Shure SM7B

The Shure SM7B is the vocal microphone of the home-studio era. Its family goes back to the SM7 of 1973, and the current SM7B version arrived in 2001. Rugged, forgiving and good at rejecting room noise, it became the go-to mic for rappers recording in bedrooms and closets.

History

Engineer Bruce Swedien used an SM7 on Michael Jackson’s Thriller; it was the only vocal mic on “P.Y.T.” The SM7A added hum shielding and the SM7B a larger windscreen. Podcasting made it even more famous from the mid-2000s, and the SM7dB of 2023 added a built-in preamp.

The hip hop connection

As a dynamic mic, the SM7B doesn’t pick up much of an untreated room, which is why it’s everywhere in home rap setups. Shure’s own story on the mic names the rapper Logic, who uses one daily. We haven’t found a source crediting a specific rap record to it.

Buying one today

It needs a lot of clean gain, so pair it with a strong preamp or an inline booster. Counterfeits are common on marketplaces, so buy from reputable sellers, and don’t confuse it with the SM7dB.