[hackeron]

Hey,

I got my SM58 today, plugged it into my E-MU 0404 USB - set the microphone gain to +65db and shouting into the microphone barely registers in the -18dB LED.

Covering the microphone with my hand and speaking loudly into into it makes it jump to -12 or even -6dB but the "SL" light comes on.

Here is an example of a normalized recording of me speaking around 3cm away from the microphone: http://hackeron.dyndns.org/sm58_0404usb.wav

Normalization pushed volume +30dB even though I have +65dB set on the 0404USB and the background noise is unbearable. What the hell!?

Please help!!

 

[hackeron]

Just tried to record straight into the line-in of my macbook pro:

http://hackeron.dyndns.org/sm58_laptop.mov

SIGNIFICANTLY better than the 0404 USB - the reason there is less bass is I was much further away mic.

Is the 0404 USB simply too weak for the SM58?

 

[hackeron]

Hmm, I just connected an female XLR to 3.5mm -> female to female 3.5mm -> 3.5mm to XLR male and now the microphone volume is fantastic!

Infact, I get clipping with anything over around +30db on the 0404 USB!!!

I looked at the cable I was using (my XLR speaker cable) and it says 110ohm on it. Hmm? -- I checked the invoice and site where I bought it and no where do they list the cable resistance.

Do speaker XLR cables and microphone XLR cables operate on a different standard resistance?

Can anyone point me to more information about this? - Google isn't turning much up.

 

[donunus]

Maybe your 0404 is defective?

 

[hackeron]

Problem resolved! -- sorry, forgot to reply.

I put a piece of wire inside the microphone XLR connector to connect pin2 to pin3 together (I checked with a tester and noticed an XLR to 3.5mm adapter does this) and voila, perfect sound!

http://hackeron.dyndns.org/sm58_0404_success.wav

So looks like a problem with the mic, but the workaround is easy

 

[donunus]

oh ok so I guess if I were to use an xlr mic like a beta 87, this wire is not needed? I might be getting an 0404 too

 

[hackeron]

You'll just need the 0404 USB and an XLR cable.

 

[Head-fi-junkie]

>> I put a piece of wire inside the microphone XLR connector to connect pin2 to pin3 together
>> (I checked with a tester and noticed an XLR to 3.5mm adapter does this) and voila, perfect sound!
 
Hi,
 
Could you be more specific about this? I'm a newbie desperately trying to kill the hiss I get with a Shure SM 58 + Behringer Xenyx 502 mixer - I think you're solution would work, but I sure (sic) could do with looking at a photo or video of your hot-wired setup.
 
Ta,
 
HFJ

 

[wolfmuffin]

This seems to be a pretty common problem with SM-58s. There is a flood of fake SM-58s on the market that don't have the balancing transformer and don't generate a proper balanced signal. I own one and while the outside casing is a very convincing replica, if you unscrew the capsule on it you'll discover a lead weight where the balancing transformer should be. If you use a "real" XLR cable with it you'll get a very low signal unless you rewire the mic. Mine came with an out-of-spec XLR->TS cable that does it for you.
 
The preamps on the 0404 are fairly robust and actually give a pretty hot signal, so I would suspect them last. With a lot of mics I find that the levels are fairly high even at +0dB.