I CAN'T DECIDE!! A Shure SM7 or Sennheiser MD421????!!!!

Well I have a number of mics, the Shure SM7b, TLM 102, AT 4050's, 4047 to highlight a few... I find myself reaching for the SM7b often, I think it's an excellent mic, I've used it on kick and tons of vocals, 

Can't speak to the other mic you mentioned, but you'll want to have a preamp with a lot of gain for the SM7b

OK, this is helpful.  I did read something about the fact that the SM7 is a gain hog.  I currently only have my AI preamps (firewire).  I do have an Art Tube MP that I put a nice Russian tube into that sounds really good, that I could get a good boost with.  I've actually used this with vocals and it's nice and transparent for such a cheap little preamp; it was recommended even by our old friend Yep!

OK, all helping, leaning towards the 421 though still.

Hmmm.  Me liking the Sennheiser more and more!!

OK, I've decided, the 421!!!  Thanks to everybody!

As a former touring engineer, 421's were the choice for toms.
I think you made a wise choice.

mike_mccue


The thing most folks don't get about the RE20 is the ultra smooth sounding off axis response roll off. 

Fine on bones.
 
best regards,
mike

Most guys need all the proximity effect they can get when mic'ing their bone, so the RE20 might not be for everybody...
 
Sven

The RE20 is a dynamic microphone and also classed as a broadcaster mike. It just so happens to sound pretty good on instruments too. But being dynamic it will only ever have the qualities of a dynamic microphone and will not sound like a condenser. A dynamic mike is not as fast as a condenser mike (and we all know about transients don't we.)  A dynamic mike has a heavy voicecoil attached to its diaphragm so therefore it is heavier and slower in nature in terms of moving quickly eg a fast transient. A condenser mike has nothing attached to its diaphragm so it is very light and hence the reason it is faster.

As Mike points the RE20 probably does sound better than cheaper mikes but remember there is a plethora of amazing mikes coming out now for lower and lower cost. It would not sound better than a mike priced in same range or even a mike a little higher in cost than the EV. ( eg Audio Technical for example)  Some of these newer mikes sound fantastic and over a wider range of sources as well.

I am speaking from experience. I have used the RE20 a lot in various situations and have also used more modern cheaper condensers with amazing results and they sounded way better than the RE20 on certain things as well.

There is a trend for companies like Shure now that are bringing out beautiful sounding dynamic mikes and they are getting closer to the condensers in sound. So they are worth looking into as well. The ideal thing is to have all of them if you can. eg a SM 7, SM 57, RE20, 421, and some condensers etc...They all have their fav instruments or situations where they sound great.

Remember to give all your mikes a hardness rating from 1 to 10 so you will be better placed to match the mike to the source. That is the secret to getting great sounding tracks. (1 or lower values mean smoother softer sounding not so bright etc, higher values mean more toppy, brittle etc..) You have to do some tests to determine hardness ratings but the work is well worth it in the long run.

Here's a chart I found in my travels that may or may not be of usefullness:

I don't remember where but I found a link to it somewhere earlier this year and saved the jpeg just for this very reason!
<--- smirk

Middleman does bring up a good point and only reinforces the idea that perhaps the best thing to do is to do a series of tests with your microphones on a variety of sources and see where they stand.

Yeah, no problem. I have seen that chart bouncing around for a couple of years along with the preamp version. Neither one provides much in the way of actually determining the mic or preamp that is best for an application.

the MD421's are best for toms.

 
MD421 does sound good on toms.
 
If you're talking large toms, a C414 will blow your mind.  
The sound is HUGE... clear... and has lots of attack/articulation.
 
On small toms, I actually like a SM57 better than a MD421... as it captures more "smack".
The 57 just can't capture the fundamental on larger toms... but the fundamental on higher toms is captured nicely.
 
In general, the MD421 will capture more bottom and top than the SM57.
That said, the mids aren't as aggressive sounding as the SM57.
If you want to capture tight/focused/aggressive mids, that's when the SM57 is a great choice.

"If you're talking large toms, a C414 will blow your mind.  
The sound is HUGE... clear... and has lots of attack/articulation."

Yeah baby!!!

But sometimes you are on a stage outside with a 15 knot wind and a light salt air mist... and it's time to pull out the dynamics.

The problems with cheap condensers will likely remain for many years. You will encounter inconsistent overall quality, marginally designed power supplies, crap shoot capsule tuning, no authority in the bass frequencies, fast yet harsh sounding transients when the crappy little preamp actually has sound running through it... etc. etc. etc.
 
That's why 414's remain great utility mics... they don't have those problems. The 414 is another all time favorite mic of mine. I use it on kick as often as I can.

I do like the 421 a bunch as well... years ago I worked sound on a 7 hour video doc series that won one of those emmy statues... we used a 421 on all the v.o.

I've never been a fan of the SM7...  to me it is just a plain old mic in a awkward form factor with the bonus of a built in pop screen. I guess I'm guilty of generalizing it... and so I just grab a 58 or 57 out of my big plastic box if a SM7 comes to mind.


Jeff,
 "A dynamic mike is not as fast as a condenser mike (and we all know about transients don't we.) "

It is highly likely that the reason the OP asked about 2 dynamic mics is that we all know about transients.

For toms ya the 421 seems to be heavily used thru-out the industry. I had a few of them but wanted to record acoustic guitar and I didn't like them for that so I ended up selling them. My 421's also sounded good on brass instruments.

 I ended up getting a Marshall V-69 ME, which sounds great on vocals and guitar. I was surprised to see it located so close to the Neumann U47 on that chart.