90 Years of Innovation in Technology
This year, Shure marks a significant milestone, celebrating 90 years since founder Sidney N. Shure began the Shure Radio Company on April 25, 1925. Certainly in the years since that day, Shure has developed into a world leader in technology — and covering it all could consume an entire library, so we’ll focus on a few key products that helped shape the development of the sound reinforcement industry today. But first, a little history…
The Early Days
The company beginnings were fairly humble, but S. N. Shure had confidence about the burgeoning radio market and began selling DIY radio parts kits before factory-built radio sets were widely available to the general public. There was no pomp or ceremony — simply a man with a vision working by himself out of a small office at 19 South Wells Street in downtown Chicago.
A year later, Shure expands the outreach of the business, publishing a direct mail catalog (one of only six radio parts catalogs in the country) and by 1928, the business has grown to more than 75 employees. With brother Samuel J. Shure, joining the company, Shure Radio Company becomes Shure Brothers Company, and relocates to a larger facility.
A year later, the Great Depression arrives, mass produced radios come on the scene and the kit radio market collapses. The staff is reduced, brother Samuel leaves and the smaller company turns to distributing microphones. Shure hires a young engineer named Ralph Glover who spearheads the first Shure product, a two-button carbon mic, the Model 33N, which eventually is followed by the Model 40D condenser and the Model 35 crystal microphone.
1939 — Unidyne Model 55
Seeking to create a low-cost cardioid dynamic microphone, Shure engineer Benjamin Baumzweiger (he later changed his name to Bauer), began developing the Unidyne in early 1937. Prior to this, most unidirectional patterns were achieved by multi-element mics that combined the outputs of omni and figure-8 capsules via a switch or panpot. The concept worked, but resulted in bulky mics with uneven frequency response and unpredictable directional patterns.
Bauer felt a single-capsule approach was the only workable solution. Partially blocking the capsule’s rear openings created a short phase delay that effectively cancelled the sounds from the rear. Varying the rear port resistance created various directional patterns — cardioid, hypercardioid and supercardioid — and the Unidyne was born. Debuting in 1939 as the Model 55A/B/C (three versions with different output impedances), the Unidyne was an immediate hit.
More than seven decades later, the Unidyne remains in production as the vintage-looking dynamic models 55SH II, Super 55 and — the most recent entry in the series — the 5575LE Unidyne Limited Edition. Released last month in commemoration of the original Unidyne’s 75th anniversary, the 5575LE is produced in a limited run of 5,575 units that replicates the original design used by Elvis and Sinatra, but with appropriate improvements in durability and sound quality, including a modern Unidyne III capsule, yet with that classic large outer grill of the original. As a footnote, the 1993 stamp with Elvis singing into a Unidyne 55 is the most popular commemorative stamp ever issued by the Postal Service.
1965/1966 — SM57 and SM58
How exactly does a $99 microphone become an enduring classic? Well, if that mic is the Shure SM57, the answer comes easy. For half a century, the SM57 has proven itself in perhaps the most demanding application of all: delivering solid, dependable performance placed in front of amp stacks or an inch or so above (and below) snare drums, where the excruciatingly high sound pressure level would cripple lesser mics.
Yet, that same model has been the presidential microphone of choice, capturing press conferences and speeches for every U.S. chief executive since Lyndon Baines Johnson. In fact, Shure even offers a “VIP Dual Microphone Kit” that includes all of the hardware and cabling to use two SM57s side-by-side for fail-safe vocal coverage of important events.
The lineage of the SM57 began when Shure engineer Ernie Seeler developed the Unidyne III capsule, a cardioid dynamic design that continued the evolution of Ben Bauer’s original 1939 Unidyne (the first single-element unidirectional mic). After three years of hard work and hundreds of tests involving dropping, throwing, cooking, salt spray immersion and submerging, the SM Series was born, and Seeler’s same capsule design was employed for both the SM57 (1965) and its vocal counterpart, the SM58 (1966).
It’s somehow ironic that Seeler — a classical music devotee who despised rock ‘n’ roll — created two of the mics that 50 years later, remain a mainstay of rock music. Today, it’s the rare gig — rock, pop, R&B or country, in venues large and small — that doesn’t have an SM57 or SM58 on the rider somewhere. And the SM58 has definitely made its mark as the most popular vocal performance mic of all time — and shows no signs of slowing down.
1967 — Vocal Master
One Shure product that made a lasting impression and reached was an absolute hit when it first debuted in 1967 was the Vocal Master. Described as the first “portable total sound system,” it included a powered six-channel mixer/amplifier and two 63 x 16 x 9 inch column loudspeakers. With its carry handles and aluminum trim, the Vocal Master components were made for the road. Under the grille cloth of the 70-pound, 16-ohm speakers (the two combine for a net impedance of eight ohms) with a 10-inch woofer at the at the top and bottom of the cabinet and four 8-inch midrange cone drivers in between.
By modern standards, the Vocal Master, with its 10 kHz bandwidth, is hardly the greatest P.A., but it was somewhat of a revolution in its time, proving itself a transportable and easy to use system that was popular with touring bands, sound companies, schools and churches. In terms of the latter, to this day I’m surprised to find Vocal Master columns installed decades ago and still in use in sanctuaries everywhere. Or maybe I shouldn’t be surprised…
1968 — M67 Portable Mixer
Originally designed for remote broadcast applications, to enable journalists to cover stories live in the field is the M67 Portable Mixer. But its scope went well beyond that as it was also picked up by sound companies as a compact (11-3/8 inches wide) “transistorized” mixer with four mic inputs, a master level control, VU meter and a 700 Hz tone oscillator. The M67 could also be DC powered for those truly remote applications. In one of its most lauded applications, noted engineer Eddie Kramer (who worked with Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Kiss and many others) used three M67 mixers to record the Woodstock Festival in 1969.
1978 — SM81 Condenser Mic
Shure has a long and coveted reputation for building enduring products and a good example of this is the SM81. Small diaphragm condenser mics were hardly a new phenomenon, even when the SM81 debuted in 1978, but this mic was good enough for studio work, yet rugged and reliable enough to stand up to the rigors of live performance. Additionally, the mic’s switchable three-position low-frequency response filter was perfectly suited for dealing with vibration and stage rumble, especially when used on drum risers as overhead or hi-hat mics or close-in on acoustic guitars and stringed instruments. And the SM81 is still in production some 37 years later.
1984 — SM91 Boundary Mic
Said to be the first unidirectional boundary-effect microphone — and intended more for boardroom and theater foot-miking applications — the SM91 is another example of a product that became an industry standard in an application for which it was not originally intended. The mic maintains its cardioid pattern (in the hemisphere above the mounting surface) even at low frequencies and had high-SPL handling. And given these characteristics, the soon became a standard as a kick drum mic — a genre dominated by dynamic mic designs — and its popularity in that application remains today.
1989 — Shure Beta 57/58
Sometimes, you don’t mess with a classic, but in 1989, when Shure unveiled its models 57 and 58 in the new Beta series, many in the industry wondered whether Shure was trying to do a “New Coke” approach, and perhaps discontinue the cherished SM57 and SM58. But although similar and also dynamic models, the new Beta microphones featured a neodymium magnet structure for a higher output, a supercardioid pickup pattern and a highly effective internal capsule suspension for the capsules, giving them their own distinctive personality. Now, even more than a quarter century later, both the Beta 57 and Beta 58 remain popular for vocal and instrument miking, as do the original SM57 and SM58 models.
1996 — Shure Beta 87/Beta 98
Seven years after the Beta series began, Shure expanded the line with the Beta 87. Yet unlike the earlier Beta models, the Beta 87 was an electret condenser model, featuring extended HF response and available as the Beta 57A (supercardioid) and Beta 87C (cardioid) variants and both intended for vocal use. The line was expanded with other must-have-for-touring with the miniature clip-on cardioid Beta 98 mics, notably the Beta 98 AD/C for drums/percussion and the Beta 98 H/C for brass instruments.
1997 — Enter the PSM
With a growing demand for in-ear monitoring systems, the PSM 600 Personal Stereo Monitor system was a hit in the fast-growing market for “in-ear” monitoring systems. At Winter NAMM 2010, Shure followed it up with the PSM 900 Personal Monitor System for pro applications, with a CUeMode function for monitoring different stage mixes and storing up to 20 separate channels on one bodyback. A year later (2011) Shure debuted its touring-grade PSM 1000, offering full diversity receivers and features such as networkability over Ethernet and frequency coordination via Wireless Workbench 6 software.
2011 — Axient Wireless
Shure was no stranger to the wireless mic market, having launched its Vagabond — the first wireless mic system for performers — back in 1953. But it was at the Winter NAMM show in 2011 that Shure previewed its flagship Axient wireless system, which not only offered the ability to detect interference and automatically change frequencies, but also comprised an entire system of pro-level spectrum management, connectivity and remote control links for a complete RF solutions package.
2012
— ULX-D Digital Wireless
Shure has been proactive in dealing with the loss of “White Spaces” and changes in RF spectrum, in terms of meeting with congressional leaders, other manufacturers and directly with the FCC, but also in developing technology solutions to the growing problem. One example is its ULX-D digital wireless, which combines 24-bit clarity and a High Density mode that can squeeze 47 compatible systems into a single 6 MHz TV channel.
More to Come?
Based on past performance, and the few sound-reinforcement related examples cited here (the list is much longer when studio, home and broadcast products are added in), the coming years should bring more surprises from this technology leader that began 90 years in a small radio shop. And that would be a Shure bet.
