The secret to Paramore’s sound on their world tour? Telefunken mics

Paramore have embraced Telefunken dynamic microphones for their sold-out international concert tours. 

Now on tour in Asia in support of fifth studio album After Laughter, Telefunken microphones cover the drum kit with the M82 on kick, M80-SH’s on snare top and bottom, and M81-SH’s on rack and floor toms. 

"The M80’s on snare top and bottom is the best combination I have ever used," said FOH engineer Will Markwell. "Ten out of ten would use it again."

The M82 dynamic mic is used again to capture Paramore’s bass mic tone, which comes from a vintage Sunn 2000s bass amp and Sunn 2 x 15". 

Guitarist Taylor York likes a very clean setup to his onstage cabs, and is very particular about his guitar tone. After exploring a lot of different mic options, the best combination of tone and look were 3 M80-SH’s on Z bars to capture three distinct amp sounds.

Lead vocalist Hayley Williams uses a TELEFUNKEN M80 with a matte black finish and gold head grill. 

"From the first moment she sang into the TELEFUNKEN M80 she loved it," stated long time Paramore monitor engineer Travis Bing. "Its vividly transparent to her actual voice. What she puts in, she gets out with imperative clarity, which in turn makes my life so much easier."

Monitor tech Schyler Blackman added: "These mics patch very smoothly. The set screws don’t come out unlike other lesser quality mics."