ResonantLive Sound Archive

Equipment file · Cardioid dynamic microphone

SM57 microphone

Shure · 1965

Evidence status · documented

Identity and core specifications are documented; some historical fields remain unavailable.

The SM57 is a cardioid dynamic microphone built around Shure's Unidyne III capsule, developed by Ernie Seeler and released in 1965 in the new SM series. The capsule descends from Ben Bauer's 1939 [[shure-55-unidyne|Unidyne]], and it is shared with the [[shure-sm58|SM58]].

Introduced
1965
Category
Cardioid dynamic microphone
Intended use
Instrument and vocal pickup on stage and in the studio
Production
Shure, continuously since 1965

Equipment photographs · 1

Shure SM57 Unidyne III microphone, circa 1984

1 / 1 · Shure SM57 Unidyne III microphone, circa 1984

Shure SM57 Unidyne III microphone, circa 1984·Jud McCranie·CC BY-SA 4.0

Why it mattered

  1. 01

    Its toughness, proven by drop, salt-spray and submersion tests, made it the workhorse for close-miking loud amplifiers and snare drums.

  2. 02

    It became the standard microphone for US presidential speeches from Lyndon Johnson onward.

Engineering record

Capsule
Unidyne III cardioid dynamic element, derived from the 1939 Unidyne[2]
Frequency response
40 Hz to 15 kHz[1]

Original pricing

No reliable period price located

2026 equivalent

Not calculated without a reliable original price.

Public price evidence was not sufficient to publish a defensible original figure.

Use in the field

Used for speeches by every US president since its introduction[2]

Manuals & original documents

No authoritative manual or original document has been located for this profile.

Sources

  1. 1The Swiss Army Knife of Microphones: The SM57Shure · archive · 2023-03-14
  2. 21965 Shure SM57 Dynamic MicrophoneMix · technical paper · 2006-09-01

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