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Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers Tour With Telefunken

Front of house engineer Robert Scovill selects M80 dynamic microphones for Petty's vocals on the road, and U47 large diaphragm condenser for recording.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are celebrating their 40th Anniversary this year with an extensive tour schedule including shows across America, Canada and in London, England.

The tour continues through September 25. Veteran front of house mixer Robert Scovill was tapped for this tour and his vocal mics of choice are Telefunken M80 dynamic microphones.

A six-time TEC Award winner and two time Parnelli Award winner with more than 3,000 live event mixing credits, Robert Scovill has tackled front of house for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Matchbox Twenty, Prince, Rush, Def Leppard and Alice Cooper, among many others. When not behind the mixing desk, he serves as senior market specialist for live sound for Avid Technologies, spearheading their live console and recording efforts.

Scovill comments, “I’ve been using the Telefunken M80 on vocals for a few tours now and am constantly impressed with both how consistent they are show to show with Tom and The Heartbreakers, coupled with their reliability and durability. The 80 is a really wonderful vocal and instrument mic, nothing less than I would expect from a company with the pedigree of Telefunken.”

In 2010 Scovill designed a hybrid studio recording system specifically for Petty that allowed him and his bandmates to record as if they were onstage, in effect bringing their stage approach to the studio. Petty and co-producer Ryan Ulyate completed multiple albums with The Heartbreakers, Mudcrutch and others where Petty uses a Telefunken U47 large diaphragm condenser mic when recording in this unique setting.

Musician, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer Tom Petty has sold more than 80 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. In 2002, Petty and his band The Heartbreakers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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