Shure KSM32 Large-diaphragm Condenser Microphone - Champagne Reviews

SNARE BOTTOM, Drum Overheads, Vocals, Horns, Almost anything will sound great using this microphone!

Im really enjoying my new Shure KSM32 ... recording some acoustic guitar!!!!

I've used a lot of mics. I've had more expensive mics for vocals but none of them really sounded better to my ears. This mic just sounds great pretty much no matter what. It's my absolute favorite mic for drum overheads. It sounds awesome on piano. I record vocals with it all the time. I mean, for the money, it can't be beat. Like all Shure mics, it's built like a tank. Get a pair and thank me later.

The best microphone or one of them. Clean/Crisp/Pure sound.

If you're going for a minimalist drum miking technique, try this guy as a mono overhead. You won't be disappointed!

I got the chance to use these the other day while recording drum tracks and was blown away with the sound that I was able to get from these! They did a great job with the overall sound of the kit, but I especially appreciated the clean and bright sounds of the cymbals. I would highly recommend these getting a pair of these for drum drum OHs.

These are great as drum overheads. I used these today on a project and they blew away mics costing twice as much. I also tried a pair of Neumann km 184s, Shure SM81s, and AKG c414s and none of them could compare. A spaced pair of these does a great job of picking up the whole kit. If your one of the people who thinks overheads are just to pick up cymbals, these aren't for you, but for anyone who knows what over heads are meant for, these are your best bet.

i really enjoy listening to my songs after using this bad boy i sound like a new man great presence and vocal range 2009 best underground artist lyrical Reighn.Mob ent

I have been using this mic (ksm 32/sl) for about 3 years now. I have used Rode, Neumann, Blue, and everything else under the son. I love it for its clarity. A rare frequency response, natural with only a few slight bumps in the 5 k range. The result is you get back the vocal you put in. Im very obsessive over my vocals sounding the way i picture in my mind and so far this is the only mic that does it. Believe it or not for me it knocked the Neumann tlm 103 and u 87 out of the water. Many would disagree but with mics it depends on the singer some need exaggeration in some frequencies and other dont. i myself have a rather thick vocal so i need this mic's sonic properties to thin it down a little. Well im off to sing stuff bye.

I bought this mic used online for a smokin' price. I was saving up to buy a brand new KSM32/CG when this came along, and I snapped it up. I A/B'd it against every other mic I own, and it slaughtered them all. Two days ago I though I was getting some good drum sounds, now I'm faced with having to buy three more 32's! (This mic killed all over the kit).

You really don't need to own a $10,000 or more for a microphone to achieve that multi-million dollar sound (or just to brag that you own a really expensive mic!). With the Shure KSM32, you can get that multi-million dollar sound without breaking the bank or the ego. This mic is perfect for vocals and instruments. Perfectly engineered!

I hear and see very little in voiceover circles about the KSM line, which surprises me. I guess that only made this mic more appealing to me, more so when I compared it to the TLM 103 and couldn't hear an appreciable... difference. I've been using this mic for narration work with an Audient iD4 and love its clarity. The roll-off options save time by attenuating low-end room tone/vocal muddiness as well as proximity effect. Great value! Thanks to David M. at Sweetwater for helping me with the purchase.

The Shure KSM 32 is really a sleeper mic. I think it is priced appropriately for what it does. It's technically a large diaphragm condenser, though the capsule size is actually 0.750" in diameter unlike most which are are 1". Shure claims some advantages to this with regard to polar and frequency response.

To my ears, this mic is on the slightly warm side for a condenser. It's not as big and open as some of the more expensive mics, but that is not a disadvantage. It doesn't have the blistering fast transient response of some other mics either. These few things add up to make an interesting modern condenser that doesn't kill you with brightness like so many others. It actually has a hint of ribbon-esque quality to it, in my opinion. Because of this balance that it strikes between a detailed condenser sound and more warm dynamic sound, you are able to use the KSM 32 on a large variety of sources with great success. Some mics are decent in some places and mind blowingly good in others. This is not that mic. It will stun on a rare few occasions, but it will even more rarely disappoint you. It is always at least good, if not great. The presence peak is somewhat low for a condenser at around 6 to 7khz which sometimes doesn't match up well with a source. Certain cymbals, percussion and acoustic guitars will have a slightly grainy or irritating texture in the high end. This somewhat unique peak will also make certain instruments sit just right and sound great.

Some preamp's will not open up the sound of this mic, leaving it sounding somewhat small and boxy. Most of the time I find that this mic sounds best through more hi-fi and open preamps. The A Designs P1, Hairball Gold(two Jensen transformers and 990 opamp design) or a really clean high voltage tube design.

As far as features, it has a nice -15db pad as well as two high passing filters. This mic rejects well to the rear, more so than my other large diaphragm condensers.

I have used this mic on guitar cabinets, acoustic guitar, mandolin, ukulele, overheads on drums, piano and vocals. It is really quite nice in certain electric guitar scenarios where you are fighting some darkness and want a little more detail than the usual dynamic mics. I love the warm sound I get on ukulele and the balanced sound I get with overheads on drums. They are my favorite condenser for overheads that I have owned so far. They wont capture the full breadth of a large grand piano, but they fit just right in a rock mix where you don't want that huge sound anyway. On vocals, the sound isn't big either, but it's nice for female vocals that are too bright with other condensers. I think this would be a nice project studio vocal mic or voice over mic.

So, in short, get this mic when you need a real workhorse in your mic locker that won't break the bank. At it's current price, I would say it's a good deal considering the use you will get from it. I have several myself. It's tough like all Shure mics, so you don't need to worry about fragility as much. Good job, Shure!

Got 2 of these somewhat recently, and in the short amount of time I've had them, I already know they'll be happy and getting lots of use in my studio. The response is fairly flat and true and I can see them not needing much eq to get them sitting we'll in a mix. I bought them primarily as drum overheads (after tons of reading, reviews, vids, etc) to replace my existing rode nt1a oh's and even just the initial demo was eye opening. Sitting side by side, the Shure is more open and detailed and seems to retain the dynamics better, where the rode almost sounds 'limited' or 'compressed', especially in the mids, and the top is waaaay smoother with none of those high 'needle' frequencies that have to be cut mercilessly. vocals also sound great. With the pad and the low cut, I barely had to touch the eq to get the vocals sounding great. I will admit, in solo, the vox sound kinda weird, like maybe a bit... unexciting? but who cares when it sounds that good in the mix. Can't wait to put em through the paces and based on how I was using the rodes, my acoustic, hand drums and percussion, etc will all have the awesome ksm32 sound. Thanks Sweetwater and Shure!

So I've been putting my Project Studio together for the past year. I've heard of these Mic Lockers (basically a nice mic collection for different apps in tracking). So I started with $100 mics up to about $300 mics. Let me tell you right now, SAVE YOUR MONEY! and buy this one instead. This is the most expensive mic I own and I am 100% glad I do. Although, I don't record my vocals with this mic on all songs, it is always a contender. The only reason why I use other mics is because the character of the mic fits with the song better and because I have the choice to do so. If I didn't, I'd much rather work with this mic than any other because of its transparency and clarity. Character may be added in your DAW later if you need any. You can't go wrong with this mic at all. If you're putting together a project studio at home, my mic advice would be: 1)KSM 32, 2)SE 2200a II C and 3)Blue Bluebird. I've put them in order of Transparency and Clarity to the same but with more character. Do your research and make some great music!

Better than I expected. Opens things up quite nicely on vocals.
Captures the highs without sounding brittle and well rounded lows. Even tried on a female vocalist - sounded great.
So far very happy

I got this mic at the recommendation of the salesman at my local pro audio store,i wanted a neuman, but didnt have $1000... i do hip hop and use the KSM32 for my vocals it sounded GREAT!!!! i use the lowcut switch, spit my verses and get a Quality sound, very low noise, Ive recorded on a Nueman U87..with a LA610 Pre, and it sounded good, but I get the same..if not better sound with my KSM32 and Focusrite Plat voicemaster pro Pre...
In all, im very satisfied with this mic, now my recordings sound professional!!

p.s. this mic is very durable,
i dropped it twice, and still it works perfectly!

I bought the Shure KSM32 to record a second track for my acoustic guitar on a mic along with the pickup on track one but I have found it is really good for vocals as well (I use dual mics on my vocals too). I like the 3 position Bass roll off.

I only reduced the rating because it is not a multi-thousand dollar Telefunken, or other unfair comparison. This is a very clean, reliable mic. I tried it with acoustic instruments, but will stick with my Shure 81's for that app. -better directional control. Vocals -really nice. Need to record in a tight room - this mic is very sensitive to spatial aspects of a room. Iso booth only, or can't add much verb, eq, etc. Great live mic for acoustic ensemble. Recommend!

great sounding mic for recording and live micing of acoustic instruments!

I purchased the KSM32 thinking I was going to be getting a quality mic I could use for vocal and instrumental tracks. I was partially right...

First of all, the KSM32 is a very sturdy mic. It's obviously built like a tank. The case it comes in is nice too. Kudos to Shure on construction.

This is a very quiet mic. Very little self noise; you can crank it up and hear many other room noises before you'll ever hear the mic. It has a bass rolloff switch, which I love. It has served me very well in recording guitars, especially big rosewood dreadnoughts. Also useful for upright bass. It has a pad switch that I've never had a need to use, but some folks might, and it's a nice feature.

The mic indeed has a very flat response in it's default setting. It picks up any acoustic instrument with precision and detail. You hear every little detail, in fact. The KSM32 demands that you be a good player, because you will surely hear every little mistake you make.

This mic has a very rich tone. I've gotten good results, as I said, micing pretty much all acoustic instruments. It's easy to get a good tone. But, for vocals? Here's where it all changes.

Your experience and voice may vary, but for mine, the KSM32 simply does not cut it. I played a track for several listeners who remarked after a short period of time, "you sound like you're singing through a tin can". Wow. The sad part is that they were right. No matter how I EQ'd, compressed, or mixed this mic, I couldn't get it to sound good for vocals. Plug in one of my Audio Technica condensers, and bam. Great vocals right out of the box. Even a '58 would be better for my vocals than the '32. As I said, your experience may vary; everybody has a different voice. But for me, it wasn't that great.

So, in conclusion; the KSM32 is a great instrumental mic. It has more tone and detail that you'll know what to do with. But for vocals, it's iffy, at least for me. But it was still worth every penny for it's superb instrumental recording ability, and it's durable construction.

Based on all this, 4 stars overall. If you buy it, I'm pretty confident that you aren't going to regret it. I don't.

I've had one on loan from a friend for 6months. I've come to depend on it mostly for vocals, but works on all sorts of recording tasks from guitar to sax and drums. Excellent mic, great sound. He wants it back, so now I have to buy one!

I've had great results using this microphone on guitar cabs and snare drums, but given the price, you might want to check out the SM-81 as a more versatile and practical alternative - more bang for your buck.

Recorded a live acoustic jam and it sounded really good as the room/percussion mic. Tried vocals at home and just couldn't eliminate the hollow sound another reviewer mentioned, but I acknowledge it was a bad acoustical situation. I ended up going with a Beta57 for clearer vocals. And have since gone to an AT-4050 for the same. But, like I said, the percussion sounds very good. I love its look and feel, and the velvet-like pouch.

This is a great mic, very nuetral sounding and pleasant, a very accurate mic without the hyped up response found in other mics in this category. I find that sonetimes I need to add just a little eq to make it stand out, but what a beautiful sound it has, and it takes to eq very well... If you have some extra dough, I would recommend getting it's bigger brother, but if not, you will be very happy with this choice...

I bought mine about 3 years ago when it first came out; from Sweetwater. It's been my workhorse eversince. From voice over, to acoustic gtr, to singing vocals, to percussion, it has performed flawlessly. Very detail, sometime too detail. Great connection to the spider(suspension), great finish, great packaging(siver model), very quiet, however I personally find it not as warm as i would want it to, but has plenty of lows and clear highs. I use it on a profesional home digital studio, and usually hook it up to a tube analog micpre and compressor to get a better result. In short, its an awesome mic!

I'VE HAD THIS MIC FOR A YEAR AND LOVE IT IT'S WARM AND CLEAN I RUN IT THROUGH AN PRESONUS EUREKA MIC PRE AMP AND NOW IT HAS CHANGED THE QUALITY OF MY VOCALS. IF I LOST IT I'D BUY ANOTHER.