Episode 101
Microphone Battle: Shure SM7B vs Shure MV7
We have one hell of a showdown between two industry-leading microphones from Shure for you today. On one side, is the legendary Shure SM7B. On the other, its modern sibling, the Shure MV7. Whether you're a seasoned podcaster or just starting, choosing the right microphone can hugely impact your recordings. My objective here is to dive into the pros and cons of each mic, give you some sound tests, and help you decide which microphone fits your needs best.
If you are an early-stage to mid-level podcaster, the Shure MV7 offers outstanding versatility. It allows you to jump into podcasting without a massive upfront investment. Despite its shortcomings in sibilance and plosive handling, it provides good sound quality for its price. Its ability to switch between USB and XLR connectivity means it can evolve as you upgrade your podcasting setup.
For the budget-conscious podcaster, I personally see no reason for you to go out and buy the SM7B which would have you spending almost AU$1000 on a microphone and appropriate pre-amp. It does not feel necessary.
In the end, your choice will depend heavily on your specific needs and setup. Do you prioritise versatility and budget, or are you eager to present yourself like the professional podcasters that you’ve seen using the Shure SM7B. I know that can be a very real factor to consider.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the SM7B vs. MV7. What works best for your voice and setup? Remember, just because one mic is widely used doesn't mean it’s the best fit for you. It’s always a good option to try a few, or watch reviews of different voices showcasing the microphones before deciding for yourself.
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Transcript
Today we are doing a battle
Speaker:between two Shure microphones.
Speaker:We have the Shure SM7B.
Speaker:Hello, this is it here.
Speaker:And we have the Shure MV7.
Speaker:This is the little baby sister
Speaker:or brother to the Shure SM7B.
Speaker:The SM7B is a microphone that has been
Speaker:on the market for a flippin long time,
Speaker:probably about 20 years, don't quote
Speaker:me on that, but a very long time.
Speaker:And then the Shure MV7 is something
Speaker:that has come onto the market.
Speaker:Very recently, five years, four
Speaker:years, not, not a long time.
Speaker:And it has come into the market
Speaker:to give you an option that isn't
Speaker:as expensive as the Shure SM7B.
Speaker:And it also gives you the capabilities
Speaker:of having XLR and USB inputs in
Speaker:the base there so that you don't
Speaker:have to have a fancy system to
Speaker:have those microphones set up in
Speaker:your house to record your podcast.
Speaker:So I think from that
Speaker:standpoint, I mean, great move.
Speaker:from Shure, because then they've got
Speaker:something for the market for someone
Speaker:who doesn't have all the fanciness,
Speaker:doesn't want to spend a heap of money.
Speaker:If we're looking at money straight up
Speaker:first as well, the SM7B is about 850 ish
Speaker:Australian dollars and the MV7 is sitting
Speaker:more in the ballpark of like 400 to 450.
Speaker:So, yeah.
Speaker:Very big difference in price, but
Speaker:there are also differences in the
Speaker:actual sound of these microphones
Speaker:that you're probably hearing as well.
Speaker:So we're battling these two.
Speaker:We're going to switch them back and
Speaker:forth and we're going to go through
Speaker:some tests so that you can hear the
Speaker:differences between these two mics.
Speaker:I'm using the XLR input for this
Speaker:test because then that's a clear
Speaker:comparison between the two.
Speaker:We have them plugged into
Speaker:the John Hardy M2 preamp.
Speaker:It is a completely flat preamp.
Speaker:There's nothing fancy going on.
Speaker:We've got the gain set at 45 for the MV7
Speaker:and the gain at 57 for the Shure SM7B.
Speaker:So the things we're going to
Speaker:look at today are sibilance.
Speaker:How do they handle the kind of sounds
Speaker:that you can hear because some of
Speaker:the microphones can be quite intense.
Speaker:We're also going to look at
Speaker:the pop filtering goodness,
Speaker:how it handles pop filtering.
Speaker:We're going to see how it handles vocals.
Speaker:And we're also going to get a male
Speaker:voice in here, Alex, to tell us what
Speaker:he wants to have for dinner tonight,
Speaker:so that we get a really good idea
Speaker:as to what it sounds like with a
Speaker:male voice so that you can make some
Speaker:assumptions for yourself, depending
Speaker:on what kind of voice that you have.
Speaker:After all of this reviewing, then
Speaker:you will hear my recommendations
Speaker:at the end of the video.
Speaker:So make sure you stick around for that.
Speaker:And also shout out to Gasworks Studio
Speaker:here in Fortitude Valley in Brisbane.
Speaker:Because this is where we are
Speaker:recording these videos today.
Speaker:It is an acoustically treated room.
Speaker:Okay, so please keep that in your mind.
Speaker:Make sure you have your headphones on.
Speaker:So that your system at home may
Speaker:not be able to be this controlled.
Speaker:Okay, you might get
Speaker:more background noise.
Speaker:You might have more things to adjust.
Speaker:Please keep that in mind.
Speaker:Sibilance test, let's get into it.
Speaker:MV7.
Speaker:If Moses supposes his toes are roses,
Speaker:then Moses supposes erroneously.
Speaker:Shure SM7B If Moses supposes his toes are
Speaker:roses, then Moses supposes erroneously.
Speaker:Pop filter test, plosives
Speaker:MV7 popping the popcorn, popping
Speaker:the popcorn, Shure SM7B popping
Speaker:the popcorn, popping the popcorn
Speaker:now we're going to get Alex in
Speaker:to tell us what he thinks
Speaker:he should have for dinner.
Speaker:This is the Shore MV7.
Speaker:For dinner tonight, I will be having
Speaker:probably nothing, because I am
Speaker:currently doing intermittent fasting.
Speaker:So that makes this little
Speaker:sound bite rather short.
Speaker:And now on to the 7B.
Speaker:Once again for dinner tonight, nothing.
Speaker:And this is the SM7B.
Speaker:Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker:I'm sure you'll hear from me.
Speaker:I
Speaker:don't know how Alex skips
Speaker:dinner so much.
Speaker:Like, dinner is delicious.
Speaker:I don't know if that's, if anyone
Speaker:else agrees, but dinner is delicious.
Speaker:Okay, so we have the MV7
Speaker:and we have the Shure SM7B.
Speaker:Who is the winner?
Speaker:Let's go through a few things.
Speaker:Firstly, I hate the pop
Speaker:filter foam on the MV7.
Speaker:I think it is a piece of of balls.
Speaker:So if you heard in the pop filter
Speaker:section of this test, it's so
Speaker:pop, pop, pop, pop, poppy and
Speaker:also the breath is out of control.
Speaker:And that doesn't seem to matter
Speaker:whether I'm on axis or I'm off axis.
Speaker:This pop filter does barely anything.
Speaker:And I did a review on Of
Speaker:this microphone by itself.
Speaker:If you want to get a little bit
Speaker:more in depth, look at that.
Speaker:So for me, the recommendation
Speaker:would be to not use the pop filter
Speaker:that comes with this microphone.
Speaker:If you're going to get this one
Speaker:and actually get a pop filter that
Speaker:is actually for the Shure SM7B.
Speaker:And you may see some other videos
Speaker:where people actually do that
Speaker:because the pop filter is way better.
Speaker:So it is one way to use this microphone
Speaker:because it's much cheaper, but
Speaker:still have the proper kind of pop
Speaker:filtering that you might want, by
Speaker:swapping out the pop filter there.
Speaker:Now as far as sound quality goes,
Speaker:It's actually kind of the pop filter's
Speaker:fault as to how this MV7 sounds because
Speaker:there is a lot more sibilance that is
Speaker:coming through with that microphone.
Speaker:It sounds a bit more fake.
Speaker:than the SM7B does.
Speaker:And I think that's to do with the
Speaker:frequency response on the MV7.
Speaker:It, it does have more clarity, but
Speaker:it's not the clarity that I want.
Speaker:It's not giving me a sparkle.
Speaker:It's giving me a little bit more
Speaker:of a like, like an annoying sound.
Speaker:Whereas this one here, it does have a
Speaker:lot less sibilance, uh, but it gives
Speaker:me more bass and sound there as well.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:They both handle the frequencies,
Speaker:uh, on the higher end differently.
Speaker:The MV7, I think, is worse
Speaker:than the, , Shure SM7B.
Speaker:Now I did just, you know,
Speaker:crap all over the MV7.
Speaker:talking about how the pop filter
Speaker:is a problem and saying that some
Speaker:of the frequency response stuff
Speaker:isn't great and it's got a little
Speaker:bit of problem there with its
Speaker:sibilance and its high end frequency.
Speaker:But the thing that works in the
Speaker:favor of the MV7 is its footprint.
Speaker:So it's a smaller body, it's
Speaker:less obtrusive in video, I think
Speaker:it looks nicer, and it also
Speaker:has the capabilities for XLR.
Speaker:And USB.
Speaker:Now that's really good because it
Speaker:means that you can buy one microphone
Speaker:and it can keep you podcasting.
Speaker:If you upgrade the rest
Speaker:of your gear as well.
Speaker:I have a video on why you might
Speaker:need USB versus XLR vice versa.
Speaker:You could be interested in actually
Speaker:checking that video out because it will
Speaker:tell you why you might decide that.
Speaker:XLR is going to be better from a
Speaker:versatility standpoint makes the MV7
Speaker:a lot more useful to you than the
Speaker:SM7B if you're just starting out.
Speaker:The SM7B also requires a lot more gain.
Speaker:It's going to need some sort of
Speaker:cloud lifter or SE dynamite to get
Speaker:it to the level that you need it to
Speaker:get, to get the sound that you want.
Speaker:Whereas the MV7 doesn't
Speaker:require that either.
Speaker:You can just plug that
Speaker:straight into your preamp.
Speaker:You should be able to get
Speaker:the gain that you want.
Speaker:In saying that, it depends on
Speaker:the preamp that you're using.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:If you're using a RODECaster Pro 2,
Speaker:the Streamer X, there's a bunch of
Speaker:preamps that now have in built sort of,
Speaker:Processing that can get, give you the
Speaker:game that you want, but just be aware
Speaker:that if you have a lower quality, a
Speaker:lower, like a more budget kind of preamp,
Speaker:the SM7B is going to cause you problems
Speaker:if you don't have some sort of booster.
Speaker:If you want to negate that, you would
Speaker:get the Shure SM7 DB, but again,
Speaker:that's like 700 something dollars.
Speaker:This one's only 400 something dollars.
Speaker:That's, for me, why I think if I was a
Speaker:mid level to early stage podcaster, I
Speaker:would get the MV7 over the Shure SM7 B.
Speaker:Yes, it doesn't have as good of a depth,
Speaker:as good As much warmth, it's got a
Speaker:little bit more happening in that like
Speaker:frequency response at the higher end.
Speaker:But it's going to give you more
Speaker:versatility, it's going to get you
Speaker:what you need without a huge outlay.
Speaker:And it looks better on camera versus
Speaker:this one, takes up a lot more room and
Speaker:it's got this like cable that I find
Speaker:kind of annoying, doesn't look great.
Speaker:This might not be a popular
Speaker:opinion because the Shure SM7B
Speaker:is something that everyone uses,
Speaker:that you see it everywhere.
Speaker:But just because you see it everywhere
Speaker:doesn't mean that you should
Speaker:potentially use it for your use case.
Speaker:It depends on the preamp that you're
Speaker:using, the space that you're using
Speaker:it in, what your voice sounds like,
Speaker:whether you have a lot of sort of
Speaker:depth in your voice already, that's
Speaker:not going to be a great situation.
Speaker:Use something that you have a bit
Speaker:more versatility around that you
Speaker:can maybe get a pop filter that's
Speaker:separate to this one so that it gives
Speaker:you the extra pop that you're going
Speaker:to need to manage those plosives.
Speaker:And I think that for me, for my voice,
Speaker:I would say the MV7 wins.
Speaker:And what did you think?
Speaker:I would love to know your
Speaker:thoughts on the SM7B vs the MV7.
Speaker:What do you think?
Speaker:What do you think would
Speaker:be useful for you?
Speaker:Definitely keep that in mind as
Speaker:far as how your voice sounds.
Speaker:Mine has a lot more clarity, crispy,
Speaker:higher end frequencies in my voice.
Speaker:And I'm looking for things that
Speaker:give me a little bit more depth
Speaker:and warmth without being muddy.
Speaker:I've got lots of other
Speaker:mic battles, reviews.
Speaker:I talk about podcasting relentlessly
Speaker:on the Bamby Media channel here.
Speaker:So please check out anything else that
Speaker:you think would be useful for you.
Speaker:And don't hesitate to reach out.
Speaker:bambymedia.
Speaker:com is where you would go
Speaker:to find out more about what
Speaker:we do as a podcast and video
Speaker:production agency.
