Shure was founded in 1925 as The Shure Radio Company under an audio magnate named Sidney Shure. The company is based in the United States, and has been a Chicago area company since its founding, when Sidney Shure worked out of an office in downtown Chicago. The company moved to Evanston, Illinois in 1956. In 2002, Shure Incorporated relocated to an award-winning office building in Niles, Illinois
Shure has produced a vast array of microphones for decades, among which are the well known SM and Beta series of dynamic and condenser microphones. The series includes the SM58 (the standard and most-used microphone worldwide for live vocals), SM48, SM86, SM87A (primarily for vocal reproduction) and SM57 (used to mic guitar amps, drums, brass instruments, etc…), SM94 and SM81 (often used for strings, pianos, overhead drum mics, large choirs). The Beta 52A and Beta 91 are two of the most common microphones used for kick drums. The SM57 and SM58, and their more modern variants, the Beta 57A and 58A, are some of the most widely used microphones in the world, particularly for live sound reproduction. The SM7 is also a widely used vocal microphone for broadcast and voiceover work as well as low frequency instruments (kick drum, bass guitar).