New Music Gear Monday: Shure Nexadyne 8C/S Microphone

If you’re in the music business, you’ve almost certainly encountered a Shure SM57 or 58 somewhere along the way. The 58 has been the go-to microphone for sound reinforcement for almost 60 years, while the 57 has been a staple in recording studios for almost that long. Although many manufacturers have attempted to create a “58 killer,” over the years, none have succeeded. At least until now, and that mic is actually coming from Shure itself with it’s new Nexadyne series.

The Shure Nexadyne comes in two flavors – the Nexadyne 8C, which has a cardioid pickup pattern, and the Nexadyne 8S, which has a supercardioid pickup pattern. Both mics utilize Shure’s new Revonic™ dual-engine transducer technology which uses two out-of-phase transducers to keep handling noise and feedback to a minimum.

Why It’s Better

But that’s not where this microphone shines. SM58’s and 57’s usually require some EQing to add some definition and lessen the proximity effect. The Nexadyne’s dual capsules enhances the clarity and decreases the need for corrective EQ, as well as having more feedback rejection if you’re in a live situation.

As for the measurable differences between a 58 and the Nexadyne 8C, for one thing it has about 2dB more output (the 8S has about 5dB), it’s about an ounce lighter, and there are built-in boosts at 100Hz, 4kHz and 8.5kHz.

Engineer’s tend to rail against mics that have an sort of EQ compensation built in, but in this case it looks like Shure got it right (and it should after 60 years of feedback on the 58). Just listen to the raves from both artists and engineers in the video below.

What About SPL?

One figure that I can’t find anywhere is how much sound pressure level it can handle, which leads me to believe that this will not replace your SM57 on the snare drum anytime soon if you record heavy hitter drummers. You know that Shure would’ve been shouting about this from the rooftops if the figure was anything special, so it’s probably not as exemplary as a 57 in this regard.

That said, the Nexadyne series seems like it’s a worthy successor to one of the all-time great microphone workhorses. Only time will tell if it holds up as well.

Both the Nexadyne 8C and 8S list for $299, which is considerably more than an SM 58 or Beta58 sells for. The hands-on reviews are glowing though, so it’s probably worth checking out just on that basis.

You can find out more here, or watch the video below.

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