Tom Waits

Used for vocals on The Heart of Saturday Night, Small Changes, Foreign Affairs, Blue Valentine and Heartattack and Vine, as stated by producer "Bones" Howe in this February 2004 Sound on Sound interview. It is visible in "Bones Howe's layout diagrams for the Foreign Affairs sessions at Wally Heider Studio 4, showing the layout for the jazz band recordings" and the "[d]iagram for the Foreign Affairs sessions at Wally Heider Studio 4 showing the layout used for the orchestral track recordings" from the same interview.

Tom Waits's voice itself is a unique instrument. For that, Howe went back to his old standby, the classic RCA 77 DX ribbon mic. "The 77s have three cardioid settings," he explains. "V1 and V2 were different low-end cutoffs, and 'M' was for music recording. The V1 setting had a high cutoff, which made it good for radio announcing; the V2 position left a lot more low end in there and made it a great vocal microphone." The signal ran through a UREI 1176 compressor/limiter set with what Howe swears are the best parameter settings that can be configured on it for vocals: threshold/attack at 6, release at 7, and a 12:1 compression ratio. "Tom popped and spat a lot when he sang, so the 77 was perfect, because it's very hard to pop that microphone, so you didn't need a pop filter. Plus he liked to get right on the mic, so he would sit at the piano and I hung it from a boom so it would hang down in front of him. On some tracks we'd set it up directly in front of the band and he's stand in front of the drums and sing. On 'Step Right Up' you can almost hear him flipping pages of lyrics. He was always surrounded by the music and the records sound like it. We never used headphones. Never."

In this interview from the March/April 2008 issue of Tape Op Magazine, Howe stated the following, which affirms the use of the 77-DX on Waits' recordings.

My favorite mic was the [RCA] 77-DX, and I used it for vocals on everything I did. Years later I tried to find those mics and only a couple of people had them. They wanted a lot of money to rent them. Ribbon mics were amazing for brass, saxophone and vocals.

Used as a vocal mic, as mentioned in this interview from the October 1987 issue of Musician Magazine, as documented in this page from the website Tom Waits Library.

Microphones of choice include a Ribbon ("Dave Garroway") and RCA high-impedance mikes; Waits usually sings through a Shure Green Bullet (used mostly by harmonica players). Also an Altec 21D vocal mike- "because Sinatra used it."

Used for vocals and piano on Nighthawks at the Diner, as stated by producer "Bones" Howe in this February 2004 Sound on Sound interview.

For Waits' and Howe's first collaboration, it seemed logical to move up to the larger track configurations that were quickly becoming popular, and Heart Of Saturday Night and Nighthawks At The Diner, the first two albums they made together, in 1974 and 1975 respectively, were done on the 3M 16-track deck at Wally Heider's Studio 3. Nighthawks was an especially interesting project. (...) Howe used a similar microphone setup as for previous sessions, although he had to make a few exchanges based on what Record Plant had available those nights. Electro-voice RE16s replaced the Shures he was used to, and Howe set up a Shure SM57 for Waits's vocal. "It was easy to use as a hand microphone," he says. "I also had a RE16 for him to use if he wanted." Howe ran the 3M 16-track deck at 15ips. "I knew the high end sounded better at 30ips, but I didn't like how it emasculated the overall sound and thinned out the low end. All the jazz records I recorded I did at 15ips. I actually went from 15ips on tape right up to the moment I started working in digital."

The image shown from the interview is "Bones Howe's original layout diagram for the live recording that would become Nighthawks At The Diner."

Used for the acoustic 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.

Used for vocals and piano on Nighthawks at the Diner, as stated by producer "Bones" Howe in this February 2004 Sound on Sound interview. The image shown from the interview is "Bones Howe's original layout diagram for the live recording that would become Nighthawks At The Diner."

For Waits' and Howe's first collaboration, it seemed logical to move up to the larger track configurations that were quickly becoming popular, and Heart Of Saturday Night and Nighthawks At The Diner, the first two albums they made together, in 1974 and 1975 respectively, were done on the 3M 16-track deck at Wally Heider's Studio 3. Nighthawks was an especially interesting project. (...) Howe used a similar microphone setup as for previous sessions, although he had to make a few exchanges based on what Record Plant had available those nights. Electro-voice RE16s replaced the Shures he was used to, and Howe set up a Shure SM57 for Waits's vocal. "It was easy to use as a hand microphone," he says. "I also had a RE16 for him to use if he wanted." Howe ran the 3M 16-track deck at 15ips. "I knew the high end sounded better at 30ips, but I didn't like how it emasculated the overall sound and thinned out the low end. All the jazz records I recorded I did at 15ips. I actually went from 15ips on tape right up to the moment I started working in digital."

An SM57 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.

Used for the piano on Nighthawks at the Diner and "the orchestral track recordings" of Foreign Affairs, as is visible in producer "Bones Howe's original layout diagram for the live recording that would become Nighthawks At The Diner" (pictured) and Howe's "[d]iagram for the Foreign Affairs sessions at Wally Heider Studio 4 showing the layout used for the orchestral track recordings" from this February 2004 Sound on Sound interview. The microphone later would be used for Waits' vocals on the soundtrack of One from the Heart and the electric guitar on Bone Machine, the latter stated by engineer Biff Dawes in this February 26, 2015 Mix Online interview.

Dawes describes what he recalls about placing those mics in 1992: “Usually I would take Tom’s guitar direct and I would close mike his amp [either a Princeton Tweed or a Fender Deluxe Reverb],” he says. “Sometimes I would tape mics to the guitar, and then we would add in the more distant mics from the room. Prairie Sun has a wide selection, so we used a lot of Neumanns: U 67s, U 87s, M 49s, that kind of thing."

Used for the piano on the "jazz band recordings" of Foreign Affairs, as is visible in "Bones Howe's layout diagrams for the Foreign Affairs sessions at Wally Heider Studio 4, showing the layout for the jazz band recordings" (pictured) from this February 2004 Sound on Sound interview with producer "Bones" Howe.

Used for the piano on "the orchestral track recordings" of Foreign Affairs, as is visible in producer "Bones" Howe's "[d]iagram for the Foreign Affairs sessions at Wally Heider Studio 4 showing the layout used for the orchestral track recordings" from this February 2004 Sound on Sound interview. Howe specifies a Telefunken version while recounting the sessions for Ornette Coleman's The Shape of Jazz to Come and Change of the Century.

"I set them up in a square, one in each corner of an imaginary room in the studio, close together, all facing the centre of the square. I had set up the microphones before they got there: I had an RCA 77 on Ornette's alto sax — the white plastic one he was notorious for playing — and a 77 on Don Cherry's pocket trumpet, a Telefunken U47 on Charlie's bass, and the drums were miked with a U47 as an overhead and a 77 over the hat and snare. We were recording live to mono and two-track at the same time. I liked this setup so much that I made sure I wrote it down, and I still have that setup sheet to this day. I would use it to record a lot of albums."

Used for the electric guitar and some vocals on Bone Machine, as stated by engineer Biff Dawes in this February 26, 2015 Mix Online interview.

Dawes describes what he recalls about placing those mics in 1992: “Usually I would take Tom’s guitar direct and I would close mike his amp [either a Princeton Tweed or a Fender Deluxe Reverb],” he says. “Sometimes I would tape mics to the guitar, and then we would add in the more distant mics from the room. Prairie Sun has a wide selection, so we used a lot of Neumanns: U 67s, U 87s, M 49s, that kind of thing. (...) 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."

Used for the electric guitar and most vocals on Bone Machine, as stated by engineer Biff Dawes in this February 26, 2015 Mix Online interview.

Dawes describes what he recalls about placing those mics in 1992: “Usually I would take Tom’s guitar direct and I would close mike his amp [either a Princeton Tweed or a Fender Deluxe Reverb],” he says. “Sometimes I would tape mics to the guitar, and then we would add in the more distant mics from the room. Prairie Sun has a wide selection, so we used a lot of Neumanns: U 67s, U 87s, M 49s, that kind of thing. (...) 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."

The microphone would later be used for vocals on Mule Variations, as stated by producer Jacquire King in this interview from issue 9 of Audio Technology Magazine.

"Tom’s vocals were always recorded with an Neumann M49, through a Neve mic pre and Teletronic LA2A tube limiter – although we often altered the sound of it afterwards."

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.

Used as a room mic for Mule Variations, as stated by producer Jacquire King in this interview from issue 9 of Audio Technology Magazine.

"Prairie Sun has three separate buildings. There’s Studio A, which has a Trident TSM desk, Studio B with a Neve Custom 80 desk from the early ‘70s that came from Pete Townshend’s Eel Pie Studios and that has 1073-style EQ and mic pre modules. Then there’s a converted barn that contains three live rooms. We only used Studio B and the converted barn, which had a huge room that we used as an echo chamber, a medium-sized room of 35ft by 20ft, and a small room of 12ft by 15ft and a 15ft high ceiling – that was called the Waits Room, because Tom likes to record in there a lot. There is no acoustic treatment, just a concrete floor, and big double doors that open right into the driveway by which you enter the ranch. Almost all of Tom’s parts, including the vocals, were recorded in that room. In all, 90% of the recording took place in the barn, which is about 50 yards from the control room, so we needed to have a good communication set-up. We had about 20 Neve 1073/1272-style outboard mic preamps in the barn, so that the mic signal could bridge the 50 yards and come into the desk at line level. (...) Room mics for the drums were a pair of Neumann U87s and a pair of Neumann 582s, and often we’d open the doors from the live area into the echo chamber and put a Shure SM69 there. Another room mic that we used in the medium-sized room was the Neumann 582.

The reason for all the room mics is that Waits is not a fan of digital reverbs or delays. In some cases plate or spring reverbs were used, but preference was always given to the natural ambience of the room mics, which included the method of sending a signal back to the speakers in the live room and re-recording them."

Used for the piano on Mule Variations, as stated by producer Jacquire King in this interview from issue 9 of Audio Technology Magazine.

The upright piano was recorded with an AKG 414 or a 451, and often put through the Sony reel to reel ‘mic preamp’. 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.

One may note that Prairie Sun Studios' equipment list has two C414 models, the C414EB and the C414B-ULS, offering confusion as to which version was used. Yet, this March 28, 2006 Pro Sound Network feature on Prairie Sun Studios offers an equipment list with only the C414EB, evincing that this was the microphone Waits used.

Used as a vocal mic, as mentioned in this interview from the October 1987 issue of Musician Magazine, as documented in this page from the website Tom Waits Library.

Microphones of choice include a Ribbon ("Dave Garroway") and RCA high-impedance mikes; Waits usually sings through a Shure Green Bullet (used mostly by harmonica players). Also an Altec 21D vocal mike- "because Sinatra used it."

Used as a vocal mic, as mentioned in this interview from the October 1987 issue of Musician Magazine, as documented in this page from the website Tom Waits Library.

Microphones of choice include a Ribbon ("Dave Garroway") and RCA high-impedance mikes; Waits usually sings through a Shure Green Bullet (used mostly by harmonica players). Also an Altec 21D vocal mike- "because Sinatra used it."

Garroway was famous for his use of the BK-4A Starmaker lavalier ribbon mic.

Used for the piano on the "jazz band recordings" of Foreign Affairs, as is visible in "Bones Howe's layout diagrams for the Foreign Affairs sessions at Wally Heider Studio 4, showing the layout for the jazz band recordings" (pictured) from this February 2004 Sound on Sound interview with producer "Bones" Howe.

Used for the piano and acoustic guitar on Mule Variations, as stated by producer Jacquire King in this interview from issue 9 of Audio Technology Magazine.

The upright piano was recorded with an AKG 414 or a 451, and often put through the Sony reel to reel ‘mic preamp’. 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.

The lack of specification suggests an original E version (given that the rest of the microphones are XLR, the 451 would be, too, most likely, as opposed to the DIN-based C version).

Used live as a vocal mic, as is visible in this photo and this other photo.