1972 Pic Of Elvis Onstage - Microphone Question???

[Tony Trout]

Ok, as most of us know, Elvis used an ElectroVoice RE-15 microphone (with & without a windscreen cover) BUT...I have ran across a photo from 1972 that shows Elvis using a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT microphone. At first, I thought that it was an ETA but...no, it's Elvis in the picture. Take a look and help me out here...when looking at the picture, if you look closely enough at his left hand, you'll notice a very different type/brand of microphone - but Elvis (at least to my knowledge) never used this type of microphone onstage except during a part of the TTWII rehearsals when he's singing, "You've Lost That Loving Feeling."

[Brian Quinn]

Looks similar to the following:

http://www.thomann.de/gb/shure_sm58s...FcrHtAodNj8Arw

Brian

[Tony Trout]

Brian,

That is a Shure SM-58 but....why was he using it during what looks to be the April, 1972 tour when all I'm familiar with him using is the ElectroVoice RE-15 (with the windscreen cover) during that whole tour?

[hounddog]

do you think it may be one of the back up singers mics? Maybe Elvis' mike failed and he grabbed on of theirs? it's out of Keiran Davis' book Elvis On Tour November 71. There isn't a date with the photo but it's from 71 not 72 if that helps

[vivaelvis]

Interesting. It's 100% Elvis because you can see The Sweet Inspirations standing behind him. However, I am not certain that this photo is from 1971's November tour (as mentioned by hounddog) since that's the same wardrobe that The Sweets wore during the April tour. The wardrobe that they wore during the November tour was completely different. But, why would Elvis use that particular microphone? The backup singers didn't use those types either. So it couldn't have been one of theirs.

[hounddog]

April tour of 71 or 72 Viva.

[Tony Trout]

April 1972 tour, hounddog......

[vivaelvis]

April tour of 71 or 72 Viva.

April of 72. There was no April tour in 71.

[hounddog]

sometimes my head is a strange place I knew that he didn't tour in April of 71 but didn't drag that info out till a few hours after i posted here.

more photos of Elvis with this mic on the elvis concerts site. photos are listed as bieng taken Nov 5th 1971
http://www.elvisconcerts.com/concert...and.php?id=339

In 71@40
there are these two pics (the colour photos) are also listed as being from 5th November 1971 Minneapolis 8.30pm show

[vivaelvis]

After looking at the photos up close, I'm convinced it's from the November 1971 tour. It's a real shame though that this wasn't the tour filmed by MGM as hew as rocking like in 69 and 70 during that tour.

[hounddog]

i never understood why his 69 shows weren't filmed. there is some pretty good footage floating of soem of his 71 shows but professionally shot film would have been fantastic.

Thre is no mention in the books about why he was using a differant mic in either of the books. I'm wondering if in 71 he was trying out differant sorts i can think of 3 types he used, this one the one on the Elvis now cover and the ones liek he uses in TTWII

[KPM]

Could be it was just an experiment and he went back to his ElectroVoice after the test.

[vivaelvis]

Could be it was just an experiment and he went back to his ElectroVoice after the test.

Could be. He might have been trying it out to see if it was worth using for the April tour. Maybe to see if the audio feedback was better than the normal one.

[asian1]

I am not an expert on microphones. Can anyone explain why Elvis preferred the electrovoice and why the back up singers used a different brand? Is there a technical reason why they all did not use the same mics? Was the electrovoice also the same mic used for Elvis' studio recordings? Thanks

[Tony Trout]

I am not an expert on microphones. Can anyone explain why Elvis preferred the electrovoice and why the back up singers used a different brand? Is there a technical reason why they all did not use the same mics? Was the electrovoice also the same mic used for Elvis' studio recordings? Thanks

Elvis just always liked the output of the mics, I guess.

The backup singers (at least in the early 1970s DID use EV-RE16 mics (you can see those in EOT).

Elvis always apparently (at least in 1972) used the ElectroVoice RE-16 (it has a larger windscreen which doesn't require a cover) for his studio recordings. There's actually a thread here that Leroy posted about the microphones that Elvis tried out and used:

Microphones From 1968-1977

[vivaelvis]

Elvis just always liked the output of the mics, I guess.

The backup singers (at least in the early 1970s DID use EV-RE16 mics (you can see those in EOT).

Elvis always apparently (at least in 1972) used the ElectroVoice RE-16 (it has a larger windscreen which doesn't require a cover) for his studio recordings. There's actually a thread here that Leroy posted about the microphones that Elvis tried out and used:

Microphones From 1968-1977

I have noticed that looking at various photos of Elvis on stage in 1971 that he used multiple mics. So this might have been either for testing or just what was brought on that particular tour. In June of 1972, Elvis also used different mics on tour and in Las Vegas.

In That's The Way It Is Elvis used the first cordless mic. But it kept cutting out so he stopped using it.

[asian1]

Elvis just always liked the output of the mics, I guess.

The backup singers (at least in the early 1970s DID use EV-RE16 mics (you can see those in EOT).

Elvis always apparently (at least in 1972) used the ElectroVoice RE-16 (it has a larger windscreen which doesn't require a cover) for his studio recordings. There's actually a thread here that Leroy posted about the microphones that Elvis tried out and used:

Microphones From 1968-1977

Thank you for the information.

[1100ccRider]

Yep, November, 1971. Not sure which show. He used it in San Francisco the previous November, too. Workhorse mic, still probably the most ubiquitous vocal mic around today.