Neumann U47

The Neumann U47 valve microphone had been Peter Gabriel's preferred mic for recording vocals for over a decade, starting with So.

During the making of So, a blind-folded microphone test was done on Peter to find an alternative to the Shure SM57 (which was said to be his favourite), as a result of which the valve U47 was ultimately chosen. It had a silky top end, but no bottom end due to a faulty output cable. The cable was eventually fixed, which resulted in a more full-bodied vocal sound but lacked the airiness from beforehand. So the normal U47 output was patched into the mixing desk on one fader, coupled with the broken U47 (top end only) signal on another fader to balance with for equalisation on Peter's vocal sound on the album. A Decca compressor was also used as part of the vocal chain.