Shure SM57

The Shure SM57 is a dynamic microphone which is popular in studio recording and live performances as a versatile instrument microphone - used for snare drums, guitar amplifiers etc.

The SM57 was Peter Gabriel's choice for vocals during the mid-1980s starting with the Peter Gabriel 4 album (a.k.a. Security). Producer & engineer David Lord remembers using various expensive mikes on Peter and ended up choosing the 57. He used it to record Peter ‘live’ in the control room, which was a change from Peter facing "all the pressures of being in front of a (big and expensive) [Neumann] U47 microphone!"

Since then, Peter stuck with the SM57 as his main studio mic. He was also pictured singing into one during early So album sessions. Later in the sessions, however, producer Daniel Lanois conducted a blindfold test with Peter to choose an alternative microphone to the SM57, and by the end he chose a Neumann U47.