Shure SM57-LC
The mic that shows up on the presidential podium and the snare drum alike - a cardioid workhorse finished in non-glare gray enamel, priced for working musicians.
Overview
The SM57-LC is the LC-suffix version of Shure's cardioid dynamic instrument microphone. The way distributors described it shows who it was built for. One pro-audio catalog pitched it plainly: familiar from concerts and the presidential podium, suitable for handheld or lectern use, with a presence boost and low-end roll-off that give "excellent voice intelligibility." That same listing put the response at 40Hz to 15kHz and noted the non-glare gray enamel finish for stage or on-camera work. The finish keeps the mic from glinting under lights on a lectern or in a camera shot.
Pricing in the distributor literature shows a commodity tool, not a boutique item. One catalog listed the SM57-LC at $147.00 manufacturer's list with an optional windscreen at $11.00. Another quoted the SM57 at $137.00 list and the SM58 at $176.00, with the A2WSA windscreen offered as the SM57's accessory. A third, more promotional sheet described the SM57 as providing "wide range reproduction of music and voice" alongside the SM58's vocal presence peak. The spread between $137 and $147 across catalogs is normal. List prices drifted by channel and by year, so no single figure is gospel.
The SM57-LC is a cardioid dynamic built for abuse. Distributor copy kept leaning on the same words - ruggedness, reliability, "built to brave extreme conditions" - and the rebate campaigns that ran for decades show the mic sold in enough volume to justify mail-in promotions aimed at working engineers. The Mix (November 1986, p.139) rebate offer was a $10 cash-back on a single SM57-LC. EQ (October 1994, p.15) ran a $10 rebate calling the SM57 and SM58 "the world's most popular mics." EQ (May 1996, p.61) repeated the $10 SM57 rebate.
The studio literature treats the SM57-LC as furniture. An Electronic Musician dream-studio equipment list priced the SM57LC at $141 as the token dynamic in a system otherwise built from a Macintosh Quadra, Digidesign Audiomedia, Kurzweil K2000, and Alesis ADAT. It was the cheap, obvious choice next to five-figure gear. Another Electronic Musician piece listed the SM57LC in a working songwriter's rig alongside a Tascam 488 Portastudio and an Alesis SR-16. A BSW five-pack ad bundled the SM57LC into a Fostex VF80CDR package, and a Thomann listing sold it as part of a "Shure SM57 Bundle" aimed at snare and guitar cabs.
The SM57-LC is not a rare microphone. The constant rebate activity - $10 off, repeatedly, across four decades of print - means the secondary market is deep and the new price was perpetually discounted. The LC designation distinguishes this variant from other SM57 packaging, and the A2WSA windscreen is the matching accessory. The literature here doesn't document production years, so dating a specific unit requires care.
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