Percussion

General info and amplification - percussion

In 1973 Roger used only four mics, three for drums, one for his vocals

Drum-kits were usually very hard to amplify as they got bigger. At one point they used fifteen mics, all AKG condensers: 7xD190, 2xD12, 2xD1200, 2xD224, 2xD2000 and one D202. They then fed the PA System and allowed his kit to be properly heard. During the 80s he changed to smaller kits since they were easier to mike.

Since the band become very famous (around 'Sheer Heart Attack') the kit would have slightly changed every night because Roger had many spare parts and the drum technician could customise the kit in a different way. Very ocassionally Roger would trash his drums at the end of the concert, so that's why the spare elements were for too.

Roger's tambourine wasn't directly amplified, while John hit the triangle in his own vocal mic

The rest of percussion instruments were usually amplified directly only if they were a very important part of the arrangement (e.g. John's triangle, Roger's timpani and Josh's congas at the Tribute).

Drum-pads were electronic instruments so they were plugged to their own mixers and then to the Tannoy. Crystal (Roger's roadie) had an additional e-drum kit of his own, from which he secretly reinforced the band during some numbers doing handclap sounds.