- Hi, I'm Jordan from Kettner Creative.
In this video I'm gonna show you
what microphone the president uses.
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So what microphone does the president
of the United States use?
The president of the United States
uses a Shure SM57 VIP microphone.
This microphone is exactly the same as the Shure SM57
that is often used for making guitar amps
and snare drums at live concerts.
but they add that A2WS windscreen
which helps to provide what's called plosive protection
which prevents popping
when you say things like, pink Panther
really close to the microphone.
Helps give more consistent audio for the president.
Now when the president is outside they use AA81WS
but other than that it's the same Shure SM57 microphone
on the inside.
There's a couple other things that comes
with the presidential VIP kit.
They have a special shock mount which I don't have
and they have a couple of brackets
to help him mount to the podium.
Now, historically previous presidents
have used a mic clip like this.
This mic clip holds two microphones
so it provides redundancy for the president during speeches.
It's mounted down low, something like that
and will point up.
But President Trump has opted for a 20-inch gooseneck.
Now I'm a bit shorter than he is.
So I have a 14-inch gooseneck that you see here.
Previously the president's microphone has had redundancy.
So the left microphone would go to the press box,
the right microphone would go to the in-room amplification.
And if one microphone were to ever fail
they could use that one microphone for both purposes.
President Trump threw way that redundancy
for what's called the proximity effect.
The proximity effect gives you more tone and presence
when you get the microphone up closer to your face.
It's rumored that he started using this
after his presidential debate with Hillary Clinton.
Now for a presidential debate to keep things even
they set the height of both microphones to the same height
but obviously she's quite a bit shorter than he is.
So she benefited from the proximity effect.
She had better tone, better vocal presence.
And apparently he was quite annoyed at that.
That's why he kept ducking down on the microphone
to try recuperate some of that vocal presence
that he was missing by being a foot and 1/2 away
from the microphone.
So since then he's taken matters in his own hand
and insisted on a 20-inch gooseneck
which no president has ever used in the past.
Now, why would the president of the United States
use such a basic microphone that's used for guitar amps
and snare drums worldwide?
It's because it works.
It has a nice warm tone.
It's super consistent.
And as you know any Shure SM57 or 58 microphone
can work after being driven over by a bus,
it can be thrown in the ocean,
it can be thrown down three flights of stairs.
You plug it in It'll still work.
My guess is that's why they use this microphone
for the presidential microphone.
There's some jokes to be had
about this microphone being bulletproof.
It's not literally bulletproof
but these things can take a beating
and they're one of the most consistent microphones
in the world.
It's definitely one of the most popular microphones
in the world for this same reason.
It's super reliable, you can plug it in
and it'll just work.
And when you're talking about the president
of the United States giving an address to the country
you want that reliability
even if you sacrifice a little bit of tone.
There's some rumors that audio technicians in the past
have buried little condenser mics
within the presidential podium.
I don't really think that they've done that.
There's some rumors about that but at the end of the day
the microphone that is seen as a Shure SM57
with an optional windscreen and an optional shock mount.
It's the same $100 microphone
that almost any musician has in their toolbox at home.
We hope this video is helpful.
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or you want links to buy it,
please click in the description below.
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Thank you so much for watching.