Robert Plant

According to a February 1971 article in Sounds, Robert Plant used Shure Unidyne IV 548SD microphones during performances, visible throughout the 1975 tour. By 1973, Plant had transitioned to endorsing the Shure Unisphere I, the predecessor to the SM58, which he used on the 1973 US Tour.

In this photo, Plant can be seen playing a Gibson EDS-1275.

In this photo, one can see Plant playing Fender Stratocaster in olympic white.

In this ad for Washburn, one can see Plant posing with a Washburn EA36 Marquee.

In this video you see the band Led Zeppelin preforming Stairway to heaven and Robert Plant playing the Ludwig Tambourine

It's a photo of RP using a shure SM58.

Used for lead vocals on Raising Sand, as stated by engineer Mike Piersante in this December 1, 2007 Mix Online interview.

As for the all-important vocal mics, Piersante says, “I actually bought a mic, as I'll sometimes do, just for this project. I had Allison singing through a Blue Cactus, which is sort of their retro mic that's like an old [Neumann] M49 or something. Blue got it right with this — it has a real thick quality to it and it's not too bright. Alison can be a fairly bright singer and I wanted something to complement that and not accentuate it. So I chose this mic to try on her and it ended up sounding very good; very old tube-sounding. I probably had her through an LA2, as well. Robert sang on one of T Bone's [Neumann] U47s, and I probably had an LA2 or LA3 limiter on him.

Used for the lead vocals on Band of Joy (2010), as stated by tracking and mixing engineer in this Mike Poole in this December 2010 Sound on Sound article.

Poole was organised enough for this interview to supply a copy of his assistant Gordon Hammond's input chain sheet, reproduced on the left. Rather than explain each detail, Poole elaborated on some of the less usual aspects of his setup, for instance the Avantone BV1 on Robert Plant's vocals, which went through a Telefunken V76 and then an Inner Tube Audio Atomic Squeezebox compressor. Poole: "We tried a few mics on Robert, but the Avantone was definitely the best?sounding. It gave us the picture that wanted of his vocals. I had only used that mic a little bit before, and it has definitely become a go?to mic for me. It is very good at tracking sibilance, although after the vocal had gone through a compressor or two by the time I mixed, I had to do quite a bit of detailed work on 'esses' and mouth noises and so on. The Atomic Squeezebox is also fairly non?standard, but it is a really good compressor. It reminds me a bit of the Summit Audio stereo compressor; it has the same feel but is a little bit more transparent. For the sound image we were after it was great. It also allowed me to put a highly dynamic performance on tape without the compression being audible. I always monitored through an [Urei] 1178, which was part of the mix path, and which gave the coloration we wanted to hear."

Used for the lead vocals on Band of Joy (2010), as stated by tracking and mixing engineer in this Mike Poole in this December 2010 Sound on Sound article.

Poole was organised enough for this interview to supply a copy of his assistant Gordon Hammond's input chain sheet, reproduced on the left. Rather than explain each detail, Poole elaborated on some of the less usual aspects of his setup, for instance the Avantone BV1 on Robert Plant's vocals, which went through a Telefunken V76 and then an Inner Tube Audio Atomic Squeezebox compressor. Poole: "We tried a few mics on Robert, but the Avantone was definitely the best?sounding. It gave us the picture that wanted of his vocals. I had only used that mic a little bit before, and it has definitely become a go?to mic for me. It is very good at tracking sibilance, although after the vocal had gone through a compressor or two by the time I mixed, I had to do quite a bit of detailed work on 'esses' and mouth noises and so on. The Atomic Squeezebox is also fairly non?standard, but it is a really good compressor. It reminds me a bit of the Summit Audio stereo compressor; it has the same feel but is a little bit more transparent. For the sound image we were after it was great. It also allowed me to put a highly dynamic performance on tape without the compression being audible. I always monitored through an [Urei] 1178, which was part of the mix path, and which gave the coloration we wanted to hear."

Used for the lead vocals on "Angel Dance", as stated by tracking and mixing engineer in this Mike Poole in this December 2010 Sound on Sound article.

Vocals: Urei 1178, API 550, LT Sound CLX, Roland SRV2000 & RE501, AMS RMX16, TC Electronic D•Two.

"I had the Urei 1178 compressor and the API 550 EQ on Robert's vocal, along with a parallel channel that was even more compressed. So any time he hit a low note that sounded a little muddy and needed some more clarity, I pushed up the parallel channel. There's also an effects send channel with the LT Sound CLX on it, which is a Dbx VCA compressor with a good de?esser in it, and that was used as the send to any effects devices. As a side note, all the little slices you see on the screenshot were not performance edits, but mostly me trying to get the sibilance right. I often take out little clicks and pops and also 'esses' or 'effs' out manually. A de?esser will hit everything in a technical?sounding way, and sometimes you may want to retain the emotive way a certain 'ess' or 'eff' is expressed, but only precisely change the gain, just to correct recording artifacts. 'Angel Dance' is one of the few tracks on which Robert's scratch [tracking] vocal didn't make up the largest component of the final vocal track. On this song, he re?sang the vocals later, and I think he did two passes and we used mostly one, with a few lines from the other pass thrown in. For reverb on his vocals, I used the SRV2000 long reverb and a little bit of RMX16; for delay, either the D•Two or an RE501. I used very little reverb on the tracks on the album in general, apart from on Robert's vocals and the backing vocals. The other ambience you hear may have been a long delay from the 501 or PCM42 or any of the room mics.”

Used for the lead vocals on "Angel Dance" and the Carry Fire Tour, as stated by tracking and mixing engineer in this Mike Poole in this December 2010 Sound on Sound article and as stated by FOH engineer Mark Kennedy in this August 14, 2018 Front of House Magazine, respectively.

Sound on Sound

Vocals: Urei 1178, API 550, LT Sound CLX, Roland SRV2000 & RE501, AMS RMX16, TC Electronic D•Two.

"I had the Urei 1178 compressor and the API 550 EQ on Robert's vocal, along with a parallel channel that was even more compressed. So any time he hit a low note that sounded a little muddy and needed some more clarity, I pushed up the parallel channel. There's also an effects send channel with the LT Sound CLX on it, which is a Dbx VCA compressor with a good de-esser in it, and that was used as the send to any effects devices. As a side note, all the little slices you see on the screenshot were not performance edits, but mostly me trying to get the sibilance right. I often take out little clicks and pops and also 'esses' or 'effs' out manually. A de-esser will hit everything in a technical-sounding way, and sometimes you may want to retain the emotive way a certain 'ess' or 'eff' is expressed, but only precisely change the gain, just to correct recording artifacts. 'Angel Dance' is one of the few tracks on which Robert's scratch [tracking] vocal didn't make up the largest component of the final vocal track. On this song, he re?sang the vocals later, and I think he did two passes and we used mostly one, with a few lines from the other pass thrown in. For reverb on his vocals, I used the SRV2000 long reverb and a little bit of RMX16; for delay, either the D•Two or an RE501. I used very little reverb on the tracks on the album in general, apart from on Robert's vocals and the backing vocals. The other ambience you hear may have been a long delay from the 501 or PCM42 or any of the room mics.”

Front of House Magazine

The SSL doesn’t currently run Waves onboard but Kennedy says he doesn’t need much in the way of plug-ins. “The right microphone in the right application will sort out a lot of problems… try tuning the kit or moving the microphone instead of a plug-in. The dynamics on the console do everything I need them to and the all-pass filter is an excellent feature. I use the Buss Compressor and a 31-band graphic on Robert as well as a plate reverb and DDL slapback echo. For my outboard gear, I’m using a TC D2 delay and an Eventide H3500 on Robert’s vocals.” Plant’s vocal mic is a rock ‘n’ roll classic: a Shure SM58.

Plant is listed as one of the artists using Fishmans Matrix system on acoustics.

Used for the backing vocals on "Angel Dance", as stated by tracking and mixing engineer Mike Poole in this December 2010 Sound on Sound interview.

"The Avantone CV12 on Darrell's and Robert's backing vocals is a sort of AKG C12?ish mic. It's a little bright for vocals, to my ears, but the BVs in this song were 'ahs' that needed some extra air, and I rolled the bottom end off anyway. I've also used that mic on upright bass and drums. You get a lot of bang for the buck with these Avantone mics!"

Used for the lead vocals on Band of Joy (2010), as stated by tracking and mixing engineer in this Mike Poole in this December 2010 Sound on Sound article.

Poole was organised enough for this interview to supply a copy of his assistant Gordon Hammond's input chain sheet, reproduced on the left. Rather than explain each detail, Poole elaborated on some of the less usual aspects of his setup, for instance the Avantone BV1 on Robert Plant's vocals, which went through a Telefunken V76 and then an Inner Tube Audio Atomic Squeezebox compressor. Poole: "We tried a few mics on Robert, but the Avantone was definitely the best?sounding. It gave us the picture that wanted of his vocals. I had only used that mic a little bit before, and it has definitely become a go?to mic for me. It is very good at tracking sibilance, although after the vocal had gone through a compressor or two by the time I mixed, I had to do quite a bit of detailed work on 'esses' and mouth noises and so on. The Atomic Squeezebox is also fairly non?standard, but it is a really good compressor. It reminds me a bit of the Summit Audio stereo compressor; it has the same feel but is a little bit more transparent. For the sound image we were after it was great. It also allowed me to put a highly dynamic performance on tape without the compression being audible. I always monitored through an [Urei] 1178, which was part of the mix path, and which gave the coloration we wanted to hear."

Used for the lead vocals on "Angel Dance", as stated by tracking and mixing engineer in this Mike Poole in this December 2010 Sound on Sound article.

Vocals: Urei 1178, API 550, LT Sound CLX, Roland SRV2000 & RE501, AMS RMX16, TC Electronic D•Two.

"I had the Urei 1178 compressor and the API 550 EQ on Robert's vocal, along with a parallel channel that was even more compressed. So any time he hit a low note that sounded a little muddy and needed some more clarity, I pushed up the parallel channel. There's also an effects send channel with the LT Sound CLX on it, which is a Dbx VCA compressor with a good de?esser in it, and that was used as the send to any effects devices. As a side note, all the little slices you see on the screenshot were not performance edits, but mostly me trying to get the sibilance right. I often take out little clicks and pops and also 'esses' or 'effs' out manually. A de?esser will hit everything in a technical?sounding way, and sometimes you may want to retain the emotive way a certain 'ess' or 'eff' is expressed, but only precisely change the gain, just to correct recording artifacts. 'Angel Dance' is one of the few tracks on which Robert's scratch [tracking] vocal didn't make up the largest component of the final vocal track. On this song, he re?sang the vocals later, and I think he did two passes and we used mostly one, with a few lines from the other pass thrown in. For reverb on his vocals, I used the SRV2000 long reverb and a little bit of RMX16; for delay, either the D•Two or an RE501. I used very little reverb on the tracks on the album in general, apart from on Robert's vocals and the backing vocals. The other ambience you hear may have been a long delay from the 501 or PCM42 or any of the room mics.”

Used for the lead vocals on "Angel Dance", as stated by tracking and mixing engineer in this Mike Poole in this December 2010 Sound on Sound article.

Vocals: Urei 1178, API 550, LT Sound CLX, Roland SRV2000 & RE501, AMS RMX16, TC Electronic D•Two.

"I had the Urei 1178 compressor and the API 550 EQ on Robert's vocal, along with a parallel channel that was even more compressed. So any time he hit a low note that sounded a little muddy and needed some more clarity, I pushed up the parallel channel. There's also an effects send channel with the LT Sound CLX on it, which is a Dbx VCA compressor with a good de?esser in it, and that was used as the send to any effects devices. As a side note, all the little slices you see on the screenshot were not performance edits, but mostly me trying to get the sibilance right. I often take out little clicks and pops and also 'esses' or 'effs' out manually. A de?esser will hit everything in a technical?sounding way, and sometimes you may want to retain the emotive way a certain 'ess' or 'eff' is expressed, but only precisely change the gain, just to correct recording artifacts. 'Angel Dance' is one of the few tracks on which Robert's scratch [tracking] vocal didn't make up the largest component of the final vocal track. On this song, he re?sang the vocals later, and I think he did two passes and we used mostly one, with a few lines from the other pass thrown in. For reverb on his vocals, I used the SRV2000 long reverb and a little bit of RMX16; for delay, either the D•Two or an RE501. I used very little reverb on the tracks on the album in general, apart from on Robert's vocals and the backing vocals. The other ambience you hear may have been a long delay from the 501 or PCM42 or any of the room mics.”

Used for the lead vocals on "Angel Dance", as stated by tracking and mixing engineer in this Mike Poole in this December 2010 Sound on Sound article.

Vocals: Urei 1178, API 550, LT Sound CLX, Roland SRV2000 & RE501, AMS RMX16, TC Electronic D•Two.

"I had the Urei 1178 compressor and the API 550 EQ on Robert's vocal, along with a parallel channel that was even more compressed. So any time he hit a low note that sounded a little muddy and needed some more clarity, I pushed up the parallel channel. There's also an effects send channel with the LT Sound CLX on it, which is a Dbx VCA compressor with a good de?esser in it, and that was used as the send to any effects devices. As a side note, all the little slices you see on the screenshot were not performance edits, but mostly me trying to get the sibilance right. I often take out little clicks and pops and also 'esses' or 'effs' out manually. A de?esser will hit everything in a technical?sounding way, and sometimes you may want to retain the emotive way a certain 'ess' or 'eff' is expressed, but only precisely change the gain, just to correct recording artifacts. 'Angel Dance' is one of the few tracks on which Robert's scratch [tracking] vocal didn't make up the largest component of the final vocal track. On this song, he re?sang the vocals later, and I think he did two passes and we used mostly one, with a few lines from the other pass thrown in. For reverb on his vocals, I used the SRV2000 long reverb and a little bit of RMX16; for delay, either the D•Two or an RE501. I used very little reverb on the tracks on the album in general, apart from on Robert's vocals and the backing vocals. The other ambience you hear may have been a long delay from the 501 or PCM42 or any of the room mics.”

Used for the lead vocals on "Angel Dance", as is visible in the input chain sheet provided by tracking and mixing engineer Mike Poole in this December 2010 Sound on Sound article.

Poole was organised enough for this interview to supply a copy of his assistant Gordon Hammond's input chain sheet, reproduced on the left.

Used for lead vocals on Raising Sand, as stated by engineer Mike Piersante in this December 1, 2007 Mix Online interview.

As for the all-important vocal mics, Piersante says, “I actually bought a mic, as I'll sometimes do, just for this project. I had Allison singing through a Blue Cactus, which is sort of their retro mic that's like an old [Neumann] M49 or something. Blue got it right with this — it has a real thick quality to it and it's not too bright. Alison can be a fairly bright singer and I wanted something to complement that and not accentuate it. So I chose this mic to try on her and it ended up sounding very good; very old tube-sounding. I probably had her through an LA2, as well. Robert sang on one of T Bone's [Neumann] U47s, and I probably had an LA2 or LA3 limiter on him.

"So I had the idea of that classic chain I described, and then I thought, ‘I'm going to make a super-retro chain for both of them,’ and hang these RCA 44s right under their mics and they'll be kind of singing into both of them at the same time and I'll have my options. Well, the magnets in those things created the biggest hum you can imagine, so I ended up getting rid of all that and going with the classic tube mic sound and limiter. For preamps, I had Neve 1073s and some 1081s.”

Used for lead vocals on Raising Sand, as stated by engineer Mike Piersante in this December 1, 2007 Mix Online interview.

As for the all-important vocal mics, Piersante says, “I actually bought a mic, as I'll sometimes do, just for this project. I had Allison singing through a Blue Cactus, which is sort of their retro mic that's like an old [Neumann] M49 or something. Blue got it right with this — it has a real thick quality to it and it's not too bright. Alison can be a fairly bright singer and I wanted something to complement that and not accentuate it. So I chose this mic to try on her and it ended up sounding very good; very old tube-sounding. I probably had her through an LA2, as well. Robert sang on one of T Bone's [Neumann] U47s, and I probably had an LA2 or LA3 limiter on him.

"So I had the idea of that classic chain I described, and then I thought, ‘I'm going to make a super-retro chain for both of them,’ and hang these RCA 44s right under their mics and they'll be kind of singing into both of them at the same time and I'll have my options. Well, the magnets in those things created the biggest hum you can imagine, so I ended up getting rid of all that and going with the classic tube mic sound and limiter. For preamps, I had Neve 1073s and some 1081s.”

Used for the lead vocals on "Angel Dance", as stated by tracking and mixing engineer in this Mike Poole in this December 2010 Sound on Sound article.

Vocals: Urei 1178, API 550, LT Sound CLX, Roland SRV2000 & RE501, AMS RMX16, TC Electronic D•Two.

"I had the Urei 1178 compressor and the API 550 EQ on Robert's vocal, along with a parallel channel that was even more compressed. So any time he hit a low note that sounded a little muddy and needed some more clarity, I pushed up the parallel channel. There's also an effects send channel with the LT Sound CLX on it, which is a Dbx VCA compressor with a good de?esser in it, and that was used as the send to any effects devices. As a side note, all the little slices you see on the screenshot were not performance edits, but mostly me trying to get the sibilance right. I often take out little clicks and pops and also 'esses' or 'effs' out manually. A de?esser will hit everything in a technical?sounding way, and sometimes you may want to retain the emotive way a certain 'ess' or 'eff' is expressed, but only precisely change the gain, just to correct recording artifacts. 'Angel Dance' is one of the few tracks on which Robert's scratch [tracking] vocal didn't make up the largest component of the final vocal track. On this song, he re?sang the vocals later, and I think he did two passes and we used mostly one, with a few lines from the other pass thrown in. For reverb on his vocals, I used the SRV2000 long reverb and a little bit of RMX16; for delay, either the D•Two or an RE501. I used very little reverb on the tracks on the album in general, apart from on Robert's vocals and the backing vocals. The other ambience you hear may have been a long delay from the 501 or PCM42 or any of the room mics.”

Used for the lead vocals on "Angel Dance", as is visible in the input chain sheet provided by tracking and mixing engineer Mike Poole in this December 2010 Sound on Sound article.

Poole was organised enough for this interview to supply a copy of his assistant Gordon Hammond's input chain sheet, reproduced on the left.

Used live for vocals on the Carry Fire Tour, as stated by FOH engineer Mark Kennedy in this August 14, 2018 Front of House Magazine.

The SSL doesn’t currently run Waves onboard but Kennedy says he doesn’t need much in the way of plug-ins. “The right microphone in the right application will sort out a lot of problems… try tuning the kit or moving the microphone instead of a plug-in. The dynamics on the console do everything I need them to and the all-pass filter is an excellent feature. I use the Buss Compressor and a 31-band graphic on Robert as well as a plate reverb and DDL slapback echo. For my outboard gear, I’m using a TC D2 delay and an Eventide H3500 on Robert’s vocals.” Plant’s vocal mic is a rock ‘n’ roll classic: a Shure SM58.

Used for lead vocals on Raising Sand, as stated by engineer Mike Piersante in this December 1, 2007 Mix Online interview.

As for the all-important vocal mics, Piersante says, “I actually bought a mic, as I'll sometimes do, just for this project. I had Allison singing through a Blue Cactus, which is sort of their retro mic that's like an old [Neumann] M49 or something. Blue got it right with this — it has a real thick quality to it and it's not too bright. Alison can be a fairly bright singer and I wanted something to complement that and not accentuate it. So I chose this mic to try on her and it ended up sounding very good; very old tube-sounding. I probably had her through an LA2, as well. Robert sang on one of T Bone's [Neumann] U47s, and I probably had an LA2 or LA3 limiter on him.

A display of the Peavey T-40 bass can be seen in the provided photo, labeled as owned by Robert Plant.