PJ Harvey

“I originally chose the Sennheiser MD 441 for her vocal simply because it’s a fantastically versatile microphone, great for vocals and just about everything you choose to point it at,” Head explained. “Polly [PJ Harvey] used it on some of the vocal recording on her latest Hope Six Demolition Project album and in rehearsal, so it was always an option for the live shows, but in the end, when the whole PJ Harvey production was set-up with 9 musicians on stage and 23 monitors, we thought that the MD 431 had slightly better rejection, and Polly chose it above the MD 441 to use for the festival shows. This is a show where the audibility of the vocal is crucial. I constantly recommend the MD 431 to other engineers.”

In an article by Steve Jennings for Mixonline, PJ Harvey is mentioned using the Shure Beta 57A microphone during her tours.

Howard Bullivant thought that the MD 431 had slightly better rejection, and Polly choose it above the MD 441 to use for the festival shows. This is a show where the audibility of the vocal is crucial.

Used extensively on Let England Shake, particularly for vocals, as stated by producer Flood on Sontronics' official "Famous Users" page.

"I use the mics all the time, be it with Editors, Orbital, Karima Francis, Foals or anyone else. The mics were used on PJ Harvey's Mercury Prize-winning album Let England Shake mainly DELTA, SIGMA, ORPHEUS and HELIOS. We used DELTAs on amps; ORPHEUSs on Polly and John's vocals, brass and ambience. ORPHEUS was our go-to mic for anything and everything: voices, snare drums, acoustic guitars, autoharp, ambience and piano."

Used for the vocals on The Hop Six Demolition Project, as stated by producer Flood on Sontronics' official "Famous Users" page.

"For Polly's latest album The Hope Six Demolition Project we also added an ARIA for vocals… she won't record her voice with anything else now!"

PJ Harvey used this microphone for a large part of her 1998 tour. It can be seen in the above video.

Used for the electric guitars on Let England Shake, as stated by producer Flood on Sontronics' official "Famous Users" page.

"I use the mics all the time, be it with Editors, Orbital, Karima Francis, Foals or anyone else. The mics were used on PJ Harvey's Mercury Prize-winning album Let England Shake mainly DELTA, SIGMA, ORPHEUS and HELIOS. We used DELTAs on amps; ORPHEUSs on Polly and John's vocals, brass and ambience. ORPHEUS was our go-to mic for anything and everything: voices, snare drums, acoustic guitars, autoharp, ambience and piano."