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Which Mics did the Beach Boys (Vocals) like to use in the studio ??


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I've seen photographs with several different microphones, although the same three or four tend to show up in a lot of pictures. I have seen C-12's in Beach Boys vocal session pictures, although I don't know how often they were actually used. Brian apparently liked the Shure Unidyne III 545SD, and it was used quite a bit for lead vocals. U47's were regularly used for group BGVs. RCA DX77's were also often used, based on the photo evidence. The parts were often double-tracked, and sung with multiple people in the room singing simultaneously. No autotune, no individual tracks and fixes and post production mixing - the main secret to that sound is that they knew how to sing, they knew how to blend and "mix themselves" in the room (and their family/related voices worked so well together), and Brian was a brilliant arranger and producer.

 

Shure Unidyne III 545SD - and you can still get 'em for about $100.

 

AKG C-12, RCA 77 DX, Neumann U47 - no, you can't still get them for $100... ;)

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- the main secret to that sound is that they knew how to sing' date=' they knew how to blend and "mix themselves" in the room (and their family/related voices worked so well together), and Brian was a brilliant arranger and producer.[/quote']

 

[video=youtube;FPN53PHDwe4]

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I've had my 545SD for so long now that I honestly don't remember when or where I got it. :lol:

 

 

I got mine for free! Freshman year of high school they were tossing out a bunch of old audio PA gear(got a Bogen PA head as well) and miss. I got three of the 545's but only one worked…I think it was brand new still in the box. The janitor let me take what I wanted.

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I had a couple of the Unidyne III I used for vocals back in the day in Garage bands growing up.

I think I have one still in storage some place.

 

You can pick them up for chump change on EBay used and they still sell them for Under $100

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Shure-PE54D-Unidyne-III-Dynamic-Microphone-w-On-Off-Switch-/301380602813?pt=US_Pro_Audio_Microphones&hash=item462baf0bbd

 

To me they sounded like an SM57. Some sounded better then others depending on their condition.

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