Morrissey

In this Sound On Sound Classic Tracks feature, engineer Stephen Street describes using a U87 microphone for Morrissey's vocals.

"Chiccarelli and Le Guil brought in some pieces, as well: Neve and API modules, and a Blue Bottle mic that became one of three go-to mics for Morrissey’s vocals."

"'Some songs were to a new Telefunken USA U47, a lot of songs were to the Blue Bottle, and some were to an old Neumann U 47,' Chiccarelli says. 'The preamp was always either a Neve 1073 or a Neve 1081; the limiter was a Tube-Tech CL1B, and then there was also a Tube-Tech EQ as well.'"

"'Some songs were to a new Telefunken USA U47, a lot of songs were to the Blue Bottle, and some were to an old Neumann U 47,' Chiccarelli says. 'The preamp was always either a Neve 1073 or a Neve 1081; the limiter was a Tube-Tech CL1B, and then there was also a Tube-Tech EQ as well.'"

In the video for his cover of the Pretenders' "Back on the Chain Gang,", Moz can be seen playing (or, more likely, feigning to play) a Firebird. There's a fairly clear look at the non-reversed headstock at the 30-second mark.

"'Some songs were to a new Telefunken USA U47, a lot of songs were to the Blue Bottle, and some were to an old Neumann U 47,' Chiccarelli says. 'The preamp was always either a Neve 1073 or a Neve 1081; the limiter was a Tube-Tech CL1B, and then there was also a Tube-Tech EQ as well.'"

“'As far as the reverb on the vocal, the interesting thing there was, at La Fabrique they had an EMT gold foil plate, an EMT 240, which was never one of my favorite reverbs, but somehow on Morrissey’s vocal it sounded perfect. There was something just bright and alive about it that worked well with his voice.'”