Used for the drums on Songs for the Deaf, as stated by producer Eric Valentine in this September 14, 2019 "Making Records with Eric Valentine" video at 19:16.

And so, I wanted to try and get away from having microphones right up on the toms and so I just had drum kit mics. So there was a mic that was sort of over on the left side that picked up the snare over here and the rack tom. There was this CMV 3, I don't know if you're familiar with those, with this old, you know, it's one of the very first condenser mics ever made by Neumann, and so that was in the middle of the kit and then I had another mic over here [on the right] so, these were C12As [gestures to left and right sides], I had the CMV 3 in the middle, and so here's the CMV 3. [plays isolated track, open another] There's the C12A on the left... [plays right C12A track] And so these three mics together would just give you, like, this stereo picture of the drum set that's really punchy and in your face because you're not in this big room, but the mics aren't, like, right up on the drums, you know, so for the toms, you know, the mics are a little further away. And then I had C-37As way up high in the room just capturing the ambience of the room.

Used on Not of This Earth, Surfing With the Alien and Flying in a Blue Dream. Among online sources, it is first mentioned in this January 2012 Vintage Guitar interview.

Do you have a favorite tone or setup?

I don’t think so. I’d say just about anything through a Marshall is really good. There are so many different ones, but the basic Marshall is the 'kitchen sink' sound – it gives you everything. More than you want, maybe! It’s the most revealing amp you’ll ever plug into, I think.

Early in my career, I tried to run from it. On the first couple of solo records… for Not of This Earth I didn’t even bring one into the studio. I was such a contrarian, I remember calling [recording engineer] John Cuniberti and saying, 'I’m gonna use whatever is in the closet.' I thought that was a cool, artsy way of doing things. What happened to be in the closet was an early-’70s Pro Reverb, and I just plugged little (effects) boxes into it. We’d record quietly and use microphones like a C12A, Boss pedals, and early tube drivers made by Paul Chandler.

Satriani later stated the C12A's use on "Flying in a Blue Dream" in this December 26, 2011 Tumblr post.

DAVUDTESCH asked: I've read that you used a Mesa Mark IIC+ on Flying in a Blue Dream... Was it just on the song or the whole album? I ask cuz I love the voicing you get out of your tone in the beginning of part 2 of the Bells of Lal.. When I'm dialing my tone if it feels similar then I know I'm in the ballpark. I use that and the riff from Crystal Planet... those are my tone-testers :)

On that song I was using a silver face Fender Pro Reverb amp with a Boss DS-1 distortion pedal, and put an AKG C12-A microphone up close to the grill.

The use of the C12A on Surfing With the Alien was stated in this February 17, 2017 Music Radar interview about the album.

“We used a [Roland] JC-120 for almost all of Echo. John had a very clever way of recording the JC-120 with six different microphones, an [AKG] C12A and this and that, and using the DS-1. It was just really interesting how we got a lot of mileage out of that amp. It was the perfect antidote to the Marshall stack or the little Silverface Pro Reverb or Princeton that was there that we used for a lot of the album, too."

Used for the bass amp on Beggars Banquet, as stated in The Rolling Stones All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track by Philippe Margotin & Jean-Michel Guesdon.

Technical Details

In the spring of 1968, Olympic Sound Studios acquired an Ampex eight-track, which represented a technological revolution at the time. Glyn Johns and Eddie Kramer shared the position of sound engineer, with Phill Brown, who went on to have a prestigious career recording with Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Roxy Music, and many others, as assistant engineer. The main mic employed was Neumann U67, although the AKG C12A was used for the bass amp and the Hammond organ, and the AKG D12 for the bass drum and the Hammond. In addition to the Neumann U67, it seems that an AKG D224 and a Shure SM57 were used for Mick's voice. Reverb was provided by an EMT Echo Plate, and Tannoy/Lockwood monitors were used.

Used as a room mic for some of Only by the Night, as stated by producer Jacques King in this December 2008 Sound on Sound interview.

"I had half a dozen mics up for the room sound: a Neumann U67, M49, AKG C12, RCA 44, and/or a Royer SF12 in the echo chamber. I'd leave the door to the echo chamber open so the sound of the drums was happening in there as well, and I'd move the room mics around to get the sound that I wanted for a particular song. I would then bus different combinations to the two room tracks, depending on the song. In the case of 'Sex On Fire' I used a U67 and an RCA 44 for Room 1, and an RCA4 4 and an SF12 for Room 2. Some of these mics went through Neve preamps, some through an old RCA tube mic that Blackbird customised. The combination of room mics was bussed through a Fairchild 670."

Given that Blackbird Studios' condensor microphone list includes the original C12, the C12VR and the C12A, King leaves the microphone unspecified. Fortunately, video footage from the Only by the Night sessions (particularly "Day 23" of the "Only by the Night Home Movies" at 2:37) shows the C12A.

The pair of C12A mics can in this photo of Thom in the Green Room at Tottenham house in September or October 2006, during the recording of In Rainbows. The vocal mic is a Neumann U47, which you can read more about below.

"That's what I did with Tina, close-miking her with a valve Neumann U67 while the distant mic, an AKG C12A, was there to pick up the loud parts."

Used for overheads on Toto XIV, as mentioned by producer CJ Vanston in this March 5, 2015 Mix Online article.

On the kick drum he placed a Sennheiser 421 and a Yamaha subwoofer, and on the snare drum a Shure 57 with another Shure 57 underneath. On the hi-hat he switched between a Neumann KM 84 and Shure SM81.

“For overheads I used a pair of AKG C12As,” Petocz says. “Tom mic’s were 421s and for room mics I had a 47 mono room mic very close to the drums, halfway between the kick and the snare. Then for the more traditional room mic drum sound, I used a pair of U 67 Neumanns and occasionally a C-24 from the back, just sparingly. They all went through the beautiful vintage 8068 Neve console, the best sounding Neve in town. And some compression on the snare when it needed it, but only slightly. Then what I did is go direct out when I could instead of busing it, just for that added purity.”

In the video "Squid Full Set | From The Basement" on YouTube, Ollie Judge is seen using the AKG C12A microphone.

Used for his feature on Pete Rock's "Massive (Hold Tight)", as is visible in Soul Survivor's documentary at 14:08.