Shure SM7B

What it is

The Shure SM7B is a cardioid dynamic microphone with a tailored 50Hz–20kHz frequency response, internal air-suspension shock isolation, and a humbucking coil that rejects the electromagnetic hum that computer screens and power supplies push into a room. It has two switches on the back: a bass rolloff and a presence boost. It's been the broadcast and voice standard for decades, and it's the mic Bruce Swedien tracked Michael Jackson's vocals on for Thriller.

Why it's on this list

Because it forgives the room, and the room is the thing nobody wants to fix.

A large-diaphragm condenser will give you a more detailed vocal — and it will also give you the air conditioner, the refrigerator two rooms over, and the reflection off the window behind you. The SM7B is a dynamic mic with a tight cardioid pattern and low sensitivity, which is a technical way of saying it hears what's directly in front of it and mostly ignores everything else. In an untreated room — which is most rooms — it will beat a better microphone.

It also sounds like authority. That's not a spec, but it's the reason it's on every serious podcast and radio desk in the country.

What to know before you buy

It is very quiet. The SM7B's sensitivity is roughly 1.1 mV/Pa — lower than most passive ribbon mics — and Shure's own guidance is a preamp with at least 60dB of clean gain. Plug it into a budget interface and you'll be running the gain knob at maximum with a thin, hissy signal, and you'll blame the microphone. The mic is fine. The preamp isn't.

Two ways out:

• An inline booster (Cloudlifter, FetHead) adds roughly +25dB of clean gain ahead of your interface. This is the standard fix.
• Buy the SM7dB instead. Same capsule and chassis, with an active preamp built into the mic offering switchable +18dB or +28dB. It's the SM7B with the booster already inside it — fewer boxes, fewer cables, one purchase.

If you're starting from zero and your interface isn't a high-gain unit, the SM7dB is very likely the better buy. If you already own a preamp with real headroom, the SM7B is the classic for a reason.