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Sound Reinforcement - Forums for Live Sound Professionals - Your Displayed Name Must Be Your Real Full Name To Post In The Live Sound Forums => Wireless and Communications => Topic started by: Daniel Levi on April 03, 2021, 02:24:34 PM
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One of my interests is vintage wireless microphones and how it evolved over time and it's kinda interesting to watch old videos on YouTube and seeing what was used back then and as such I though I'd do a post with a sort of history of what was available that you would have seen professionals use and some videos/pictures to go with them.
This probably won't be wholly accurate (as I have no experience of said systems other than seeing them on TV/YT) and there won't be any definite years quoted but it should give a good idea of what became available, it wont be complete and I may miss out manufacturers (noting that I am no way an expert just interested). I will go up to the 80's and stop there. I will probably also break it up in to separate posts as it will probably take a while. It mostly a case of it gives me something to do.
Naturally any recollections, corrections and anything else really is much appreciated.
Now lets get started,
The first commonly used professional systems would have been the ones manufactured/marketed by Vega/Cetec Vega, used a lot by Guitarists and the like, plus would have probably been the basis for Kate Bush's headworn microphone for the "Tour Of Life" reputedly the first one of it's kind.
As for examples, we'll start at the beginning with the original Vega systems. i.e,
(https://images.reverb.com/image/upload/s--z5e5LJa4--/t_card-square/v1561143422/rdt4rvwup1wkj0faxfme.jpg)
(https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/FcYAAOSwxEde9lJa/s-l400.jpg)
I believe this video for "Didn't It Rain" by Sister Rosetta Tharpe on Yorkshire TV from 1964 was probably a Vega system
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9a49oFalZE
though it could potentially have been a custom jobbie by the local TV company.
It was also use by performers such as ELO who had all their strung instruments fitted for the "Out Of The Blue" tour,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIraO1u-_sQ
Later on Vega would have the "Hourglass" handheld systems that seemed to be popular in America yet I haven't seen any use of them in the UK so far.
(https://www.picclickimg.com/d/l400/pict/273135130137_/Cetec-Vega-T-82B-185125-Wireless-Handheld-Microphone-Mic.jpg)
Next we'll look at the Nady handheld systems, starting with the ones that bolted on to an SM58.
There is video of both ABBA and DEVO using such systems but not much else, they do look like a bit of a fudge!
Abba Live in Wembley 1979
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMU4HhqLT-M
DEVO "Whip It" Live
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQidM91CkXE
Later Nady had complete handheld systems that looked much better, used by a lot of artists and for some of the performers at the Wembley Live Aid concert, not sure of the model number though.
i.e. Nik Kershaw at Live Aid,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twBU5Xxem7A
Looking at their timeline these systems would morph into the UHF-950 what I would guess was Nady's last true professional wireless system
Then later again Nady had the 49? series and later budget 101/102 systems that some acts used, OMD being one of them, see the "We Love You" video.
(https://westendmusic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/IMG_0167-300x300.jpg)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VU0xf8Hsnk
Now on to Sennheiser, the first systems would be the original sytems made in conjunction with Telefunken i.e.,
https://www.ebay.co.uk/c/1929857409
Later on they would have the "philishave" units, again not sure of the model number.
see: https://youtu.be/wZceLGCWwWg?t=91
Followed by the immensely popular SKM4031TV, used everywhere until the 90's
(https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/ejwAAOSwGMVfVKtG/s-l300.jpg)
and the cheaper SKM-1072/1030 based system though looking at video's I've only seen Europe use such system although they do crop up regularly on eBay in the UK,
(https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/uDMAAOSwmOhflcTm/s-l300.jpg)
and in action during "The Final Countdown Tour", Sweden,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9klUsh2etl8
and lastly for this first bit a bit of an oddball, TOA. They had systems from the late 70's but all I have seen being used (albeit only in a couple of videos and I wasn't looking for them) is the WM-220/230 systems.
This is such a microphone I randomly acquired for cheap (~£15 sans reciever), very compact all metal systems and the handhelds can have a clip added like a lavalier for hands free use, quoted 30hrs battery life on 3xAAA which is impressive (five hours when the battery low light comes on!) and they might not have companding as the manual alludes to it not requiring it.
(https://www.radiomuseum.org/images/radio/toa_electric_co_ltd/wireless_mikrophone_wm_220_1891723.jpg)
There is a video of Cindy Lauper from the Tonight Shown in 1983 using said system, although interestingly the antenna seems to have been shorted as the one I have that transmits on 175.0Mhz has an antenna about a foot or so long.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBt6e3x1m28
As an extra bit a couple of systems that I do not know who the manufacturer is,
Firstly the handheld system use by Kate Bus for the "Tour Of Life",
See: https://youtu.be/A44wwRgzGuw?t=812
And the system use by France Gall during the "Le Tour De France" tour 1988, looks at bit like a SM57 head which is oddball, given the shape of the body I would say later TOA but I have no real idea.
See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI0CPVjs86k
That's it for now and I will do another post concerning the professional Sony, Samson, Beyerdynamic and others as I see fit
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Later on Vega would have the "Hourglass" handheld systems that seemed to be popular in America yet I haven't seen any use of them in the UK so far.
This also looks like the EV 2000 or 2500 line of the vhf microphones.
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Here's a thread that seems relevant.
https://forums.prosoundweb.com/index.php?topic=95904.0
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First w/less mic I saw was at the first Peter Gabriel tour after leaving Genesis. Blew me away. I had no clue something like that was possible at the time.
First w/less system I used was HME around 1988. At one point in 1990, we had 19 units. We never had more than 17 working at once and even then it was sketchy. They stopped making stage products after that and did what they did best..coms for fast food outlets. I don't miss them.
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Later on Vega would have the "Hourglass" handheld systems that seemed to be popular in America yet I haven't seen any use of them in the UK so far.
This also looks like the EV 2000 or 2500 line of the vhf microphones.
Seen some Telex systems that look similar as well.
At the very low end we had a system sold by one of the catalogue stores, Argos, that again had a similar microphone. Sold under their own Acoustic Solutions brand
Also after a search for Telex wireless mics the one Kate Bush is seen using on her tour could be a Telex WHM-300/400 or similar, has the right slim and long look.
https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Audio/Archive-REP-IDX/IDX/80s/Recording-1983-12-OCR-Page-0102.pdf
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Since the image link is broken in that previous thread, here's a repost of the Vega receiver from a system used as an MC mic for an annual summer Vaudeville-style community theater fundraiser. The handheld is unfortunately long gone, but I do think it used an A-size (I think) battery that had a single 9v-style terminal on each end. The mic was about a foot long and solidly built.
https://i.imgur.com/MGjhVbM.jpg
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And there was I thinking I was the only oddball with an interest in old wireless mic systems, to the point where I have developed a small collection over the years. Maybe I’ll upload a few photos when time allows, but for the mean time a few bits of info annotated below:
Followed by the immensely popular SKM4031TV, used everywhere until the 90's
(https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/ejwAAOSwGMVfVKtG/s-l300.jpg)
This is actually a regular SKM4031, the TV suffix just referred to the system being tuned to a UHF TV channel. Helical whip = VHF. Damn good units for their time these, great sounding and excellent RF, particularly with the EM2003 tuner.
and lastly for this first bit a bit of an oddball, TOA. They had systems from the late 70's but all I have seen being used (albeit only in a couple of videos and I wasn't looking for them) is the WM-220/230 systems.
This is such a microphone I randomly acquired for cheap (~£15 sans reciever), very compact all metal systems and the handhelds can have a clip added like a lavalier for hands free use, quoted 30hrs battery life on 3xAAA which is impressive (five hours when the battery low light comes on!) and they might not have companding as the manual alludes to it not requiring it.
(https://www.radiomuseum.org/images/radio/toa_electric_co_ltd/wireless_mikrophone_wm_220_1891723.jpg)
There is a video of Cindy Lauper from the Tonight Shown in 1983 using said system, although interestingly the antenna seems to have been shorted as the one I have that transmits on 175.0Mhz has an antenna about a foot or so long.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBt6e3x1m28
Cindy is actually using a Sony WRT57, being US and with a short antenna this would have been tuned to the 950MHz region. I think it is fair to say Toa took some style pointers from the Sony units which are actually smaller than the Toa. I have a few in my collection, and they were quite popular at the time in TV, particularly the WRT28 belt pack transmitter with an ECM50 mic. The slightly later WRT67 was very popular in high end touring mid late 80’s with Michael Jackson, Rolling Stones, David Bowie etc all using the WRT67.
As an extra bit a couple of systems that I do not know who the manufacturer is,
Firstly the handheld system use by Kate Bus for the "Tour Of Life",
See: https://youtu.be/A44wwRgzGuw?t=812
This is an EDC system made in Dorset by Elkom Design from around 1976 onwards. All the handhelds at that time were gold as standard, and were in the form of a pencil condenser such as an AKG C451. Again, there is one in the collection.
And the system use by France Gall during the "Le Tour De France" tour 1988, looks at bit like a SM57 head which is oddball, given the shape of the body I would say later TOA but I have no real idea.
See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI0CPVjs86k
Video quality is not great, but could very possibly be a Samson system fitted with a SM57 head. At the time Shure allowed other manufacturers to fit their heads, Samson using Shure and occasionally EV.
That's it for now and I will do another post concerning the professional Sony, Samson, Beyerdynamic and others as I see fit
[/quote]
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Didn't know about the earlier Sony units and yes they do look similar.
Beyerdynamic are interesting as not only did they make their own systems (s85?) in both VHF and later UHF (UHF units I believe used on the Genesis We Can't Dance Tour), they have also put their name to Trantec (of which I have two, one VHF fixed frequency and a late 90's/early 00's UHF unit that's a rebadged S5000), dB technologies (though I've only seen a picture of one whilst looking for other stuff) and more recently MiPro systems.
Probably somewhat unknown to US users were Micron, used extensively by the major TV networks over here. Notable by having unique looking squarish handheld microphones and the beltpacks (at least on the ones I've got) are turned on by the microphone being attached.
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And there was I thinking I was the only oddball
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I remember using HME systems back in the early 80's. You could change frequencies by actually swapping out crystals. Had to do that once because another church about a half mile away was on the same frequency causing problems. Took us a while to figure out what was causing the interference until at one point our mic was off and their broadcast came through crystal clear.
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Later on Vega would have the "Hourglass" handheld systems that seemed to be popular in America yet I haven't seen any use of them in the UK so far.
This also looks like the EV 2000 or 2500 line of the vhf microphones.
EV acquired VEGA and it's technology - In the early 90's IIRC - the EV mics at that time were Vega designs. They were also pretty smart at marketing. Somebody at EV had a bunch of dummy mics made for TV - lip sync use, so you saw a whole lot of them being used. The TV producers liked them because they were free and it didn't matter if they got dropped. The sad part about all these acquisitions and changes is the loss of some of the history. It is hard to find much about Vega, they were absorbed before the internet took off and although EV was an engineering driven company and had a lot of documentation, I have yet to find anything from Vega in their archives.
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I remember using HME systems back in the early 80's. You could change frequencies by actually swapping out crystals. Had to do that once because another church about a half mile away was on the same frequency causing problems. Took us a while to figure out what was causing the interference until at one point our mic was off and their broadcast came through crystal clear.
In the late 80's early 90's when I was doing video production we had a HME belt pack system with the 722 receiver. Not exactly a remote friendly system, had to rig up a camera battery pack to power the receiver through the DC power jack.
Just found one on Ebay, I'm sure they'll sell fast!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/HME-Rx722-Wireless-Receiver-with-Antenna-/383546124197 (https://www.ebay.com/itm/HME-Rx722-Wireless-Receiver-with-Antenna-/383546124197)
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Sorry to reactivate an old Thread, but I saw this one and preferred to reuse rather than create a fully new one.
My Question is : I saw a TV Interview, and the interviewer was conducting an interview at an event on bleacher seating and had to reach across a person to get to the interviewee. He had a Special radio mic that I've never seen before and never seen since, so I thought there was a chance that you guys might know it. Anyway, it was about half a metre long or more and was white in colour (actually in reflection, it was probably that popular at the time 70's light beige) But I would like to know if it was a retail mic or something the TV Studio Purchased and Modified ? Maybe the handle was just that long because it was powered by D cell batteries, who knows..
Thanks for all your help
WTF.
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Sorry to reactivate an old Thread, but I saw this one and preferred to reuse rather than create a fully new one.
My Question is : I saw a TV Interview, and the interviewer was conducting an interview at an event on bleacher seating and had to reach across a person to get to the interviewee. He had a Special radio mic that I've never seen before and never seen since, so I thought there was a chance that you guys might know it. Anyway, it was about half a metre long or more and was white in colour (actually in reflection, it was probably that popular at the time 70's light beige) But I would like to know if it was a retail mic or something the TV Studio Purchased and Modified ? Maybe the handle was just that long because it was powered by D cell batteries, who knows..
Thanks for all your help
WTF.
Don't know what it was, could have been custom. Sony had the microphone on an aerial that was used on the likes of Match Game and on the UK version when hosted by Terry Wogan they made their own version of the same thing with a car aerial.
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Does anyone have a copy of the Vega print add featuring Dave Andrews?
I would love to have one for my office wall
Augie
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Does anyone have a copy of the Vega print add featuring Dave Andrews?
I would love to have one for my office wall
Augie
RF Venue has some old ads. https://www.rfvenue.com/blog/2015/07/14/vintage-vega-wireless-ads-from-1975 (https://www.rfvenue.com/blog/2015/07/14/vintage-vega-wireless-ads-from-1975)
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Does anyone have a copy of the Vega print add featuring Dave Andrews?
I would love to have one for my office wall
Augie
And one of my favorite pictures: (http://)
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Thinking about dummy wireless it's always funny to see a SM58 or similar with a bit of wire sticking out of a female XLR, so convincing!
Also Band I wireless systems, some of which had antennas so long they might just as well been wired, or the ones with a decent length "rubber ducky" antenna where the antenna might be the same length as the microphone itself.
Here's a video I stumbled across of Dschinghis Khan performing with examples of both types of antenna on Sennheiser SKM4031's. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Tm6iO-mQfw
Admitedly I recently acquired a Trantec S1M/ML system (their first system I believe) because it had one of the mics with a "rubber ducky" antenna, their only VHF handheld to have an external antenna, though the lower end UHF systems (like the S4000 and the S4.4/Sennheiser Freeport) retained the external antenna as did the bodypacks (either wire or "rubber ducky" on the VHF systems).