Shure PG27USB Condenser Microphone Review

Shure PG27USB Condenser Microphone Review

Shure's PG27 microphone represents the new breed of USB-based active mics, drawing both power and connectivity from a built-in USB interface.

Cardioid Condenser Microphone

The PG27-USB is a large-diaphragm condenser microphone with an onboard 16-bit, 48 kHz ADC and USB audio output. It is the USB version of Shure’s PG27, and shares most of its components and circuitry with that microphone.
The 35mm capsule has a diaphragm diameter of 27mm.
The mic has a switchable -20dB pad and three rotary controls:
◾Mic gain
◾headphone volume
◾monitor mix
An onboard 1/8-inch audio jack allows “zero-latency” monitoring of live audio. Its output volume, and its mix relative to a prerecorded track can be adjusted via two thumbwheels indicated above.
A three-color LED (located near the gain control, on the side of the microphone) can be used to monitor the signal level:
◾Off: -30dB FS
◾Green: -30dB–-12dB FS
◾Yellow: -12–0dB FS
◾Red: above 0dB FS (clipping)
A second LED, immediately below the Shure logo, lights up green to indicate the presence of appropriate USB bus power.
The PG27USB includes a 3m USB cable, a metal “ring mount” mic clip, and a zippered storage pouch.
The mic is compatible with the 'ShureLock' A27SM elastic shockmount and A32WS windscreen (available separately).
Many of the functions of the mixing console have been transferred onto the microphone itself – you'll find volume and gain controls, a -20db cut for noisy sources and, most importantly, on-mic live monitoring, which cuts out the usual latency that software monitoring suffers.
Monitoring is important when using condenser mics that have a limited range of perfect reception, so plugging in headphones helps you make sure you hit the spot.
Getting it set up is easy, and its monitoring circuit shows up as an additional output, meaning you can route your Mac's playback straight to the PG27's headphone jack to save switching your headphones over.

It's arguable how practical the PG27 would be for portable use given that you need a mic stand to go with it, but it does cut out the need for a mixing console, so you can record in the field with no external power.
It is also a shame that using multiple simultaneous sound sources is difficult in OS X – this is only a solution if you just use one microphone at a time. And if you do, we can't recommend it enough.
Officially, the Shure PG27USB works under both Windows and Mac operating systems and requires no drivers. But as it's simply a standard USB audio device, it also worked on Ubuntu 9.04 'Jaunty' with no configuration required either.

Using the Open Source 'Audacity', I simply selected the Shure microphone as my input and output devices and I was ready to go. I didn't have to fiddle around in any sound recorder settings as all of this is taken care of before the signal is digitised.
The microphone itself offers much more than meets the eye - it's really a microphone, preamp and monitor all in one. Adjusting the gain is done by a fairly standard roller dial and there is a -20db pad which reduces the gain if you happen to be in a really noisy room or in close proximity to an instrument - for example, a French horn.

There is an LED indicator, too, that has three colours: green so you know it's picking you up, yellow to show its near its peak and red if you're clipping. During recording, you want it to be green when there is sound, with the occasional yellow during the loudest parts. So for initial setup, all you have to do is run a few simple test sounds while adjusting the gain to find the perfect level - you don't even have to be recording at this stage.

You'll also notice a headphone jack built into the microphone. This is for zero latency monitoring. When using the sound card on the computer for monitoring, there can be a delay as the sound is processed before it's sent to the headphones. In this case, it comes directly from the preamp allowing you to monitor the recording in real time.

As well as providing an input to the computer, it also provides an output. So while recording, if you're playing the tracks you are layering over, these will be sent to the microphone to be mixed into the monitor for playback through your headphones.
There are two more roller dials on the microphone - one for adjusting the volume of playback through the headphones, and another to adjust the volume of the monitor (i.e what's coming through the microphone). This allows you to decide what you want to hear more of - the backing track, or yourself.

The outcome of this is, is that you can get almost everything setup without even having to turn your computer on. All of your settings will be completely independent to the machine too, so you could move between several machines and have consistent levels.
Being a unidirectional cardioid microphone, it also did a pretty good job of cutting out other background noises too.