Shure SM81

This week we're looking at a personal favorite of mine. With a more mellow sound than most, the SM81 brought the clean condenser sound to more people and home studios in the late 70s. We look at its history and features and take it for a test drive in the studio with some other popular SDC mics. Special thanks to Danny Lamagna for playing drums and Matt Garzilli for playing guitar during this series! Another special shout out to Mikhail at Blackrock Studio in CT for loaning us some mics for this series! Get the Shure SM81 (Affiliate Link) https://sweetwater.sjv.io/q4eB9g What I used for this video (Amazon Affiliate Links): Blackmagic 6k for in studio shots: https://amzn.to/49B2blm Rokinon Cine 35m lens: https://amzn.to/3IokApu Rokinon Cine 24mm lens: https://amzn.to/4c0hgyk Parabolic Soft box: https://amzn.to/434ejsz Key Light: https://amzn.to/3IkTr6K Fill Lights: https://amzn.to/3TpHW4w Sconce Lights: https://amzn.to/3wDvmpl Teleprompter: https://amzn.to/49Ax35f **CONTENTS** 00:00 - Intro 00:25 - Shure reintroduces condensers 03:17 - The SM81 07:15 - SM81 No Processing 6" away FLAT 08:13 - Rolloff 1 08:20 - Rolloff 2 08:27 - Plosive and Sibilance Test 08:43 - Axis Test 09:09 - SM81 @ 6" 09:13 - SM81 @ 1 foot 09:18 - SM81 @ 2 feet 09:22 - SM82 @ 3' 09:27 - Piano Demo 09:31 - SM81 09:38 - KM184 09:47 - SM81 09:54 - KM184 10:05 - WA-84 10:14 - KM184 10:26 - SM81 10:32 - KM184 10:38 - SM81 10:45 - Acoustic Bass Demo 10:49 - SM81 11:11 - KM184 11:32 - sE5 11:54 - Hi Hat Demo 11:58 - SM81 12:06 - KM184 12:14 - MK-012 12:22 - Drum Overheads Demo 12:26 - SM81 12:46 - WA84 13:06 - Acoustic Guitar Demo 13:11 - SM81 13:32 - KM184 13:54 - WA84 14:14 - Conclusion