most basic level, you use a dynamic when you don't have access to phantom power for a condenser.

For most of us, using prosumer level gear to record acoustic guitars, the greater sensitivity of most condensers gives a better result.

But there are plenty of situations where the the characteristics of a particular dynamic make it ideal for some job. The Shure SM7 is very very similar to the Shure SM57, and it was used for Michael Jackson's primary vocal mic during his most successful period. As you noted, the SM57 is widely used for miking guitar amps. It's also extremely popular for drum kits, since it's very rugged and fairly inexpensive, and drum mics have a very hard life.

There's a ton of misinformation floating around about mics. For instance, there is nothing that makes a condenser more susceptible to feedback than a dynamic - they have higher sensitivity so you have to set the gain knob lower.

In practice, we pick mics based on what we have, what we're trying to do, and what we've learned from past experience. The [bi]experience[/b/i] is the key, there just isn't any substitute that leads to an optimal result.

Fran