Spend enough time watching podcasts on YouTube and you’ll eventually notice the same microphone appearing again and again.
A black microphone hangs from a boom arm. The host sits only a few inches away from it. Maybe you’ve seen it in a professional radio studio, a streaming setup, or behind a singer in a recording booth. There’s a good chance you’re looking at the Shure SM7B.
The SM7B has become one of the most recognizable microphones in podcasting. But popularity doesn’t automatically make something the right choice for you.
This isn’t a plug-and-play USB microphone. It needs an XLR audio setup, plenty of clean gain, and a decent boom arm or stand. So why do so many people still use it? Let’s find out.
What Is the Shure SM7B?
The Shure SM7B is a professional dynamic microphone designed for voice, broadcast, podcasting, studio vocals, narration, and instrument recording.
It uses a cardioid polar pattern, which means the microphone focuses primarily on sound arriving from the front while reducing sound coming from other directions.
Unlike the Shure MV7, there’s no USB connection. There’s no headphone jack either. You won’t find a mute button, gain knob, RGB lighting, or companion app.
The SM7B is an analog XLR microphone. Your basic podcast setup will look something like this:
SM7B → XLR cable → Audio interface → Computer
That makes it more complicated than a USB microphone. But it also makes it easy to integrate into professional recording equipment.
Shure SM7B Specifications
The SM7B is a dynamic moving-coil microphone with a frequency response of 50 Hz to 20 kHz. It has a cardioid pickup pattern, 150-ohm output impedance, and sensitivity of -59 dBV/Pa. That last number is important.
The SM7B produces a relatively low output level. Shure recommends using it with a preamp capable of providing more than 60 dB of gain. If your interface can’t provide enough clean gain, you may need an inline boost amplifier or a stronger preamp.
The microphone also includes internal air-suspension shock isolation, built-in pop filtering, electromagnetic shielding, and two selectable frequency-response controls.
It’s a fairly heavy microphone too, so don’t forget to consider your boom arm when building the setup.
How Does the Shure SM7B Sound?
This is why people buy it. The SM7B has a smooth, controlled sound that works particularly well with the human voice. It doesn’t try to make your voice artificially bright.
Instead, speech tends to come across as full and natural. That’s one reason the microphone became so popular in broadcasting.
When you’re listening to someone talk for an hour, you don’t necessarily want an aggressive microphone emphasizing every tiny detail.
You want something comfortable. The SM7B does that very well. It also responds nicely to close microphone placement. Moving closer gives your voice more low-end warmth because of the proximity effect.
Move slightly farther away and the sound becomes less bass-heavy. That gives you some control before you’ve touched an EQ.
It’s Excellent for Podcasting
Podcasting is one of the best uses for the SM7B. Most podcasters don’t have perfect studios. Maybe you’re recording in an office.
Perhaps there’s a computer on the desk. There may be traffic outside. The room might not have professional acoustic treatment.
Because the SM7B is a dynamic microphone designed for close use, you can position your mouth around one to six inches away and get a strong direct voice signal.
This can make it easier to reduce the importance of sounds farther away. That doesn’t mean the SM7B magically removes background noise. It doesn’t. A barking dog is still a barking dog.
But compared with using a sensitive condenser microphone from several feet away, the SM7B can be easier to work with in many home podcast studios.
Cardioid Pickup Pattern
The SM7B has a cardioid polar pattern. That means microphone positioning matters. Point the front toward your mouth. Then try to position unwanted noise toward the sides or rear.
Suppose your computer is making fan noise. Instead of placing the computer directly behind you where the front of the microphone is facing it, arrange your desk so the microphone’s less sensitive side points toward the noisy equipment.
This can make a noticeable difference. The cardioid pattern is also useful for multi-person podcasts.
Give every speaker their own SM7B and position the microphones correctly. You’ll still get some voice bleeding between tracks, but much less than you’d get from putting one microphone in the middle of the table.
You Need Plenty of Gain
This is the part beginners need to understand before buying an SM7B. The microphone’s sensitivity is -59 dBV/Pa. That’s low. Shure says the SM7B performs best with preamps providing more than 60 dB of gain.
If your audio interface doesn’t provide enough clean gain, your recording may be too quiet. You may turn the gain knob almost all the way up and start hearing unwanted preamp noise.
That’s where devices such as inline microphone boosters became popular with SM7B users. They provide additional clean gain before the signal reaches your interface. But don’t automatically buy one.
Many modern audio interfaces and podcast consoles already have enough gain for an SM7B. Check your interface first. You might not need another box in the signal chain.
Does the SM7B Need Phantom Power?
No. The SM7B itself is a passive dynamic microphone and doesn’t require phantom power.
This sometimes gets confusing because certain inline preamps used with the SM7B do require 48V phantom power. The phantom power is running the booster, not the microphone itself.
If you connect the SM7B directly to a capable audio interface, you don’t need phantom power for the microphone.
Built-In Shock Isolation
A microphone doesn’t only capture sound moving through the air. Mechanical vibrations can become a problem too.
Maybe you accidentally hit the desk. Maybe you move your boom arm. Perhaps you’re typing while recording.
The SM7B includes an internal air-suspension shock isolation system designed to reduce mechanical noise reaching the microphone.
That’s a nice advantage because you don’t need to put the SM7B inside a giant external spider-style shock mount. You still want a solid boom arm.
But the microphone already has useful vibration isolation built into its design.
Pop Filter and Windscreens
Plosives happen when strong bursts of air from sounds such as P and B hit the microphone. They can create unpleasant low-frequency pops in your recording.
The SM7B has built-in pop filtering and comes with a standard foam windscreen. Shure also includes the larger A7WS windscreen.
The A7WS is particularly useful when you’re speaking extremely close to the microphone. It provides additional protection against plosives and can also produce a slightly warmer close-talk sound.
You may not need a separate external pop filter at all. That’s good because large pop filters can make a podcast setup look unnecessarily cluttered.
Build Quality
The SM7B feels like professional studio equipment. It’s built around an aluminum and steel case and includes a locking yoke mount.
This design makes microphone positioning easy on a suitable boom arm. And you’ll want a good arm.
The SM7B weighs around 0.76 kg, so this isn’t a tiny lightweight microphone. Add the cable and mounting hardware and cheap boom arms may struggle.
I’d rather spend a little more on a strong arm than spend every recording session pushing the microphone back into position.
Shure SM7B vs Shure MV7
This is an important comparison for beginners. The MV7 is much easier to set up. It gives you USB and XLR.
You can connect headphones directly to it. And when using USB, you get software features that simplify recording.
The SM7B gives you none of that. It’s a traditional analog studio microphone. If you’re starting from zero and want simplicity, I’d lean toward the MV7 family.
If you’re building a proper XLR recording setup and specifically want the SM7B sound and workflow, choose the SM7B. Don’t buy the SM7B simply because it’s more expensive.
Shure SM7B vs SM7dB
There’s another Shure microphone you should consider. The SM7dB takes the basic SM7 design and adds a built-in active preamp. That solves one of the biggest challenges of the original SM7B: gain.
If your audio interface struggles to drive an SM7B, the SM7dB can simplify the setup.
The classic SM7B still makes plenty of sense if you already own an interface with a powerful, clean preamp.
There’s no reason to pay for extra gain inside the microphone if your existing equipment already provides what you need.
Is the Shure SM7B Worth It?
Yes, if your setup is ready for it. The SM7B isn’t famous because it has clever software or trendy features.
It’s famous because it’s a very good microphone. It gives voices a smooth, natural character. Its cardioid pattern works well for close speech.
The internal shock isolation and pop filtering are genuinely useful. The response switches give you some control over tone.
And its rugged construction is designed for professional use. The catch is gain. Pair it with a capable preamp and the SM7B is easy to recommend.
Pair it with an underpowered interface and you may wonder what all the excitement is about.
Final Thoughts
The Shure SM7B is one of those rare pieces of audio equipment that became famous without becoming irrelevant. There are now easier podcast microphones. There are cheaper microphones.
There are USB microphones with built-in processing, automatic gain, headphone outputs, touch controls, and apps.
The SM7B doesn’t care. It’s still an XLR dynamic microphone designed to capture voices and instruments well. And that’s exactly why it continues to work. If you’re a beginner who values simplicity, start with something easier.
But if you’re building a serious podcast, streaming, voiceover, or recording setup and have enough clean preamp gain, the Shure SM7B remains one of the strongest broadcast-style microphones you can put in front of your voice.