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How much are 1950s microphones? like the ones that buddy holly and all that sang into?

FenderGuy1

By FenderGuy1
in The Gibson Lounge

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T Bone

T Bone

Posted
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i wouldn't trade my vox for anything unless it was a beautiful Marshall amplifier or a 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard

Every dog's gotta have a dream... [laugh]

 

I've got a Shure Unidyne (1950s I think) that is maybe the type you're referring to. Bought in the 90's, and it's cool, but they don't nec. stack up well with modern sound systems. They DO make a lookalike with modern innards though, perhaps that would suit you better.

 

Incidentally, not sure what my Unidyne is worth. I think I paid around a hundred dollars for it back then. Also bought a beautiful Sure Brown Bullet from the 1940's for Harp (these predated the Green Bullets that are so popular and also reissued these days).

 

Here's a link to the modern lookalike to the Unidyne.

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JDK

JDK

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Every dog's gotta have a dream... [laugh]

 

I've got a Shure Unidyne (1950s I think) that is maybe the type you're referring to. Bought in the 90's, and it's cool, but they don't nec. stack up well with modern sound systems. They DO make a lookalike with modern innards though, perhaps that would suit you better.

 

Incidentally, not sure what my Unidyne is worth. I think I paid around a hundred dollars for it back then. Also bought a beautiful Sure Brown Bullet from the 1940's for Harp (these predated the Green Bullets that are so popular and also reissued these days).

 

Here's a link to the modern lookalike to the Unidyne.

 

I have one of those Shure 55 replica mics. They look cool as hell, but are definetely lacking. I had to run it through a tube pre amp to warm it up and boost it just to get it to match the other mics (Shure SM-58's)

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milod

milod

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Hmmmm...

 

Got me thinking...

 

There's a box back behind a batch of other stuff with some 1960s mikes, including at least one old Shure 57 or 8, I can't remember and I'm at work right now.

 

But there's no magic to 'em, really. They were going through tube PA amps and tube radio transmitters, both of which would give more "warmth" to the sound. OTOH, those old tube PAs weren't all that good, especially given the speakers available to me here in the boonies - and tube radio simply got to the point it cost too much to keep them operating properly.

 

m

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Daryl M

Daryl M

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We did some recording a year or so ago at the old RCA Studio B here in Nashville. I sang into an old ribbon mic that had been used by everyone from Elvis to Orbison. It was the warmest, best sounding vocal mic I'd ever used. I'm sure those old mics are expensive, but the ones we used were nothing short of amazing. It was like singing straight to vinyl. [thumbup]

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milod

milod

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Daryl...

 

For "venerable" mikes... Yup, but I still think the tube stuff and those old mikes made a synergy.

 

Back in the '70s I had a cupla radio gigs - yes, live radio - with basically the same equipment as Lawrence Welk used pre-war, or at least so I was told. You're right, it sounded much warmer even when taped from the radio as new stuff does.

 

They claim the new stuff is more true sound and the old days kept trying to make the sound warmer for low-quality radio and recording equipment that was pre "hi fi."

 

I think the warmer sound both sounds better regardless, and secondly that since increasingly folks are listening through cheap computer speakers and ear buds, it may be making a comeback...

 

m

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RaysEpiphone

RaysEpiphone

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The old mic's that where hand made would come out of the factory with slight tonal variation's. This is when a good studio guy can dominate when getting the right sound for what ever he is trying to capture. Instrument's can be like this too, so that's another variable to look at, it's just what you got to learn to notice with everything in the gear, player and room(s) your recording in. Hard to master with anything less than some time working with the gear, people and the room's you find in the particular studio you happen to be using at the time.

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milod

milod

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Rayz <grin>

 

You have no idea how I feel like I've howled the same thing here since I've been on... Far, far too often folks figure they just have to buy that one more "thing" when the real thing first to try is to work with gear they may already have to get the right sound in the right room or studio... <sigh>

 

m

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