Key Of Grey

Photo courtesy of Blue Microphones

December 17th, 2009 – When a company boldly challenges the legendary Shure SM57/58 twins, seasoned audio engineers perk their ears up. After all, it is Shure’s microphones that are the most used microphones out on stages around the world.

The SM57/58′s have a reputation of being indestructible which is important when they’re in the hands of musicians who don’t exactly coddle them. In the scary world outside the recording studio, I have seen them dropped, dented, smashed into foreheads, swung around like a mace, and generally abused more than any other audio gear. I have yet to see one fail.

In the studio, I’ve used them to record drums, ear-bleeding amps, and loud vocalists who would otherwise overload my sensitive condensers. The Shure’s are the do-everything, go-anywhere, bulletproof microphone. Of course, while they have a certain sound characteristic that can be used effectively, they don’t push a lot of gain, nor do they cover the frequency spectrum evenly.

That’s where Blue Microphones hopes to sweep in and steal Shure’s thunder. A couple months ago, they released the enCORE line of stage microphones. With a beefy design including a ring around the screen to protect the capsule from being crushed, and an advertised frequency chart that outdoes the Shure twins, the enCORE series looks like a serious contender.

The 100 is an un-powered dynamic, while the phantom-powered 200 improves the formula with much more gain. The 200 is especially good for home recording musicians who use a lower end audio interface. If the 100 is anything like the SM57/58, it won’t be able to provide enough gain without a good pre-amp. Reviews of both seem to be quite good, with some testing the strength claims by dropping the mics down stairwells, and throwing them into walls. Sound samples show them to have a pretty smooth response, although not as detailed in the high end as a condenser.

That’s where the 300 comes in. It’s a hand-held condenser which stands out in a sea of non-powered live dynamic microphones. While providing the sensitivity of a condenser, Blue Microphones was careful to design the casing to reduce handling noise. Unfortunately, I was unable to find any good reviews of the 300 which is a pity because it is the microphone of the three that I’d most like to hear and test out.

At a street price of $200, it would be a versatile microphone for when I’m out gigging. It would also be very useful when I’m recording a singer that isn’t used to the studio experience. I find that those singers like to have the microphone in their hand to be truly comfortable. Because the various condensers I have are so sensitive, they must stay in their shockmounts so there’s no handling noise. Comfortable singers means a better take, so having a handheld condenser like the 300 would be helpful.

The 100 retails for $100, the 200 at $150, and the 300 at $200 on Sweetwater’s site. Very reasonable pricing. Interestingly, it’s Blue’s lower end consumer microphones that have garnered all the attention lately although they have great higher end mics as well. Have any of you tried the enCORE series yet? What did you think?

Blue Microphones enCORE series