As mentioned above, I used condensers almost exclusively in the studio and for "managed" live recordings. The small dynamic mics were generally too insensitive and noisy for good recording except very close-up. But, rugged as all get-out on stage, great when the singers started "eating" the mics or bouncing them around, and the "presence boost" and low sensitivity was a plus on stage with guitars and what-not blaring in the background. Note the 58 was the vocal version, with the ball head; the 57 had the same capsule but different head and screen. Shure called the 57 the "instrumental" version even though the only real difference was the look. That said, some singers actually wanted to use the 58 in the studio because they liked that nasty, piercing, glassy, glaring, cutting, errr..., uh... "present" sound. The singer is always right (and rarely noticed when I EQ'd it to a more natural sound
).