I have the same mic as Rosie!! I'll just have to have mine gold plated too
Paul Schaffer uses the new Neumann stage vocal mic, KMS150 I think is the model #...
I thought Dave's desk mic was just a prop and that he really used a lapel?
-Evan "Who gets excited when he sees an AT4033 on stage!"
Back when Dave was still on CBS I had the pleasure to get a tour of the studio during the show's off hours and I spoke to the sound effects man. Dave's Neumann was indeed not a true Neumann but it was a functional mic. Its insides were gutted and replaced with a noise cancelling mic. The same was for the RCA he used before that.
However, you can hear in the early days of Late Night with David Letterman that the C414 EB (the silver one) was used as a mic and not just a prop and it is doubtful that it was nothing more than an actual 414. You can hear the mechanical noise (booming) when he would touch or hit the desk. And there is a picture where you can see the 150hz roll off engaged. In some pics you can see the outline of the capsule as well.
There have been other times when I've seen Conan grab his desk mic and speak right on top of it and you can hear that was a functional mic.
So with that knowledge it would be likely that all of their mics were in use even if we weren't hearing them all the time.
Now the question that I'm most interested in is, was Johnny's 414 a silver EB that was painted black or an EB P48? Some earlier pics show it as a black mic with a silver front grill, just like a stock EB P48. But later pics show both back and front grills painted black. The EB P48 was released in 1980. Johnny started using one in 81 but Dave had a silver EB starting in 82.
Now the question that I'm most interested in is, was Johnny's 414 a silver EB that was painted black or an EB P48? Some earlier pics show it as a black mic with a silver front grill, just like a stock EB P48. But later pics show both back and front grills painted black. The EB P48 was released in 1980. Johnny started using one in 81 but Dave had a silver EB starting in 82.
“I was the mixer on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson from about 1980 to
about 1991 when I left NBC. The microphone on the desk was originally a
Shure ribbon microphone. Sometime after taking over the show a gentlemen
representing AKG brought me an AKG 414 P48 and wondered if I would be
willing to try it on the desk. After getting approval from the production
company and Johnny we put it in service. The mike was in the cardioid
pattern with the 100 hertz filter switched in. Early on it had a black back
and silver front. The art director on the show thought it showed up too
much on camera and wanted to paint the front black also. Instead I was able
to obtain from AKG another black back that was installed on the front side.
The microphone sat in a Shure "donut" shock absorber on a Shure desk stand.
A short cord about one foot in length made out of boom cable was installed
to keep any desk vibrations from traveling up the cord into the microphone.
The boom microphones were originally Sennheiser 414s. The 414 was a good
microphone but its off-axis response was not good as when someone further
down the couch spoke the sound was "colored." Later the boom microphones
(two booms) were changed to Schoepps CMC-5 preamp/CK-41 head with a screw-in
10 db pad. This combination of AKG 414 desk microphone and Schoepps boom
microphones were a very good match.”
-Ron Estes
Also, I think you can tell from the shape (esp the height) of the polar pattern switch just visible under the tape applied (presumably to hide the markings) in the attached photo that it was a P48 variant. Heck, I think you can even tell it was in the cardiod position.
Full disclosure: I am working on replicating this mic setup, strictly for a display. I’m just missing the…well, the mic. The base is a Shure 32-551 (aka S33b) and the donut / shock holder is a Shure A53M. I’ve considered finding a “ULS” C414 mic variant as it is nearly identical visually (not to mention typically much less expensive). I’ll be applying the “crepe” tape as well, but neatly.
Here’s my finished tribute mic setup. I tried to find a similar braided nylon XLR cable and the same crepey black tape for the connector and base. I didn’t apply tape to the mic body to hide the switches / markings (as done on the show later on) as I thought it looked awful. I painted the silver top grill. You can still see the original silver top mic screen and switches and markings in the early 80s screenshot with Robin Williams, and just make out the “EB” model designation in the shot with Letterman guest-hosting. It looks like they got more “tape happy” as the show progressed. Even though Leno changed the entire set, it does seem he used the same mic setup his first year.
I had the privilege by the way of sitting at Johnnys desk earlier this year at the Paley Center For Media in NYC; they didn’t have the original mic but the right style on a less than 100% accurate stand. That’s not me in the photo, rather the Paley Center director.
