What Mics Did the Beatles Use in the 60's?

Those are sdc's by AKG. You can screw an extention bit between the capsule and the grip and you and up with this. They might be 451's with the CK5 capsule (CK1 in suspension), or something simular.

George is using either an AKG 202 or 242.

This is on a TV show, so they might be using stuff from the TV show.

However I do remember them using simular mics on that Let It Be video.
 
The performance was sent to the TV show on videotape, so I think that's their stuff. They used those mic extensions on multiple occasions with Neumann KM84's, a Beatles late-period favorite for live vocals. The extensions decrease popping, and also increase feedback resistance. It's a fairly rare instance of small diaphragm mics being selected specifically for vocals. The KM84 was released in 1966, the first mic designed to use 48V phantom power, and the Beatles were always on the bleeding edge of audio tech. The C451 was released sometime in the mid-60's, so they could have used those, too. It ran off of a 12V power supply.-Richie
 
Live yes -- but I wounder how it really sounded in the house compared with the split that went to tape that we all see and hear?
 
There's one quick shot where you can see a power supply section below the extension tube (in front of John) and it may be a bit bigger around than a 451. If so, it might be an AKG C28 with a V29 tube--the C28 was an immediate predecessor to the 451. It (and the early 451s) had DIN connectors (with threaded locking screws) rather than an XLR.

Certainly both the 451s and C28s were in very common use in British TV studios in the 60s and 70s.

Going out on a limb here, 1968 was also before the days of digital standards converters between the 625 PAL colour system used in the UK and the 525 NTSC system in America. The lack of conversion artefacts make me wonder if the tape was shot at the ATV Elstree studios in north London who had constructed a facility that would shoot in native NTSC for some of the shows they produced for export. If so, that adds credence to them being AKG C28s since that studio had a pile of these mics (as well as some early 451s).

(OT side note...when ATV Elstree was eventually closed, I bought a pair of huge Tannoy studio monitors there--incredible speakers but, alas, I had to sell them eventually because they were just too big for my house once we started having kids!)
 
chrisghost said:
Those are sdc's by AKG. You can screw an extension bit between the capsule and the grip and you and up with this. They might be 451's with the CK5 capsule (CK1 in suspension), or something similar.
Click to expand...

Yes - the short extension tube is the VR1 and the long tube the VR2 - the capsule looks like a CK1 with the optional metal windshield.



chrisghost said:
George is using either an AKG 202 or 242.
Click to expand...

Looks like a D202 to me.
 
Thanks John and Bobbsy for the detailed info. I'd give you both rep if I knew how, since they took away the scales icon with their useless new look.-Richie
 
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