Freddie Mercury

Mercury used a Blonde 1983 Fender Telecaster for "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" from 1984-1986 during "The Works Tour" (1984-1985) and "The Magic Tour" (1986), replacing the 12-String Ovation used previosly. Photo shows Mercury with his Telecaster on 7/13/85 for Queen's set at the "Live Aid" benefit concert.

Queen - The Making Of "One Vision" The mic can be seen al lot of time since 4:11 into this video.

Mercury played an Ovation 12 String 1658 Custom Legend during "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" in concert from 1979-1982 during "The Crazy Tour" (1979, a joint promotional mini-tour for the named single as well as the UK leg of the 1978-1979 "Jazz Tour"), "The Game Tour" (1980-1981), and "The Hot Space Tour" (1982). Photo is from a late 1979 concert.

In this photo from Mountain Studios, Freddie Mercury can be seen recording with an Oberheim OB-Xa synthesizer. The photo was most likely taken during sessions for The Works by Queen, rather than Hot Space (which is all Jupiter-8 according to Reinhold Mack, no Oberheim).

Freddie's piano was miked with two Neumann U67s and we also set up a Shure mic for his guide vocal. He didn't sing all the way through the backing track takes, just the first couple of words of each line as a reference for the band.

This comes from a Sound on Sound article from 1995, where producer and engineer of "Bohemian Rhapsody" talk about how this song was recorded.

https://www.facebook.com/Helpinstill/photos/a.541022782706809/1343505265791886/?type=3&theater

"Seeing the Queen movie Bohemian Rhapsody last night brought back a flood of memories. Clearly visible on top of the grand piano in every concert scene is the blue and silver control box for the Helpinstill Piano Pickup used by virtually every rock act in the day. Although Queen was one of the few customers I never met in person, I still had quite an adventure with them! Late one night I was awakened by a phone call from their manager. He excitedly explained that, right in the middle of a dramatic moment at an arena rock concert, the piano feed just disappeared, leaving Freddie playing in silence to 20,000! He had traced the problem to the control box and needed another one before the next night. This was in 1976 and FedEx did not exist yet. He had selected a flight that would get a package to them by the a next day, and instructed me to get it to the Air Freight terminal. I had to get out of bed and drive to Intercontinental but we got it there. When we got the defective box back we discovered a crucial wire had been wrapped around a terminal but never soldered. It worked for years up until that fateful night."

In 1972-1973, Freddie Mercury used the Steinway & Sons Model D Concert Grand Piano at Trident Studios. This was the studio's house piano, likely utilized during recording sessions. A notable photo from the Marquee Club shows a white piano, potentially the Bechstein used by Mercury later for "Bohemian Rhapsody." This connection is plausible due to a rental arrangement the club reportedly had with Jacques Samuel, which included the white Bechstein.

Freddie Mercury frequently used the Shure 565SD microphone in his performances, as evidenced by the user-uploaded photo on Ennolenze. Notably, this microphone appears in every concert recording, except for the Live at Wembley '86 DVD, where he opted for a wireless microphone.

Freddie Mercury used this tambourine during Queen concerts in 70´s.

Freddie recorded "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" with an extra mic on a Martin d18.

Freddie Mercury is shown using the Shure 565SD Unisphere I microphone, as evident in the user-uploaded photo on his official website.

At 45:40 in this video, Freddie can be seen using Brian's Red Special (or a copy, note the scuffs(?)), during a 1977 NOTW Tour soundcheck.

In the dokumentary for One Vision you can clearly see on minute 15.3 that Freddie is using the AKG K240 Sextett as his headphones.

Freddie Mercury used the Shure Unisphere I 565, a dual-impedance unidirectional dynamic microphone known for its effective wind and pop filter, suitable for high-quality stage and recording environments. This information is discussed in a forum on Sound on Sound under the Recording Techniques section.

This was Freddie's personal acoustic guitar. It was given to close friend Kenny Everett as a gift, and later given away again as a contest prize by Everett. The note reads, "Hope you like the present, as Freddie was a very dear friend of mine please take care of the prize guitar.' Ole Ken."

Freddie once owned one of these however was unhappy with it, choosing to let John Deacon take it who would go on to write You're My Best Friend on it. Freddie also used the Wurlitzer at a single concert as he didn't have a piano at the time and the Wurlitzer was all the venue had (see photo).

In Edward Smith's YouTube video titled "You NEED This Microphone!! - AKG C214 vs. C414," at 0:08, Freddie Mercury is seen using the AKG C414 XL II microphone.

Freddie mercury plays a korg M1 with the sound "ooh ahh"

Freddie Mercury used a Yamaha Model G2 Baby Grand Piano, which he purchased in 1975 for approximately £1,000, equivalent to about $2,100 at the time. This piano, with serial number E1683689, was built in 1973 and features a bright ebonised polyester finish. It was delivered to his apartment at 100 Holland Road, London, and was instrumental in the composition of "Bohemian Rhapsody" and many other Queen hits until 1988. This information is verified by World Piano News, authored by David Crombie, in the article titled "Lennon and Mercury Pianos Expected to Sell for Millions."

In the One Vision and A Kind Of Magic Sessions, you can see what is clearly a Jupiter-8 but with the brand labels taped over for whatever reason. The arpeggio bass at 4:24 in One Vision was done on the Jupiter as that is the only synth they had available to have an on board arpeggiator.

Queen began using the Fairlight CMI starting in the 1984 album The Works. Freddie Mercury himself used it in his solo album Mr. Bad Guy in 1985 and again in 1986 in the A Kind Of Magic sessions as seen in this 1985 recording session for One Vision

Freddie Mercury used the Yamaha DX7 during the recording sessions for Queen's album A Kind of Magic and potentially The Miracle. Many stock DX7 presets, such as Syn-Orch, E-Piano-1, and Tubular Bells, can be heard throughout the album, as evidenced by the image provided on Equipboard.

Freddie Mercury used the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 synthesizer on his 1988 solo album Barcelona, as confirmed by Queen Songs.

According to the book Queen: The Early Years by Mark Hodkinson, Freddie Mercury used a white C. Bechstein IV grand piano for the recordings of A Night at the Opera, the UK tour following the album's release, and the music video for Bohemian Rhapsody. It is reportedly the same piano that Paul McCartney played on the recording of The Beatles' song Hey Jude, as well as the one Rick Wakeman used for David Bowie's album Hunky Dory.