Sound & quality
Shure KSM9 has a fantastic quality and it gives a very natural sound. Aside from singers, we’ve seen it working for acoustic artists too, for example, guitar players, etc. Just make sure to point it where you want to and it will do the rest. As for music genres, KSM9 works best with Latin, jazz, pop music, rock, and similar. For more aggressive styles like metal, technically you’ll still get a better quality vocal, but among those loud and heavy guitar riffs sounds you may probably not be able to notice the difference.
In terms of frequency response, the sound of KSM9 is very well tailored, and it does sound much better than a typical ‘flat-response’ condenser. The lows are being naturally rolled off to avoid that unwanted mud and boominess. The entire midrange, which corresponds to vocal and most instrumental sounds is precise as never before. The higher range gets a gentle boost, resulting in more transparency and helping to cut through more easily. KSM9 is also amazingly crispy and I find it quite amusing. It maintains a great accuracy at higher freqs (where other mics err), and even those high-pitched harmonics sound so natural!
It is also nice to admit the technological advancements implemented in this unit. Aside from its precious, gold layered, low mass diaphragm, KSM9 uses first-class electric components for its preamplifier circuit. This helps to achieve an extremely fast transient response and make the sound more vivid.
Features
This mic has a number of features that make the overall experience even more enhancing… First of all, is a state of art suspension system for the capsule, which results in reduced handling noise.
Condenser mics are generally considered sensitive to handling vibrations; however, in the case of KSM9, the difference is tremendous. Second, a nonetheless very important feature is a unique grille design that does an impressive job of reducing popping sounds. They call it a three-stage grille or simply a triple grille.
Last but not least is an interchangeable polar pattern. Shure KSM9 has two modes: cardioid and supercardioid. Both patterns are standard and both can be as useful in different situations. For example, as a lead singer, you will naturally lean towards a more balanced sound of cardioid. However, when the stage gets more aggressive and louder, you will need the improved rejection and gain before feedback of supercardioid. Unlike other mics, both patterns of KSM9 work flawlessly. Thus, it is like you buy one mic but end up with two, and you can switch them whenever you want, which is quite very awesome.
Who should use it
Any artist or singer who has enough money for professional gear could use KSM9. This microphone can give a colossal improvement to your vocal and it actually deserves every dollar spent. Compared to other Shures, it is a great step up from their Beta 87A and miles ahead of Beta 58A. They are just in completely different leagues. Therefore, if you can afford this mic, go ahead and start digging that difference.
Pros
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Cons
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