Presidents Mic
 

In every speech I see that Prestident Obama uses the same pair of Mics: outside, inside, windy, big room, small room. So what are they? They have to be pretty good, with just a small foam wind screen they stand up to a gulf wind or canvernous aircraft hanger.
Just asking

A pair of Shure SM57s, have been the standard for all your Presidents for years.

Which I think is common sense creeping through. What would the President require? Nothing to do with sophistication, cleverness, exceptional design and state-of-the-art electronics, and especially price - just something solid, reliable and totally fit for purpose. Here in the UK, we give them anything, including radio mics that belong to the broadcasters, who broadcast things they perhaps shouldn't! As in the ex-Prime Minister moaning about somebody just presented to him!

The Shure SM57 and its windscreen A2WS have been on the presidential podium since the 60's, nearly as long as this mic has been in production. It was selected for its sound quality, dynamic element that required no other power source, and high reliability. There's a good lesson here, sometimes simplicity is the best option! There used to be three mics, but over the years it was decided that two was sufficient redundancy. I'm not sure what else is in the chain now, but they used to feed a pair of Shure M67 mixers that had the battery backup option, and then a passive press distribution system. Failure was not an option!

Getting the presidential word out has always been given great priority, and I'm proud to say I knew one of the gentlemen that used to work this highly unrecognized position. He passed away about 10 years ago but he always had some great stories to tell. He was raided at home by the Secret Service once because the CBSnews cameraman he worked with phoned him to say "get your mixer and shotgun, we have to shoot the president today". The cameraman meant shotgun microphone and to record an interview of course, but that didn't stop the feds from showing up on his doorstep anyway and in just a few minutes. Big brother *IS* listening, good times!!!

Rumor had it that John Lennon's favorite mic was a 57 that had a crack in the body.

Good mics are wonderful, but what really matters most is who is in front of the mic, not the mic itself.

and how close it is to the sound source.