Description

Briefly about the Shure SM81, an instrument microphone that will satisfy most sound engineers and (more importantly) most musicians and singers, no matter what instrument they use and what style they perform.

As always, Shure delights us with outstanding design. The monolithic structure is used here not only for beauty, but also to simplify the work process. The stainless steel construction looks expensive and it also looks durable. You can rest assured that you can only crack this mic if you want to and you’re lucky enough to have a gas burner on your jobsite. The Shure SM81 microphone is also designed to work in a wide range of temperatures and humidity, which once again shows its reliability. Now to the knobs and switches. A knob and switch to be exact. The switch under the grills is the attenuator, and the knob in the center of the case is the low-frequency selector, but we’ll talk about those below.

The sound characteristics of this model are well above average, but more importantly, Shure allows us to customize some of them. The nearly linear frequency response of the SM81 can be varied using the built-in low frequency response switch (located on the microphone body, three choices: 0dB, 6dB or 18dB, octave rolloff). This is a great feature if you want to saturate your recording with low frequency or cut it. Handy stuff, especially for recording instruments! The mic has a 10dB attenuator to muffle the instrument a bit if needed (good news for drummers). The SM81 has a cardioid pattern which means only direct sounds will be recorded, this microphone also has a really powerful output level and low distortion over a wide impedance range. The main feature of this microphone is frequency response. It is not bent over the entire frequency range, as you can see in the picture. The Shure SM81 is designed with a flat frequency response to accurately reproduce sound sources. You’ll hear and record your instrument or sound source exactly as it sounds, without added saturation. Don’t forget about phantom power. The Shure SM81 operates with a phantom power range of 11 to 52 V.

Brief characteristics:

• Low level of inherent noise and good protection against electromagnetic fields.
• High overload capacity.
• Equal amplitude-frequency characteristic in the entire reproduction band.
• Cardioid directional characteristic with exact axial symmetry.
• Minimum sound coloring of off-axis sources.
• Low level of penetration of radio frequency interference.
• Switchable low-pass filter (flat, 6 or 18 dB).
• Attenuator switch (0 dB/10 dB).
• Strong steel construction.
• Frequency response: 20-20000 Hz.
• Direction: Cardioid.
• 3-pin XLR connection.