Just how rugged is your microphone? Mats St̴lbr̦st, editor of the Stockholm-based Studio, took testing to a new extreme last year. He did violence to the legendary Shure SM58 Рthe sub-$100, vocal dynamic mic. It was used to hammer nails. It was dropped several meters. It was frozen. It was dunked in water. It was driven over by a car. It had beer poured on it. It was placed in a microwave atop a pizza. And the thing kept on working.

We covered the gory abuse back in October 2007. Little did we know then that the test wasn’t over. It seems Mats and company buried the SM58. The SM58 has been there, underground, for a year, even enduring a harsh, Swedish winter. To complete phase II of their test, the folks at Studio unearthed the poor mic, washed it (running it under a tap, of course, not doing it properly), and gave it another test. Surprise: still working.

Incidentally, the SM58 and variants make a fantastic gift for a musician. Even if they’ve already got one, they could probably use another.

Shure SM58 Product Page – and yup, positive they do not endorse this sort of thing, but if it keeps working like this, who needs a warranty?

Here’s the new video. May not be suitable for squeamish audiophiles:

And the original torture test:

Sound files promised in Studio 01-09, but that issue doesn’t seem to be up yet. (Selected from the dropdown.)

Got an SM58 – or other mic – that’s taken some abuse? Send us photos!

Us Americans are wimps. Scandinavians know how to test music gear. As a metal soundtrack pounds away in the background, a Shure SM58 gets subjected to some serious torture testing, including:

• Being used to hammer nails
• Dropped a couple of meters
• Frozen
• Dunked in water
• Driven over by a car

And then something really nasty happens involving Heineken and a microwave.

Mats Ståhlbröst, diabolical creator of this insanity, explains:

We wanted to find out if the SM58 can live up to its [reputation as the toughest mic in the world] and decided to put it through a series of tests. PS Studio is Scandinavia’s leading magazine covering music production.

Of course, Shure had no part in these tests … wait, they actually did? (I’m going to start requesting review units from these guys!)

The Swedish Shure distributor supplied us with an SM58… and I think both they and Shure should be pretty happy with the results. This is one tough mic. :)

I’ll say. There’s a reason the SM58 is a favorite in live venues. You have my permission to keep this a secret and tell everyone to keep babying your mics, mind you.