Shure had a bunch of new mics at the 129th AES show, but we figured we'd start things off with this, the most unique of the bunch. The Shure Beta 181 is a small-diaphragm condenser microphone that features a side-address capsule, making it an easy mic to sneak into position around a crowded drum kit, or to hang over a guitar cabinet.

One of the coolest features of this mic is its interchangeable capsule system, giving engineers access to cardioid, supercardioid, figure-8, or omnidirectional pickup patterns from the same mic. A pair of Shure Beta 181s makes for an impressive array of potential applications, and won't set you back much more than a grand (they retail for $499 each).