In the 60's & early 70's singers would sing into 2 mics.

BobbyRay · Post by **BobbyRay** » Fri Aug 07, 2009 12:03 pm

In the 60's & early 70's singers would sing into 2 mics. They would be taped together. Was this for recording puposes or monitor purposes. Or something completely different?

JGriffin · Post by **JGriffin** » Fri Aug 07, 2009 12:32 pm

One mic for the PA, one for the film/recording rig.

Zygomorph · Post by **Zygomorph** » Fri Aug 07, 2009 12:39 pm

In certain instances it could be for film sound purposes.

Nick Sevilla · Post by **Nick Sevilla** » Fri Aug 07, 2009 1:31 pm

Or, one mic had an effect on it ( you know, when you could not be bothered to turn off a send...cause you were busy making the next spliff)

But, mostly, for recording purposes.

Cheers

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Fri Aug 07, 2009 1:41 pm

To make their voices twice as loud.

dsw · Post by **dsw** » Fri Aug 07, 2009 3:33 pm

stereo, duh

woodhenge · Post by **woodhenge** » Fri Aug 07, 2009 5:33 pm

Sometimes, in broadcast, they'll have one as a backup in case one freaks out, too. Most of the crappy award shows do this with 2 on a podium. Or the President, I guess. Or a dual lav setup for newscasters, etc. Of course, nobody would ever want any of these jokers to actually sing...

mwerden · Post by **mwerden** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 1:48 pm

Can't remember my source, but I believe they used to flip the phase on one mic effectively canceling any sound that wasn't directly in front of 1 of the two capsules.

chris harris · Post by **chris harris** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 2:17 pm

mwerden wrote:Can't remember my source, but I believe they used to flip the phase on one mic effectively canceling any sound that wasn't directly in front of 1 of the two capsules.

this doesn't make sense at all.

stuntbutt · Post by **stuntbutt** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 3:29 pm

The Grateful Dead used to employ the two mics out of phase deal with their Wall Of Sound. It was the only way they could have the vocal mics in front of the all those speakers.

mwerden · Post by **mwerden** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 3:34 pm

subatomic pieces wrote:
mwerden wrote:Can't remember my source, but I believe they used to flip the phase on one mic effectively canceling any sound that wasn't directly in front of 1 of the two capsules.
this doesn't make sense at all.

It makes perfect sense. It's like the trick where you put a mic in the null of two out of phase speakers so the singer can sing without headphones. If you have two 57's taped together with one out of phase it will cancel out some the bleed from the monitors so you can get more gain. Not saying I would ever do it myself. . .

chris harris · Post by **chris harris** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 3:56 pm

If you have two 57s taped together and out of phase with each other, what happens to the sound of your voice when you talk into them? How does the voice NOT cancel?

mwerden · Post by **mwerden** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 4:14 pm

subatomic pieces wrote:If you have two 57s taped together and out of phase with each other, what happens to the sound of your voice when you talk into them? How does the voice NOT cancel?

You sing into one of them, not both. I'm sure a little bit gets into the other mic, but not so much that it doesn't work.

Z-Plane · Post by **Z-Plane** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 4:45 pm

mwerden wrote:You sing into one of them, not both. I'm sure a little bit gets into the other mic, but not so much that it doesn't work.

This is getting a long way from the topic, like whole galaxies away...

Phase cancellation needs two signals of equal amplitude to fully cancel. If there was any truth in your idea, using one mic and flipping the monitor phase would be the easy answer. Also, I defy you to tape two 57s together and then somehow sing into just one of them.

mwerden wrote: If you have two 57's taped together with one out of phase it will cancel out some the bleed from the monitors so you can get more gain

Care to explain that again ?

woodhenge · Post by **woodhenge** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 4:47 pm

stuntbutt wrote:The Grateful Dead used to employ the two mics out of phase deal with their Wall Of Sound. It was the only way they could have the vocal mics in front of the all those speakers.

Actually, I remember reading an interview with Bob Heil about this very subject, and he would flip the phase of the vocal monitors to eliminate feedback at high volume, not 2 mics with one flipped out-of-phase. Was that in Tape Op maybe? Or that crappy EQ mag? It's been a while, but I remember the article well.

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In the 60's & early 70's singers would sing into 2 mics.

In the 60's & early 70's singers would sing into 2 mics.

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