What microphone is Dave using

[HonestDenver1]

Anyone know what type of mic Dave is using on his guitar on the live from home shows? It sounds amazing and I’ve seen other artists using something similar. Nathaniel rateliff used one recently in a full band setting. Thanks in advance.

[Dannyyankou]

I want to say it's a Shure mic. I'll double check.

[dreamingtree_34]

Looks like an SM7B

[djamieb]

Hey, man! I grabbed a quick screenshot from a YouTube video of #41 from the 2nd Live At Home By Request show and put a green circle around that guitar mic just to see if that's the one you're asking about. I'd be curious to know what model that is, too. Sounds terrific! Looks like a small diaphragm condenser mic to me, but I can't see what brand or model it is. Hopefully someone else can tell from the screenshot and shed some light on that.

(The vocal mic is indeed a Shure SM7B as dreamingtree_34 pointed out. It's an awesome dynamic mic and I think it suits Dave's vocals beautifully.)

[alec]

It could be a Neumann KM184. A lot of people use them on acoustic guitar and they sound really good. Possibly even a KM84, which a lot of people consider to be the ultimate mic for acoustic guitar. You can only get used KM84s now, and they are around $1-2k.

The vocal mic is a Shure SM7B. A decent sounding mic that is used for this kind of stuff because it is good at blocking out other sound sources, so cuts down on the bleed from acoustic guitar.

[alec]

Another mic like this worth checking out is the Slate ML-2. It has a flat frequency response but comes with emulations of a bunch of different microphones. You can get great sounds out of it and it only costs $150.

[blumathu]

If you're considering a Shure SM7B, be aware that you need a really good pre-amp to use it. It's very low output compared to typical dynamic mics.

Also, the guitar signal is almost certainly a blend of the pickup and that pencil condenser mic, each processed differently.

[HonestDenver1]

Originally Posted by alec

It could be a Neumann KM184. A lot of people use them on acoustic guitar and they sound really good. Possibly even a KM84, which a lot of people consider to be the ultimate mic for acoustic guitar. You can only get used KM84s now, and they are around $1-2k.

The vocal mic is a Shure SM7B. A decent sounding mic that is used for this kind of stuff because it is good at blocking out other sound sources, so cuts down on the bleed from acoustic guitar.

Thanks for this! I think the Neumann is probably the closest if not exact based solely on specs and how Dave's looks. Probably too much for what I'm looking for but I can work down from there. I think this last "By request" was his best sounding yet. He's really got it dialed in, or perhaps even has some help involved with it. But hands down the best virtual home show of anyone in the last year in terms of audio quality. It sounds like a studio recording.

[HonestDenver1]

Thanks for all the input everyone! I am glad so many other people are interested in these types of things.

[dmb2632]

I'm pretty sure his guitar mic is actually a Shure SM81 - you can see the dial for the hi pass filter more clearly in this video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRfiWzUsBGw

The reason I don't think it's a KM84 is how much of the mic's body is exposed beyond the windscreen which leads me to think it's a longer mic than that.

[alec]

Originally Posted by dmb2632

I'm pretty sure his guitar mic is actually a Shure SM81 - you can see the dial for the hi pass filter more clearly in this video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRfiWzUsBGw

The reason I don't think it's a KM84 is how much of the mic's body is exposed beyond the windscreen which leads me to think it's a longer mic than that.

Agreed that it is not a KM84. I was thinking more KM184, but mentioned KM84 in case the OP was looking for the ultimate acoustic mic.