Shure KSM8 vs. KSM9 | What’s the Difference?

[@sweetwater]

Which Shure microphone would you turn to, the KSM8 or KSM9 and why?

[@theethgritterz6354]

I can’t wait for the 2 day giveaway later this month!!’ Are either of these two microphones going to be given away to some lucky persons?

[@KekkoSinger88]

Starting with my huge compliments to the amazing singer and the great KZbin channel, I actually own both of these beautiful mics. I wouldn’t say one of them is better than the other: the KSM8 sounds great, smooth and dark on a male singer; the typical problem of proximity effect of a dynamic mic is beautifully forgotten, but it could have some issues on a noisy stage. The KSM9 is actually one of the best sounding condenser mics on the market. Beautifully performing on every vocals, makes you forget you’re handling a condenser mic. Very sincere and easy to use. I wouldn’t know which one is better, we all should have them both and decide every show which one use on stage. Anyway, KSM8 and KSM9 are shurely TOP level mics. Greatings from Italy and great video!!

[@mikebottiaux5850]

I liked both, I now own both.

[@beattybrothers8324]

@@mikebottiaux5850 What’s your opinion after trying both for yourself?

[@mikebottiaux5850]

@@beattybrothers8324 I think the 9 sounds warm, the 8 has more crispness. I couldn’t pick one over the other, they’re both great mics. You won’t go wrong which ever you choose.

[@User_not_found_403]

I think Marcus nailed it. I found the 8 more gritty, raw - good for conveying emotion. The 9 was more smooth, sweet - a more polished sound. Really depends what you are shooting for.

[@kodybryantmusic7357]

Bump the high mids in the ksm9 and you have a winner

[@valfreyja2107]

I really liked the side by side where we got to see how he moved his hands slightly differently for each performance lol, good stuff!

[@bbzsm6186]

i like the ksm9 more because its a condenser and its more bright sounding and nice with Marcus's voice!

[@insidedastudio7539]

Wow.. KSM9 is impressive... mix ready sound

[@AndyDion]

Amazing performance by Marcus Scott, following him on IG now. Both sound great, with his range and ability I like the condenser KSM9 I prefer a dynamic for my voice

[@kirbyjakescarborough4515]

Beautiful song.... Pure and solid talent on that vocal and the song, Cheers and Blessings. I bought the 8. For honesty sake, I went back to an SM58 beta. Standard for me. I never got warm to the 8.. Thanks all. Results may vary per the artist of course... Great mics...

[@theethgritterz6354]

The ksm8 seemed to be a little more personal than the ksm9 . If I had a choice to choose between the two i would most likely pick the ksm8 for doing a podcast or documentary voice over . It seems like it holds a nice proximity. Thanks Mitch , you are appreciated

[@photronic]

That's what I thought too.

[@apshinn]

I honestly preferred the 8, but the 9 sounds great too.

[@TheGidds]

His voice immediately reminded me of Terrance Trent D’arby. Loved that dude’s voice. If you don’t know…. Wishing Well. 💯 Sign Your Name. 💯

[@52goldtop]

Absolutely love this guy’s voice and the track, he demo’d it a few times on SW demos and always sounds fantastic, here, and on the KSM’s too!

[@JJay-m1x]

as monitor engineer i'd always choose the ksm8 over a ksm 9 because in 99,9% you always have to take out the 9-10kish stuff if you're using regular monitors and have to deliver volume which makes the ksm9 characteristics and what it stands for obsolote. if you're using inears this doesn't count. as a foh engineer i would almost certainly take the ksm8 over the 9 everytime because all in all in sounds way way more natural. the ksm9 is doing too much in the high end and feels likes shures approach to sound like a sennheiser which i dislike in general regarding vocals. ksm 9 is good for speeches and conferences but on musical performances it doesn't come close to the eight. i'd really like to get my hands on the new ksm11 to compare it with these 2

[@ZAZEMLENIEmusic]

Спасибо, самый ценный ответ во всем ютубе) Извините, что на русском. Всем привет из России.

[@marcelohidalgo4252]

the most accurate comment

[@JimRockfordFiles]

KSM9 slyly seems like its smoother, but it pulls all the power out of the voice, along with some of those mids that make the male voice, don’t think its a mic for a live setting. KSM8 is a more true to ear mic. I would say the KSM9 would be more of Female microphone while the KSM8 would be better fitting to a Male’s voice.

[@goodboid]

What a wonderful voice! The KSM8 seemed more open and dynamic, the KSM9 had the highs rolled off, reminded me of the tonality of the Sennheiser HD660s headphone.

[@Beghty27]

Really, the ksm8 sounds WAY darker to me. Sounds like a LPF all the way down to 8k. No breathiness or air compared to the 9.

[@L.Scott_Music]

Righteous voice, Marcus!

[@felixwang824]

Wow....what an amazing vocalist and song. KSM8 Magic in full glory.

[@rojocale9532]

For a live setting the 8 is what you want, because is a little bit more "expressive" (may be not the right word) but the 9 is like for a live session in a studio where you need more control and to take it a little easy on the engineer... At least in MY personal experience... But I could be wrong

[@kodybryantmusic7357]

I used the ksm9 for three years live. Had to give it back now I'm buying one

[@tapiwanashemukandi7545]

Please make a review and sound test on the KSM 11.

[@PJSOFT]

If you can buy just one, 8 is the way to go, but if you can buy many, then get a 9, another darker dynamic mic like sm58, re20, another super sweet one like cv12, or c414, then you're ready for virtually any situations.

[@Onthego884]

Great vocals from Markus Scott 🤘 thank you for the wonderful song. Thank you Mitch Gallagher and Sweetwater Team for this great mic comparison. May i know in which setting the shure ksm 9 was recorded in cardiod or supercardiod? Thank You

[@buckwilliam3749]

Wow! There’s no reason for me to take singing lessons! You are a very gifted young man. Very enjoyable.

[@pjmuck]

Excellent comparison. As far as the "grittiness" comment, I disagree with Mitch. I had a KSM 9 for a while and one of the things I didn't like about it was it brought out the throatiness in my voice to the point where I always sounded raspy with it, comparatively to my Neumann KMS 105, which I much preferred for it's smoother, silkier top end. In this demo, I prefer the smoother sound of the KSM8, even if there's some sacrifice in throaty clarity.

[@kodybryantmusic7357]

You must be listening on your phone

[@kapitbanda]

ksm8 for this vocal and mix.

[@zacharysmithingell5460]

Fantastic vocalist. I'm surprised to say I like the ksm8 on his vocal quite a bit more here.

[@zacharysmithingell5460]

I'm hearing some low end whumpf on that ksm8, so roll that down and keep that gritty tonality. Really nice stuff. But I mean really, I think he'd sound brilliant through any mic.

[@tomstevens13]

Amazing Singer and great microphones!

[@danielortiz1472]

Marcus can sing!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyone have a link to this song? He sounded great on both mics, but personally I would go for the KSM9.

[@leobardobivianomedia]

Can you please compare these to the Sure beta 87c? Great video by the way!

[@personperson9591]

KSM8 cut through the mix a little better, but was more direct, had more plosives and the low end could sound muddy. The KSM9 was smoother on the lows, could be raspy at times (but that works for this singer), and seemed to handle the dynamics better, but also wasn't cutting through the mix quite as much, which didn't work for the quieter parts of the song, but really shined with power and melded into the mix well. So honestly I can't say one is better than another, just different. I like the smoothness of the KSM9 but you have to work it differently, the KSM8 sounds like it'd hold up better to live sounds where it can be difficult to cut through a mix as every venue's a smidge different, while the KSM9 sounds good enough to record with and with experienced artists/Divas who can overwhelm a lot of dynamics mics (albeit if we're going condenser there are alternative and likely better choices). My 2 cents, but excellent comparison, and now I'm a bit torn in what to go with to be honest, wasn't even considering the 8 but I do live sound so....

[@kodybryantmusic7357]

Low mids are the first thing to be cut when you want clarity. Miss are always added to vocals.

[@matthewbartholomew6018]

Killer voice! I need a link to this album

[@calebrabion]

I'd like to hear a side by side of the wired and wireless versions.

[@SoMyungJung]

The proximity effect seems more pronounced in the KSM8. Even though the KSM9 has a bit more high end presence, might not suit for vocalists with loud sibilance.

[@kodybryantmusic7357]

But great for people who tend to not pronunciate as well

[@bobdobalina4044]

Other way around. The 8 is a dual and almost eliminates the proximity effect as it's design is setup to do. The 9 is more polished but the 8 can sound like a 9 and not the other way around.

[@JeremyHalterman]

@@bobdobalina4044 while the Dualdyne tech in the KSM8 is designed to reduce the proximity effect, it’s modeled after dual-diaphragm condenser mics like… the KSM9 lol. The KSM8 is essentially a dynamic version of the KSM9 formula. On my JBL 305P MkIIs the proximity effect is roughly the same between the two, but on less-neutral monitors or PAs, I could see it swinging either way. For example, my AirPods Pro (gen 1) emphasize the KSM9’s proximity effect more, but my AKG K371s emphasize the KSM8’s. They’re pretty consistent with each other on my AKG N5005s, but on my HiFiMan Sundaras with the “stealth update,” the KSM9 exhibits the tiniest bit more proximity effect. If I were debating between these two mics, I’d focus more on the mids/highs than the low end.

[@HarvinderSingh-yy8th]

After watching about 100 dynamic and 100 condenser microphones review. i could not find besr mic for recording vocals. I cane across GTZ 87, UT twin 87, mojave MA- D, WA 251, STC 20. But cant decide which mic is right for vocals.

[@kodybryantmusic7357]

@sweetwater can you guys do a comparison of the ksm9cs vs the ksm9hs?

[@george_nav]

He rocks on the vocals!

[@jerrymckenzie6205]

Nice vocal, Marcus!

[@cyrigofficial]

Well... obviously condenser just comes with that high frequency details..... but depending what type of music you sing. If you sing Metal or Rock on a stage with crazy environment.... ksm8 is always the win. KSM9 will be much better but certain environment may not fit. Nothing else. If you are at home, studio or somewhere quiet... you don't need KSM8...even beta87A or SM87A would even be better.

[@d-rock737]

I slightly prefered the ksm8 with his voice.

[@DolemiteSammich]

The 9 sounds more Hifi to me

[@LordSaliss]

To my ears the 8 sounded more muddy from seemingly a good bit more low end on the vocal. 9 was definitely more clear, but the more I listened to it the mic almost sounded like it was missing a little of the low end on the vocals.

[@joeyleroy6877]

Great voice ........

[@steinmusicnl3969]

The Shure KSM 9 1000% Why? listen carefully

[@vopec2002]

ksm8!

[@superblondeDotOrg]

KSM8 had more flavor to it. KSM9 seemed more true or flat. If ya want flavor.. go for the flavorful one. If ya want flat... go for the flatter one.

[@kodybryantmusic7357]

Or take the true smooth and EQ a smidge

[@nipomoney6266]

KSM9= BOYZ LL MEN

[@hanashe4599]

I don't know why you guys didn't use any pop filters. Nice mics but I don't think there the best for his voice. Maybe with the right processing. But he does have a good voice. Nice soulful reflection.

[@kodybryantmusic7357]

They have built in pop filtering

[@holmes1978]

KSM8

[@Lengsel7]

Seems to me, the 8 was louder than the 9.

[@KilaKrumpira]

9 sounds great, 8 does not, that's the difference :)

[@geespar1]

Nope

[@bobdobalina4044]

Disagree. In a live environment one is much more forgiving.

[@shifuchen6476]

才买了2套KSM8。 我很想说：后悔不已！ KSM8 的频响很窄，12Khz以后 直接被切掉了。 声音磁性或者空气感 直接消失了。 据我了解的用户使用情况来看：很多歌手 用过一次KSM8后，全部都转向选择beta58了。 有用户评价：ksm8是shuer 有史以来，最失败的产品！ 还有不少用户评价：声音很怪，最好别选择！

[@kunqing9628]

差点下单，幸好看到你说，ksm8太单薄，唱起来很幸苦应该

[@Happyboymargarine]

9

[@MrJimmy2090]

after beta58 & beta87，shure going to the wrong direction！sad：（

[@Leo.m.robles]

The KSM8 is not good for live performances. Trust me on this, it sounds muddy and hard to EQ to make sound good. Feedbacks very easily due to large "sweetspot"

[@bobdobalina4044]

Probably is a bit better for live imho

[@CatDieselPwr]

Tell that to Devin Townsend singing "Deadhead" Live at The Royal Albert Hall ;-)

[@PatrickStefan]

Hozier uses it in recent years, I reckon it works for resonant voices that lean into that metallic twang

[@maxxleonard9399]

Really !!? That’s the best you guys could do here?! This screeching “average at best” voice to demo “state of the art” mic 🎤! Demographics, of course, played ZERO role in your whacky decision to highlight this “compare/contrast” analysis Unbelievable ….. absurdities continue among the corporate marketing “geniuses”! 😂 😂

[@SOEXMUSIC]

KSM 8