Sennheiser MD 421 Dynamic Microphone

"He also used a Fender Bassman on about four songs and a Vox AC30 for some clean tracks. Four microphones were used to mic Kurt's speaker cabinet (he would pick which mic he liked best for each song and its signal was sent through the Neve console at Sound City): a Shure SM57, an AKG 414, a Neumann U87, and occasionally a Sennheiser 421."

Sennheiser MD 421 mics were used to record toms for Daft Punk's Random Access Memories album.

"There’s also a Sennheiser 421 in the back of each cabinet to give more energy for FOH," mentions Will Doyle, a sound engineer that knows about Alex Turner's equipment setup, in reference to the Sennheiser MD 421 Microphone.

Used on Lullabies to Paralyze for guitars. Sound engineer Joe Baressi : "The two microphones I use most for recording electric guitars are the Shure SM57 and the Sennheiser MD421, often both, close up, placed at the edge of the speaker, where the speaker centre meets the cone, or, if I'm looking for a more bright sound, dead centre."

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "During tracking we had an amp setup consisting of hand–wired Marshall 1959, Diezel VH4, and vintage 1960s JMI Vox amps, recorded with a standard Shure SM57 and Sennheiser MD421 pair, and just a mic pre and some desk EQ, keeping things quite simple."

In this photo, Kevin can be seen with a Sennheiser MD 421.

"n 1971 George Harrison and Ravi Shankar held their famous Concert for Bangladesh at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The stage was positively bristling with MD421s, including all of the stars’ lead vocal mics (Eric Clapton, Ringo Star, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Leon Russell and Billy Preston) Check out the video." -Martin Mitchell's Microphones.

sennheiserusa posted this quote by the Black Keys' FoH engineer (Oct 2014 via Instagram): “I went for a combo of e 906 and MD 421for Auerbach’s main guitar rig, with the 906 placed near the centre of the cone to get all the mid/hi-mid details plus the crunch and fuzz that comes from the Marshall amp and Fender guitar, and the 421 placed midway or nearer to the outer edge of the cone to get the low-mid warmth" - Jason M. Tarulli, FoH Engineer for [The Black Keys](https://equipboard.com/band/the-black-keys) #Sennheiser #MD421 #e906

Can be seen up close around 0:15, likely used by the other Beatles as well.

"In 1971 George Harrison and Ravi Shankar held their famous Concert for Bangladesh at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The stage was positively bristling with MD421s, including all of the stars’ lead vocal mics (Eric Clapton, Ringo Star, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Leon Russell and Billy Preston) Check out the video." -Martin Mitchell's Microphones.

"I use usually three microphones, on one cabinet and the way that they're placed is all properly in phase. And I'll use a 57, you know, [Sennheiser] 421 and maybe a Beyer 160. And they all have extremely different characters. And if you can properly blend these characteristics.."

brian may uses this mic in the las tour "Rhapsody Tour"

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : “The mics on the bass cabs were a Neumann FET 47 with a [Shure] SM57, Beyerdynamic M88 or Electro–Voice RE20 on the clean amp, and the same on the distorted amps, but we also tried the Shure SM57 or Sennheiser 421 on the latter.”

This rig diagram from 2003 shows this mic used in front of the cabinets.

> "**GC:** What's your mic-ing set-up? Do you use one mic? > > **Mascis:** [Producer] John Agnello used a Shure SM57, Sennheiser MD-421 and a Shure SM87 on one track, just bound together. They're all close, all right on line." An MD-421 was also used during the recording of Dinosaur Jr's *Farm*, as seen in [this episode of Pitchfork's *In The Studio*](https://youtu.be/TYDIH_H43yE?t=57s).

Adam Young's studio contains two Sennheiser MD 421s.

used to mic up amp on self titled album. source from sylvia massy's (System of a Down producer) official website: http://www.sylviamassy.com/how-to/

"In 1971 George Harrison and Ravi Shankar held their famous Concert for Bangladesh at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The stage was positively bristling with MD421s, including all of the stars’ lead vocal mics (Eric Clapton, Ringo Star, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Leon Russell and Billy Preston) Check out the video." -Martin Mitchell's Microphones.

"In 1971 George Harrison and Ravi Shankar held their famous Concert for Bangladesh at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The stage was positively bristling with MD421s, including all of the stars’ lead vocal mics (Eric Clapton, Ringo Star, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Leon Russell and Billy Preston) Check out the video." -Martin Mitchell's Microphones.

At 5:44, Stu refers to this mic as a "Slippery Fish" because of it's shape and how it can fall out of your hands easily. The mic in the video is wrapped in tape to keep a better grip.

"Generally we have three microphones on each cab—either a Shure SM57 or Heill PR 30 next to a Sennheiser 421, and then either a ribbon mic like a Royer R-121 ribbon or a Neumann FET47, to capture a fullness of sound." - excerpt from Premier Guitar interview.

In this profile picture here in EQUIPBOARD you can see Jay performing with a Sennheiser MD 421 microphone, a mic that his colleague Kevin Parker uses too in the studio for recording Tame Impala.

Mix engineer Tommaso Colliva on recording Drones : "Toms were recorded with Sennheiser MD421s on the top and Neumann U87s on the resonant head."

According to this transcription of a February 1982 issue of *U2 Magazine*, "Adam uses two Ibanez Musician basses, one with an active pre-amp built in, the other standard, although he often seems to play the standard instrument throughout. This was fed direct into an Ampeg SVT400 watt 8x10 bass stack with no effects units or other gadgetry at all. This was both DI'ed and miked using a Sennheiser MD421."

Szary used this mic on the "Moderat 2" tour

The transcribed article accompanying [an equipment list from *U2 MAGAZINE No: 1* in November 1981](http://u2-atomic-edge.tripod.com/id69.html) states that "Bono also has a guitar - a black Fender Lead 2. This is fed through a Roland Bolt 60 combo miked with another Sennheiser MD421."

This Instagram photo shows Questlove using a Sennheiser MD 421 Microphone on a tom.

Mentioned by FOH engineer Dan Green in this article from the d&b audiotechnik website about the *Viva la Vida* tour. > For Green the challenge is delivery. "There's nothing unusual up on stage at all; guitars on Shure SM57s, vocals on radio SM58s, 421s on the Toms." Will Champion on drums is a renowned heavy hitter. "Inevitably there is a lot of spill from the drums into Chris's mic, so I do spend a lot of time riding that up and down. Getting level from Chris can be tricky, but I know the songs well enough to capture what's needed."

Used for some vocals on *Bone Machine*, as stated by engineer Biff Dawes in this February 26, 2015 *Mix Online* interview. > Rennick says that Waits used one main vocal mic pretty consistently at Prairie Sun: “He gave every vocal on one Neumann that we still own, an M 49,” Rennick says. > However, Dawes remembers switching things up more: “It depended on the song,” he says. “A ballad, we would have a nice warm condenser, and sometimes the louder pieces we might use a [Sennheiser MD] 421, a dynamic to cut through. There was no standard. On ‘I Don’t Wanna Grow Up,’ it probably would have been something like a 421 close to him, but there also would have been a 67 or something like that, two or three feet away. A 421 was later used for the electric guitar on *Mule Variations*, as stated by producer Jacques King in this interview from issue 9 of *Audio Technology* Magazine. > Acoustic guitars were miked with a Neumann KM84 or AKG 451, guitar amps were either a Shure SM57 or Sennheiser 421, bass amp with a Neumann U47, and acoustic bass with an Neumann M49, U47 or 582, routed via a Neve 2254 compressor.

Byrne's gear list is presented on this page.

Used for the toms on "Who Are You?", as mentioned by producer Jon Astley in this *Sound on Sound* "Classic Tracks" interview. > "On the bass drum I used an AKG D30; I had a Neumann KM84 on top and underneath the snare; I used a Shure SM58 with a pad in it for the hi-hat; overheads were Neumann U87s; and for toms I used anything I could find that matched, such as Sennheiser 421s. Then, the day after I'd set all this up, Keith came in and went around the kit for me. I just wanted to make sure the stereo imaging was OK, so he played and then asked 'Is that all right?' I said 'Yeah, that's fantastic,' at which point he stood up and walked straight through the bloody kit. He obviously was aware that I'd put a lot of work into it, balancing the whole thing, but I just thought 'Oh, well, welcome to the Who. Here we go..."

Used on the bass drum for some of *Only by the Night*, as stated by producer Jacques King in this December 2008 *Sound on Sound* interview. > "The microphones on the drums changed a lot from song to song. On the kick it could be a Beta 52, sometimes it was an RE20, or a [Sennheiser] 421, or a [Neumann] FET 47, or an NS10 [i.e. the driver from a Yamaha NS10 monitor used as a mic], or a combination. It depends on what I was trying to achieve. The mics were usually in front of the kick, or just barely inside. On one song, 'Crawl', I did put a U87 on the batter side of the kick, next to the pedal, which gives a very attack-orientated sound, with a Led Zeppelin-ish quality. On 'Sex On Fire' I used the 52, FET 47 and NS10 on the kick. I had all the kick mics on a Neve BCM10 sidecar and I'd submix them and run them through a GML EQ and then to one track on the tape. I didn't want to keep them separate. It was a matter of get the sound, make the decision, and move on. > "The snare was recorded in similar fashion to the kick. I had the option of various mics that all went through a BCM10 and were submixed, through a GML 580 EQ, then a [Empirical Labs] Distressor, just to give it some control and make sure the snare hit the tape at the right level. On the track sheet a transformerless Shure SM57 is indicated. It was something I read about a couple of years ago, and it's a really good thing. It gives a nicer, more transparent, usable sound that requires less EQ. You lose a bit of level, but typically the things that you record with a 57 are so loud anyway that it doesn't matter. So I asked the people at Blackbird to take the transformer out of one of their 57s and they were gracious enough to do this. After recording I also ran the snare and kick through an Eventide DSP4000 on a Big Muff setting, and recorded that in Pro Tools during the transfer to the computer. > "The toms were recorded with three Josephson E22S mics, which are a modern type, and they're fantastic on the toms. There were a rack of toms plus two floor toms, and I also submixed the tom mics via a BCM10 to a stereo pair, panning the toms as was appropriate for the track. The overheads were recorded with a Telefunken Elam 251 going through a Neve 1081 preamp/EQ, then an Urei 1176, and then to tape. The ride cymbal and the hi-hat were recorded with RCA77 ribbon mics, the ones that David Letterman used to have on his show. When I use a mono overhead, as I did in this case, I like using ribbons, for a good stereo spread between ride and cymbal. > "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."

Used as a tom mic for “Every Breath You Take”, as mentioned by producer Hugh Padgham in this March 2004 *Sound on Sound* interview. > "At AIR Montserrat, the dining area had a gabled ceiling and reflective wooden floor, so I recorded Stewart's drums with room mics while also close-miking the kit, similar to how I recorded Phil Collins. There was a [Shure] SM57 on the snare, [Sennheiser] 421s on the toms, Coles 4038 ribbon mics for the overheads, and [Neumann] 87s as room mics, placed about 10 to 15 feet away and compressed a little bit. Obviously, we didn't use the room sound as much as we did for Phil, but it still provided Stewart's sound with a certain liveliness.”

In this video, Ian D'Sa shows that he dual-mic's his iso cabs with an MD421 and a SM57 mic.

Used on the bass drum for John Mayer's *Continuum*, as stated by recording engineer Chad Franscoviak in this October 1, 2006 *Mix Online* interview. > Jordan's assortment of drums — which seemed to be *endless*, Franscoviak says with a laugh — were miked fairly conventionally: an AKG D 112, an RE20, a 421 or a Beyer M88 on the kick; snares got 57s on top and bottom; M88s on the toms; an AKG 451 on hi-hats; and on overheads, he either used a U67 or U87. > The only trick that Franscoviak used, which he fully admits stealing from Joe Ferla, was putting a Coles 4038 ribbon mic directly over the center of the kit, parallel to the ground and as close in as possible without impeding Jordan's playing. “I generally compressed the snot out of that and I would run it through a Fairchild,” he says. “That's a really interesting trick because you have all of your tight sounds, but you add that 4038 and it makes everything more exciting.” > He also put a U47 about 18 inches off the ground and four to seven feet in front of the kick drum for a very specific sound. “At some point, we were going to hit that low-end waveform just right and it was going to fill that kick drum out,” Franscoviak explains. “I would compress it a lot with an 1176, a lot harder than the overhead, because I wanted that low end to be there for every hit.”

The website presents some of the equipment used by Elton John on his magnificent live performances. Second page, 7th paragraph states that a Sennheiser MD 421 is in Elton's equipment list.

Used for recording the Toms.

When he was asked if he has a preferred mic in the studio he answered with "The Sennheiser 421 and the classic is the Shure 57."

1:58 has beach fossils sticker, top address mic, its why he sings into the seam

Greg Lake used Sennheiser MD 421 in 1977 turne with orchestra..

"At the same time, Crow's acoustic guitar parts were recorded either with a U47, an AKG C12 or a Sennheiser 421, while electric guitars largely made use of a Fender Tweed amp." - via [Sound on Sound](http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr03/articles/sherylcrow.asp)

[This article](https://www.mixonline.com/recording/daniel-lanois-shines-alone-365055), describing Lanois' studio setup. "For microphones, he’s fairly set in his ways: He says he hasn’t seen any improvement in the technology over the years. He listed these time-tested models as favorites: Sony C37A, Neumann U47 and U48, RCA 77 and 44 ribbons, and the more modern Sony 800-T. He also likes dynamic mics such as the Shure Beta 57 and 58, and the Sennheiser 409 and 421."

> I had two Shure SM57s on the snare, top and bottom, and on the toms I had an SM57 on the top and a Sennheiser 421 underneath. You have to be really careful in positioning these mics; the top gives more attack and the bottom will pick up a more round tonal quality. Mike Fraser, Sound on Sound article, 2009.

Vrenna says that most of the bass and guitar parts on the album were recorded direct. “Every single bass sound — and everyone's going to shoot me for saying this — is a [Line 6] Bass Pod Pro,” he says. “But then I come out of the Bass Pod Pro and always put that through my Summit Audio TD-100 tube DI. I don't use the compression within the Pod. I put that through an API and then my ADL tube compressor. Then that goes in. I use [the Pod] for its tones and then do other stuff.” As for the guitars, “A lot of the heavy guitar stuff is the Mesa Tri-Axis and the Recto Directo, things like that. Most of it is direct.” When he did choose to mike the amp, he used either a Shure 57 or a Sennheiser 421.

Used for the toms on "Get On Your Boots", as stated by producer Declan Gaffney. > "Most of 'Get On Your Boots' was recorded in Dublin by Richard Rainey, and the basic backing tracks were done live, by the whole band together. There was an [Electro-Voice] RE20 inside the bass drum, with an SE Electronics Titan on the outside, a [Shure] 57 underneath the snare, and Richard had his own Heil mic on top, which he alternated with a Beyer M201; the toms were [Sennheiser] 421, overheads Coles 4038; ride cymbal was sometimes a 57, sometimes a [AKG] 451. Everything went through the Neve 1091 or 1093 mic pres." The 421 was later used for the same purpose on the *iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE* tour, as stated in [this *Mix Online* article](https://www.mixonline.com/live-sound/all-access-u2-innocence-experience-tour-2015-424970). > “We have a fairly traditional mic setup for Larry [Mullen’s] drums, from Shure 421s on toms, to 57s on top and bottom snare, and Audio-Technica 4050s for overheads,” says monitor engineer CJ Eiriksson. “We keep the mics fairly close and tight on everything, which helps keep the arena bleed out of drums as much as possible.

"I used a Neumann U87 and a Sennheiser MD421 pretty much the whole time. We decided to get rid of [the Bassman] about halfway through, and got an Ampeg B15N Fliptop."

Dann uses a Senheiser MD 421 mic on his bass cab. BTBAM uses all Senheiser mics live

“My drum mics consist of two Coles 4038s for overheads, Shure SM57s on the snare top and bottom, AKG D12 on the kick, and during the recordings of Sia’s record I had Sennheiser MD421s on the toms, but now I have AKG C414s — the old, silver ones".

How do you record vocals anyway? I don't see a microphone. Oh, I have one over here...it's a Sennheiser Studio Rundfunk MD 421. It's actually quite good.

Paul uses a MD421 mic on his guitar cab. BTBAm uses all senheiser mics live

"Sometimes I'll record feedback in an anlalogue delay, for example, and I'll use a Sennheiser 421."

My live rig with Bush is a monster. My guitar runs through volume pedal, then a Jerry Cantrell wah, into the front of a Fractal AXFX XL II+, it splits out of the FX loop into a Voodoo amps modded Marshall JMP-1with a gold Marshall EL34 100/100 and into a first revision Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier. Both amp signals send to 2 separate Rivera silent sister iso cabinets loaded with Eminence EJ1250’s. Each speaker has 2 microphones, and modded Sure Sm 57, and a Sennheiser 421.

According to the "equipment list" found on Church Studios, owned by Epworth, one of the things listed is Sehnheiser MD421.

Dustie uses a MD421 mic on his guitar cab. BTBAm uses all senheiser mics live

"Just received a couple of brand new looking 60's MD421's! they work particularly well on everything.. #sennheiser #mint"

I have a Sennheiser 421 that I use a lot.

As you can see on this picture.

Microphones: (2) Josephson 606A-KA21 hypocardioid small condenser (2) AEA N22 active ribbon (2) Neumann KM130 omni small condenser (1) Blue Mouse cardoid large condenser (2) Blue Dragonfly cardoid large condenser (2) ADK TL-Au custom modified multipattern large condenser (1) ADK TL-Gk67 custom modified multipattern large condenser (2) ADK Sigma CHI small diaphragm condenser (4) ADK Sigma CHI large diaphragm (lollipop 47, 251 capsules) (2) Oktava MK012 w/ Red Replacement capsules (1) Audio Technica AT4050 multipattern large condensor (2) E/V NDym 408 dynamic (2) Shure SM57 dynamic (1) Sennheiser MD421 mII dynamic (1) AKG D112 kick drum mic

"I use a Royer R-121 and Shure SM7 and sometimes a Sennheiser MD 421 on my cab. That’s going through a Retro compressor, a Burl Mothership [analog to digital converter], an Empirical Labs Fatso compressor, and a Dangerous Music BAX EQ. That signal chain’s amazing, but everything else is just coming through my pedalboard."

"The [Mark Bass CL108](https://equipboard.com/items/markbass-cl-108-closed-neo-8x10-bass-cabinet) Closed Neo cab is miked with Sennheiser MD421s." - [*Mix Online*](http://www.mixonline.com/news/tours/all-access-florence-and-machine/368254).

Labrinth has been using an e 935 wireless vocal microphone for some time and Ross was happy for him to continue. "He was using it before I was involved and I like it myself. I think it is suited to his voice and we both get everything that we need out of it. We've never had any issues with the Sennheiser gear. It's stable, solid, very reliable and there's plenty of clarity and warmth there."

"In 1971 George Harrison and Ravi Shankar held their famous Concert for Bangladesh at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The stage was positively bristling with MD421s, including all of the stars’ lead vocal mics (Eric Clapton, Ringo Star, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Leon Russell and Billy Preston) Check out the video." -Martin Mitchell's Microphones.

"In 1971 George Harrison and Ravi Shankar held their famous Concert for Bangladesh at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The stage was positively bristling with MD421s, including all of the stars’ lead vocal mics (Eric Clapton, Ringo Star, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Leon Russell and Billy Preston) Check out the video." -Martin Mitchell's Microphones.

Matt: Does your studio set up differ from your stage rig? Stacey: I keep things pretty simple. My role in Hi-Fi is to just provide the meat. I have two settings distorted and really distorted, loud and louder. Normally I play all the rhythm parts, but for this record Jamie and I both played rhythm because we 99% of it is live off the floor. So in other words, when we got a drum track we got a bass and two rhythms guitar track as well, because we were all tracking live together. There’s this intangible quality you get with four guys playing live at the same time. There’s no beat detective or anything with this record, we just did it live and then added overdubs later. Generally speaking, I use a Marshall JCM2000and I’ll put a 421 or a 57 on that and a Royer, a little darker mic, and I have a Bad Cat combo amp that I use. So I have this wall of distortion from the Marshall and I’ll mix in the chimey, clean stuff from the Bad Cat, and that really works well for me. That’s in the studio, and on stage I’m really simple, I really just set up the Marshall and I’m good to go.

Nutt uses the Sennheiser MD 421 as a live vocal microphone.

Often uses vintage Sennheiser MD 421U microphones

Visible in this Twitter post by Echosmith, released during the recording of *Talking Dreams*.

> When I mic an amp, it’s usually with a single Royer 121 — that almost always sounds better to me than anything else. Since it’s a figure-eight pattern, you get the same depth you might obtain using a close-positioned dynamic mic and a more distant condenser. If I must use a dynamic, I’ll pick a Sennheiser 421.

Used as tom mics for Young the Giant's *Spotify Sessions*, as visible in this April 21, 2014 Instagram post. > Werkin. #twerk #spotify

Shown in focus at 1:22 in this live performance of Dinosaur Jr.'s "Sludgefest" for 95bFM.

For miking duties, whether on bass or guitar amps, Hyde used a Beyer M160 or a Shure SM 57, or a 57 with a Sennheiser MD 421…

Used as a tom mic on "Linger", as mentioned in this March 2019 *Sound on Sound* interview. > In regard to drum miking, Stephen Street's approach was fairly standard for early '90s recording. "Yeah, pretty traditional in a sense," he says. "I might have used a [Neumann] U47 FET inside the bass drum. The usual kinds of Shure dynamic mics on top of the snare and under. Sennheiser [MD] 421s on the toms, KM84 on the hi?hat, and the overheads would have been two U87s. That tended to be my go-to set-up back in those days."

In this article Mieszko names the microphones used in the album: "Microphones on the cabinet: Neumann TLM 103 Audiotechnica ATM 25 Sennheiser MD 421"

Toni Torres use in HCTSOUND recordings and some shows

To add clarity to his voice Jamie uses his Sennheiser MD 421 Microphone regularly at live performances

He is using this mic in this video

"My two favourite things in the world are an old Sennheiser 421 and a channel strip from my console. It just beats everything that I've ever heard. Basically, if I had just one of those channels I would be happy.”

Visible throughout this video, starting at 0:59.

Used live for trumpet, as is visible in this photo.

In a TapeOp interview, producer and .5 of Foxygen , Jonathan Rado, says: "[Julian] did all his vocals into a Sennheiser [MD 421]. The first day we were doing vocals I put up a mic stand, and he said, 'Oh, I don't use mic stands.' He just sat on the piano bench with a pop filter attached to the bottom of the mic."

" [...] and bassist Cameron Jasper''s Rickenbacker was taken direct and miked through a Marshall Micro Amp with a Sennheiser MD 421."

Used for the bass drum and tom 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.”