Review: Shure KSM9 ‘Wired’

Live vocal mics earn their keep doing the toughest job in audio. The laws of physics are always close at hand at front of house: several monitor sends are often within a few dB of feedback across the frequency range, and anything that can happen up on stage eventually will happen. At any moment a mic could be dropped on the floor, flung into the crowd… or placed in a singer’s bottom (as I’ve seen with both Fred Negro and TISM). Mics are expected to cope with everything from the verbal assaults of a death metal band in full flight, to impromptu cymbal mallet duties courtesy of an over zealous singer. All this must be endured while also providing enough gain before feedback so the local community choir can be heard through a vocal PA at Carols by Candlelight on a windy night.

ULTRA-VOX

The top-of-the-line Shure KSM9 condenser vocal mic sounds so good you’ll always want to use it; but at $1499 it’s arguably too risky for the death metal band, Fred Negro or TISM. Your community choir, however, will be as loud and clear as they’ve ever been, and if you’re using the mic with someone who can actually sing you’ll probably find it’s the best live mic you’ve ever used.

The KSM9 looks fairly modest in its (either) dark grey or champagne regalia – almost too modest in fact – but inside there are fancy dual gold-layered low-mass Mylar diaphragms and Class A transformerless preamplifier circuitry. There’s also a switch under the grille to select between cardioid or super-cardioid polar patterns. The KSM9 ‘Wired’ is supplied with a matching Shure mic clip and a nice little lockable case. (Just as an aside: I’ve never been convinced about lockable mic cases. They won’t stop the mic being stolen and they won’t keep the thief away from the mic for more than a few seconds even if the case is locked… and where do you keep the keys?)

I first tested the KSM9 by conducting some simple but time-proven studio comparisons. Recording speech through the KSM9 alongside a range of other mics provided an interesting introduction to the mic’s potential, although this test only hinted at what was to follow. The ‘rattling a bunch of keys’ test was better indicator of the mic’s quality, revealing a detailed sound, excellent transient response and lack of distortion. Recording vocals in the same room as a band immediately demonstrated the KSM9’s tight pattern and excellent off-axis sound quality, although, as a studio vocal recording mic, it sounded somewhat closed and small compared to my large diaphragm condenser mics. It wasn’t until I fired the KSM9 up with a PA that the quality really shone through.

CLASS-E

So what specifically is so good about the Shure KSM9? You notice the top end first; clear and incredibly smooth, similar to a high-end large diaphragm condenser mic but tight and close. Next is the gain before feedback. The sound is so good you want to turn the vocal up, and when you do it will go up, and up, and up! The mic will eventually get edgy at high frequencies but by then they’ll be telling you to turn it down anyway. The pickup pattern is tighter with ‘supercardioid’ selected but the sound quality remains the same.

The other big feature is the KSM9’s control of the bottom end. The lack of proximity effect makes for an extremely consistent response at any distance from the mic. Just as important is the low-end filtering that eliminates plosives; it really won’t pop at all, and with the high clarity assisting diction this would be an ideal mic for hip-hop vocals, assuming they want to be heard when they eat the mic!