If you’re a live singer, a solid mic is critical to conveying your performance to the audience. No matter how good you sound in person, it’s the mic that ultimately determines what is heard. It needs to be the absolute best handheld microphone to accurately communicate your sound to your fans. There are lots of considerations when picking a live vocal mic, including handling noise, durability, feedback rejection, and of course not least, the sound. In order to let you hear how different vocal mics sound, we took a handful of handheld mics and auditioned them so you can listen to them side by side. These are the handheld mics we chose…
The 6 Handheld Mics We Tested
Shure SM58
The dynamic cardioid Shure SM58 is the live sound industry’s most popular vocal mic. With built-in low-cut and presence boost, along with its amazing durability, it’s the first choice of many vocalists.
Sennheiser e835
The dynamic cardioid Sennheiser e835 offers high SPL handling and an internal shockmount to reduce handling noise. It offers minimal proximity effect, presence boost, and a wide polar pattern for uniform sound in front of the mic, plus a confidence-inspiring 10-year warranty.
sE Electronics V7
The dynamic supercardioid sE Electronics V7 not only sounds great, but its amazing rear rejection and super-low handling noise make it a serious contender for the vocalist’s mic of choice.
Neumann KMS 105
Neumann’s handheld KMS 105 supercardioid condenser brings the brand’s legacy into a form factor that is right at home on any stage. Its transformerless output yields exceptional transparency and accuracy.
Telefunken M80
The dynamic Telefunken M80 offers a supercardioid pattern, low-mass capsule, ultra-thin membrane, and custom-wound impedance-matching transformer to accomplish studio condenser–like audio quality in a dynamic mic.
Earthworks SR314
The cardioid condenser Earthworks SR314 is the newest mic in this comparison and features flat frequency response and a focus on time coherence courtesy of its small-diaphragm capsule and Class A amplifier.
The Shootout Process
We took all the mics into the Sweetwater Performance Theatre and had singers Krystle Clear and Jordan Applegate perform their original songs on each of them. The singers performed in front of dual stage wedges.
For calibration the handheld mics were positioned in identical locations in front of a PreSonus Sceptre S8 dual-concentric monitor, and all the levels were matched using a 1kHz tone. For the preamp, we used the Millennia Media HV-3D preamp and recorded into Avid Pro Tools.
NOTE: Each clip begins with the microphone dry and umcompressed so you hear just the sound of the mic. Then you’ll hear compression and effects added in so you can hear what they would sound like in a real mix.
You can listen by clicking on the 320K MP3 files below. You can also download a Pro Tools session with the original 24/48K WAV files by clicking here, or non–Pro Tools users can download the WAV files by clicking here.
Testing the handheld mics with a female vocalist
Krystle Clear sings “Dancin’ with the Devil” produced by Xavier O’Connor. Krystle is a Fort Wayne resident who sings with the band Casual Friday and leads worship at Pine Hills City Church. Her upcoming EP, Clear, is the result of her musical journey, seeking to impact hearts through song.
Female – Shure SM58
Female – Sennheiser e835
Female – sE Electronics V7
Female – Neumann KMS 105
Female – Telefunken M80
Female – Earthworks SR314
Testing the handheld mics with a male vocalist
Jordan Applegate, Sweetwater’s Director of Recruitment, sings the self-published song “Dance” as performed by the band, Soul35, written and produced by Jordan Applegate, Bryan Nellems, and Jon Swain.
Male – Shure SM58
Male – Sennheiser e835
Male – sE Electronics V7
Male – Neumann KMS 105
Male – Telefunken M80
Male – Earthworks SR314
Which handheld mic is best for you?
We hope this shootout helps you make a decision! If you want to know more about any of these mics or any of the other dozens of live vocal mics we carry, shop all of our dyanmic mics and handheld wireless systems, or give your Sweetwater Sales Engineer a call at (800) 222-4700.
Credits: Thanks to Jimmy Blankenship’s team of A/V “Special Ops” in the Sweetwater Performance Theatre for their help in setting up and conducting this shootout: Tim Woten, Michala Brooks, Spencer Secoy, Branden Marker, and Austin Walsh.
