- Shure Unidyne microphones
"shure "do have a legendary reputation.
Not only for great sound quality,
but also for incredible visual appeal.
But do you really need to spend a lot of dough to go retro?
Do you need a fork over a lot of cash
to look like Johnny Cash?
(retro royalty free music)
And these two microphones might look familiar,
I did do an entire video where I compare them.
This is the Shure Super 55,
one of my all-time favorite microphones.
And then also the Shure 55SH Series II,
another really cool classic microphone.
Even though the Unidyne Series of microphones,
which is what these are, have been around for a long time,
these two are current models.
You can go purchase them right now.
And in the comparison video, I actually prefer the Super 55.
The difference being that
it's a supercardioid pickup pattern,
that's what the Super comes from,
whereas the 55SH is a regular cardioid pickup pattern.
But I also think that there's a bit of difference
in sound quality, overall.
I do like the way that the Super 55 sounds just more.
Actually, I should be wearing headphones
so I can actually hear what these sound like.
These are both really good microphones,
and a lot of it just comes down to personal preference
and workflow.
I can tell you at the time of recording this video,
that these Super 55, this microphone right here,
has an MSRP of $311,
which is a very specific amount of money.
And it's switched over actually to the 55SH.
Now, you're hearing me on the 55SH,
which is a less expensive microphone.
It has an MSRP of $199.
And there are a lot of times throughout the year
that you can find these microphones on sale
for less than that.
But of course, prices change all the time.
So definitely check links in the description
if you're interested in either of these.
For today, every microphone that I'm talking about
is running through the Focusrite Scarlet 2i2,
and it is running through a Cloudlifter.
I will say for all of these mics,
there's also the third one
that we're gonna talk about in a second,
they all can work with the Focusrite
but you really need to crank the gain.
The Cloudlifter is what lets me
actually get a more accurate representation
of what the microphone sound like.
So, I definitely do recommend
using some sort of signal booster
with any of these microphones
in order for them to sound their best.
And now, we're back on the Super 55
and everything is being recorded directly
into Adobe Audition, with no effects
or additional processing.
Oh, and if you're somebody who's interested
in these microphones,
the stands that they're on are vintage Shure Stands.
This one is silver.
They're both from like the 1950s.
I was able to just get them on eBay.
Somebody was kind enough
to recommend that idea to me on Twitter,
'cause Shure doesn't make these stands anymore.
I sure tried to see if they do, but I was sure out of luck.
So I had to find another Rode to go down,
but I was uni-dying to get my hands on one.
The Shure S36 on eBay.
There's usually quite a few of them.
They're relatively affordable,
but they are collectors items.
This silver one came in really good condition,
so I just kept it as is.
This blue one came, it already had been like repainted
in like this weird olive green color.
So I just repainted it in Buck Blue.
These stands are pretty awesome though,
'cause the mic just screws in and mounts on top
and your XLR cable connects to it.
And there's a little clamp that runs the cable
and routes it, so that way it can sit flat on the desk.
And I love this look.
But this is just me, that has nothing to do
with really the video today.
Can you get great sound from a retro mic
at a much, much lower price?
And that's this guy right here,
which is the Monoprice Stage Right Memphis Classic.
What the heck is this called?
This is the Stage Right by Monoprice Memphis Blue
Classic Retro-style Dynamic Microphone.
Whew.
It's like Blackmagic name this thing.
And now we're back on the 55SH
to talk about the Memphis Blue.
The reason that I went down this road in the first place
is because I got really interested
in the Unidyne style of microphone.
And then I started looking up the history of it.
And then I got just excited about them
and decided to purchase one.
I couldn't decide which of these I liked more
because I liked the blue of the Super 55,
but I was used to
just sort of standard cardioid pickup patterns
and so I wanted the regular one.
And I ended up getting both of them
so that I could compare them.
And as you can hear, as I'm switching back and forth,
the 55SH has a different sound than the Super 55.
But where this gets a little confusing
is that this microphone,
I'll just call it the Memphis,
has a blue wind screen inside of it,
just like the Super 55 has a blue wind screen.
But it has the same pickup pattern as the 55SH.
So if you're like me
and you don't know much about these microphones,
but you're kind of shopping around retro microphones,
it would make sense that you would think
the blue microphone, which is not a blue branded microphone,
but the microphone with the blue windscreen
is a direct competitor to the other microphone
with the blue windscreen.
But they're not, it's really more of a direct competitor
to this one over here with the gray wind screen.
And both of them also have on-off switches,
so that way you can just directly turn off the mic.
If I'm talking right now and I flip it off.
(muted versions of the best jokes the world has never heard)
Oh boy, you just didn't hear any of that great stuff
that I said right there.
But the Memphis mic is a solid chunk of metal,
as you can just see right here.
It's a massive microphone.
If you ever look up the original Unidyne mics
they were much bigger.
They're kind of in line with the size of this one.
But this is all made out of metal as are these.
And now, we're back on these Super 55
and there are also other inexpensive retro style microphones
out there that you can get for even less than the Memphis.
However, a lot of them are made out of plastic.
And so even if they sound good to me,
that was just immediately like a disqualification.
I didn't want a plastic microphone
that was made to look metal.
I wanted an actual, like heavy-duty,
legit, stage ready microphone.
And the difference in finishes
is that these two are like a brushed finished,
which is great.
'Cause you can even like touch the microphone and grab it,
which you see people doing on stages all the time,
and it doesn't really collect fingerprints or anything.
I know fingerprints on microphones
are probably the most important feature of a microphone,
but this one is very glossy.
And so it gets very fingerprinty and smudgy and stuff.
It doesn't matter in terms of sound quality,
but if you're using a microphone like this,
you're probably somewhat interested in the visual appeal.
Maybe that's for a video podcast or video recording.
Maybe that's for streaming.
Maybe that's for live performances.
And just know, this one,
if you do any kind of close ups on it,
it's probably gonna have fingerprints and dust and stuff,
very visible all over it.
So I figured I would do this show down
between the three of these.
And we can just do side-by-side comparisons
and see what you think they sound like.
Right now, I have been speaking into the Super 55.
And as you can see from this angle right here,
I'm about one and a half fist distances, fistances,
away from the microphone.
And here's the 55SH, same thing.
I'm about one and a half fistances
away from the microphone.
So that's how these two microphones sound.
Let's now connect the Memphis and see how it compares.
And now we are on the Monoprice Stage Right Memphis Blue
super retro fun microphone.
And prior to making this video,
I have had this microphone for five or six months now.
So I've been using it quite a bit and getting used to it,
and I do really like it.
I think it's a pretty darn good sounding microphone,
especially for the price,
which it has an MSRP of $59.99.
So $60 for all intents and purposes is the MSRP.
Again, prices changed a lot.
You might be able to get it higher or lower than that.
But no matter what, that is significantly less expensive
than either of these Unidyne mics.
Here we go, this is what the microphone sounds like.
Peter Piper pitched a podcast.
I would say it has about the same, like plosive rejection
or the wind screen is just as effective as it is
on either of the Unidyne microphones.
And actually, I think
this is a really good sounding microphone.
Since it is a larger mic,
I do feel like I have a...
I don't know if it's because it's a larger mic,
but I really feel like I have a larger pickup pattern.
So I don't have to be directly in front of it.
I can kind of go side to side a bit
and it doesn't change too much.
And the output seems to be in line
with the Shure microphones
because I plugged it right into the Cloudlifter,
right into the Focusrite.
And it's just at about 12 o'clock, maybe 1230,
on the gain dial over here.
This is what the Shure Super 55 sounds like,
which is my favorite of the microphones
and the most directional.
If I move off access,
it immediately starts to drop my voice.
But I really, really do enjoy this microphone.
It's almost got like bite to it.
It's very bright sounding.
It's very sharp, but it still has enough of that low end.
So its sound quality is almost to me,
something in between the pod mic,
which leans towards the high end,
and the SM7B, which has a lot of those rich low ends.
It's like, if you smash those together,
you would kind of get the Super 55.
I hope I don't anger people by saying that,
but it just seems like
that's sort of the best of both worlds.
And if you know me,
you know those are also two of my favorite microphones.
So having both of those combined into one
that also looks really cool, it's pretty awesome.
I don't mind that.
And this is the 55SH now, compared to the Super 55,
which is in the middle in terms of price,
but still, the MSRP is about a hundred dollars more
than the Memphis.
We'll jump back to the Memphis,
so you can hear what that sounds like exactly.
And I really am pretty impressed
with the sound quality of this microphone.
I don't think there is an objective best microphone.
So let's do some quick side-by-sides.
This is the Memphis Blue and it blew me away
because it sounds really good.
This is the Shure 55SH Series II.
And is the Series II, the series for you too?
And this is the Super 55.
Do you wanna give me a super high five for the 55?
Now, in terms of which microphone sounds best
between these three,
I don't think there is an objective winner.
I think a lot of it comes down to personal preference
and workflow, and all that kind of stuff.
But I do think that the Memphis mic has a lot going for,
especially for the price.
It's really kind of hard to beat.
If I personally had to rank them,
I would rank the Super 55 as my favorite,
the Memphis as my second favorite,
and the 55SH in third place as my least favorite,
just because it does kinda have that boxy sound.
And as you can hear, it's still a great sounding microphone,
but I just feel like I get better sound
more easily out of this one.
And for the price of being a hundred or more dollars less,
it's kinda hard to argue between these two.
And these really are more the direct competitor
since this is a supercardioid pickup pattern,
and these are just regular cardioid pickup patterns.
And all three of them, of course, are dynamic microphones.
Now, I will say though that the Shure
does have the reputation for quality.
These microphones, even though these specific ones,
are newly manufactured, you know that they're gonna last
for years and years and years, and decades and decades.
This is a newer microphone altogether
without that kind of history.
So only time will tell if it's going to be as reliable
and as durable.
But it is a great sounding mic
and it's super budget-friendly.
And just like these ones, I should mention it does have
the mount where it really is more meant to go on a...
Oh, I'm talking into it.
Hang on.
It does have the same type of mount
as both of these microphones,
where the XLR input and the mic stand mounting point
are right next to each other.
Which means that it can be a little difficult
to mount it on anything
that's not a vertical stand like this,
or a traditional vertical mic stand.
If you're trying to mount it on something
like a Rode PSA1 boom arm,
you typically need all kinds of adapters.
I actually made this little adapter for the Unidyne.
It's a small rig ball mount and some other adapters.
It's kind of random.
And basically, what this lets me do
is connect it to the PSA1 and then position the mic,
so that way it goes up at a right angle.
And then, I can use the Super 55 or the 55SH
on the PSA1 mounted up in the correct direction.
You've probably seen that in other videos,
I will say this microphone is too heavy to do that with.
So that is another downside to this mic,
Is it's probably really just too heavy to mount
on most boom arms.
So I would definitely recommend using it
either with a tabletop mic stand
or with a standard floor-mounted mic stand.
It really is clearly designed
for stage and live performance,
probably not something you would see in a lot of podcasts.
But it's a cool looking microphone.
It's a great sounding microphone,
and it's at a great price.
So it makes sense that you might want to incorporate it
into your podcasting or streaming setup as well.
And if you know me, you know that I love microphones
and I love finding different microphones
at different price points.
And I always get excited when I find a budget option
that looks good, sounds good,
and seems to be built reliably.
So this could be a really cool choice for your setup.
Of course,
I do just overall prefer the style of the Unidynes.
It's really classic for a reason.
But I do have this entire playlist of microphone reviews
and comparisons.
So if you're not sure about the Memphis Blue,
you can find another microphone
that won't give you the blues.
(Thanks for being here.)