I love looking at old live footage from the early 70s. The music is similar enough to what we still listen to that the bizarre juxtaposition of the era’s music technology and techniques is completely fascinating. Like in this recently unearthed Sabbath footage from 1970. Check out the two vocal mics taped together. It was a common technique at the time. It was usually done to reduce feedback by flipping the phase of one microphone (for a longer explanation scroll down to the “microphones” section of this Grateful Dead stage show breakdown).
And look at that drum mic setup. Just a single Sennheiser MD421, in white for that vintage look, to mic the entire kit besides the kick mic, which I think is actually on the beater end but it’s hard to see. That’s it. For a huge open-air concert. I love it. I think that’s another MD421 that Ozzy is singing into, taped to the old Shure Unidyne III SM57, but again it’s tough to say with certainty.
If you have a favorite old 70s, or maybe 80s hardcore, live video, something with anthropological value, I’ve love for you to share it in the comments section.
