Audix i5 Takes On The Shure SM57 In A Microphone Shootout
The Shure SM57 has long been the industry standard when it comes to dynamic instrument microphones. Things got a little bit crazy in Gearwire Studio when the Audix i5 arrived with massive enough cajones to refer to the SM57 as a "paper champion" before challenging the notorious mic to "put its money where its cartridge is" in a Gearwire shootout.
Which mic will sound out supreme in front of our VOX?
OWEN O'MALLEY: Welcome back to Gearwire.Com. I'm Owen O'Malley. We're gong to be taking a look at the Audix i5. The i5 is a dynamic, cardiod microphone basically designed as a competitor for the Shure SM57. It's a very similar microphone, similar pickup pattern, but a little bit of a different-sounding capsule. They're almost exactly the same price, both go about $100. They're pretty much similar sized. The i5, as you can see is a little bit shorter but a little bit fatter. It's like the 57; it's intended for use on guitar cabinets, on snare drums, on horns. You can use it on vocals. We're going to do a side-by-side test on a little guitar combo and basically AB the two mics and see if we can discern the difference and determine where you'd want to use the i5 as opposed to the industry-standard SM57. So let's take a listen.
Okay, so as you can see, we've got our i5 on the left and our SM57 on the right. We got them both on the VOX AC30, basically in as close to the same position as is possible. Let's listen to the 57 first.
[OWEN PLAYS GUITAR THROUGH VOC AC30 WITH SHURE SM57]
Now, let's switch over to the i5.
[OWEN PLAYS GUITAR THROUGH VOC AC30 WITH AUDIX i5]
Quite a difference. There's a lot more gain out of the i5. There's a lot more of that sort of like mid range dirt out of this top boost here. That was listening to it on the middle selector switch on this Strat. Let's go back to the 57 and listen to the rear pickup, the bridge pickup.
[OWEN PLAYS GUITAR THROUGH VOC AC30 WITH SHURE SM57]
And then over to the i5.
[OWEN PLAYS GUITAR THROUGH VOC AC30 WITH AUDIX i5]
You know, it's almost might be a little bit harsh in some situations but it definitely has got more guts to it, a lot more oomph. Let's just go to the neck pickup just for one more test. So, we're on the neck pickup now.
[OWEN PLAYS GUITAR THROUGH VOC AC30 WITH SHURE SM57]
That's the 57. Over to the i5.
[OWEN PLAYS GUITAR THROUGH VOC AC30 WITH AUDIX i5]
The SM57.
[OWEN PLAYS GUITAR THROUGH VOC AC30 WITH SHURE SM57]
The i5.
[OWEN PLAYS GUITAR THROUGH VOC AC30 WITH AUDIX i5]
A little more detail on the i5 I think. The 57's definitely a smoother, sort of mellower sounding mic. It certainly still has its place. You know it is the industry workhorse but the i5 sounds pretty great. It has a lot of balls to it.
Alright. Well, I think that does it for our shootout. I would love to hear the i5 on a snare drum or on a horn or certainly I would love to hear it on a live situation but it looks like that does it for our little VOX AC30 shootout. This is Owen O'Malley. Thanks for joining us again on Gearwire.Com.
shure vs audix
I've got the audix 2 years ago for a drum rec session. I checked the freq response and base on it I made my decision. I LOVE THEM, perfect for snare and toms, the freq curved, if I can recollect well, dips a bit around 200 hz or so. Beautiful mic
you
your wrong bitch.
all the dudes at guitar center
behind the counter heavily recommended the i5 over the 57.
but i'm not convinced.
the shootout is pretty straightforward about the difference in tone.
i've heard lots of great things about the i5 on snare,
but the 57 takes the cake on guitar for me, if only for the smoother response and the predictability; ie, since everyone uses the 57 already, it's easy to know what it will sound like on any given amp (based on experience, of course). plus, the i5 has a bit of a strong mid peak that i'm not too comfortable with on distorted guitar. it does seem to lack a little high end against the 57, but that could just be my ears hearing more mids than the 57
thanks for doing this. i've
thanks for doing this.
i've been waiting a long time for someone to have a shootout with these two
turn your lavalier mic off next time!
Wow! Don't tell me you muted the lavalier/narration mic while you were playing the guitar. It's obvious that's pretty much all we're hearing - there's no way all that crappy room tone is coming from either one of those mics up against the grillcloth. Fess up guys, and do it over.
Uh... duh...
Let me see now.... so you'd actually prefer a harsher sounding mic on your guitar amp over a warmer smoother mic?? Where is the logic in that. In the first sound test you did the 57 actually came across fuller than the i5, hence the harsh sound you referred to on the i5. During the scale picking the 57 was waaaaaaaay smoother than the i5. Better tonal quality. The i5 just came across as very thin. Now if thats a sound you like then maybe you should be playing your guitars through a horn driver...LOL. It's as simple as this, SM-57 industry standard for a reason...Uh..Duh...
have a good day all
Tune that guitar!
One would think you would want to at least tune the guitar. I had a hard time getting past the poor intonation. Maybe it's just the player.
57 still sounds fatter and smoother to me. What Owen calls "detail" sounds like harshness to me ears.
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