Is there a “best” mic for whistles on stage? I play low d more than high. In the past I’ve used my SM81 with a cheap compressor. I also have an sm57 and an Akg c414. The 81 seems to work and has a flat response. I have to practice with it to keep too much wind out of the mic.

The best people to answer this are good professional sound engineers. SM58 is almost always their top choice, if you look on youtube for good whistle players playing concerts you'll see it's usually a 58. I personally use a beta 57a as that's what the sound engineer for a touring band I play with prefers, but you can't go wrong with a SM58. Sometimes you can overthink things.

I hadn’t thought of it like that. Makes perfect sense. Thanks!

A 58 works fine - just make sure it's out of the wind! I put it about even with my forehead facing down and check that it's right by touching it with my nose. Sounds kinda dorky, but it seems to work. I use it this way for flute as well. I just noticed that it shows the position in my avatar - not a 58, though (wasn't using my mic in that pic).

Pat

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Pat Plunkett, Wheeling, WV

An SM58 is fine, but I’d say the reason you see them so often in pictures is because it’s the default “does everything” mic, and few people bring their own mic for gigs... my favourite would be the Neumann KMS105 vocal mic - expensive, but makes a huge difference to the top end response especially on flute. The Beta 58 gives a bit of that, without being too expensive