How It Was Recorded

Midnight Oil · Diesel and Dust, 1987

Beds Are Burning

What the sources do and do not say

One Mix Classic Tracks article, read in full, with engineer Guy Gray and producer Warne Livesey. It covers the song's intro effects, tracking, vocals and the album mix. Guitar-amp mics and the mix chain are album-level; the Vox/Fender amps and SPX90 are hedged recollections. The article gives no drum-kit microphones.

Lead vocal

Peter Garrett

Microphone

Microphone the team settled on for Garrett's lead vocals after trying several.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. Microphone-modelling plugins only work with their own matched hardware microphone, so there is no plugin to link. Placement and the room matter more than the model.

Input chain

Unit the TLM 170 vocal microphone was fed into for Garrett's lead vocals.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Emulation of this unit

Universal Audio Teletronix LA-2A Leveler Collection

compressor

Universal Audio owns the Teletronix name; this is its own model of the LA-2A.

Also worth a look: Waves CLA-2A Compressor / Limiter (Models an LA-2A from Chris Lord-Alge's collection. Cheaper and runs without UA hardware).

Guitar amps

Martin Rotsey and Jim Moginie

Amplifier

Vox AC30

ReportedAlbum sessions

Album sessions, not stated for this song: Gray thinks the guitarists' amps were Vox and Fender, and recalls at least one AC30 being in the studio.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Emulation of this unit

Native Instruments Guitar Rig 7 Pro

amp and cabinet simulator

Its AC Box amp is modelled on the Vox AC30.

Also worth a look: IK Multimedia AmpliTube 5 (Includes an AC30-style amp model).

Microphone

Sennheiser MD 421

VerifiedAlbum sessions

Album sessions, not stated for this song: Gray's usual close pairing for the guitar amps on the sessions, set beside a 57 so the capsules were phase-aligned.

Position
right next to the SM57, capsules phase-aligned

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. Microphone-modelling plugins only work with their own matched hardware microphone, so there is no plugin to link. Placement and the room matter more than the model. The MD 421 is still made.

Neumann U 47

VerifiedAlbum sessions

Album sessions, not stated for this song: Placed about three feet back from the guitar amp in Gray's setup.

Position
about three feet back from the amp

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. Microphone-modelling plugins only work with their own matched hardware microphone, so there is no plugin to link. Placement and the room matter more than the model.

Drum kit

Rob Hirst

Mix effects

AMS DMX 1580

Verified

Stereo sampler delay Gray recalls using on the sessions, in the period practice of sampling drum sounds and triggering them back into the mix.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Emulation of this unit

Universal Audio AMS DMX Digital Delay & Pitch Shifter

delay

A model of the AMS DMX 15-80 S itself, covering its two delay channels and its pitch shifting.

Intro clock, tape and mix

Input chain

Akai S900

Verified

Sampler the ticking-clock sound was recorded into so it could be looped and fitted to the track's tempo.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Approximate

TAL Software TAL-Sampler

instrument

A sampler plugin with vintage-style converters. It is not a model of this unit, and you load your own samples.

Sony 3324

Reported

The sessions were tracked to two of these digital multitrack machines.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Approximate

Slate Digital Virtual Tape Machines

tape

Models two Studer machines, not this recorder. It gives the general behaviour of analogue multitrack tape.

Also worth a look: Universal Audio Studer A800 Tape Recorder (Models a Studer A800, not this recorder. It gives the general behaviour of analogue multitrack tape).

Mix effects

Album sessions, not stated for this song: Console on which Diesel and Dust was mixed at Alberts.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Emulation of this unit

Waves SSL E-Channel

channel strip

Made with SSL as a model of the 4000 E channel strip.

Also worth a look: Solid State Logic SSL Native Channel Strip 2 (SSL's own channel-strip plugin, based on a later desk).

Bel BD-80

VerifiedAlbum sessions

Sampler/digital delay Gray says produced all the delays heard across the album, often returned through an EQ channel and filtered.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Covers this kind of unit

Soundtoys PrimalTap

delay

An early digital delay like the original, with the same trade of bandwidth for longer delay time and a hold function for captured sound; it is not a model of this unit.

Yamaha SPX90

ReportedAlbum sessions

Album sessions, not stated for this song: Gray thinks the BD-80 delay was probably fed into a chorus in an SPX90.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Close match

Neyrinck V-90 Symphonic

modulation

Models the SPX90's own Symphonic chorus programme, so it gives that unit's wide chorus sound; it covers only that one programme, not the whole unit.

Sources

  1. Classic Tracks: “Beds Are Burning,” Midnight Oil, Mix, 2024-09-13. Accessed 15 Nov 2026.
Verified

Stated by the engineer, producer or artist, or by the manufacturer.

Reported

Stated by a reputable secondary source.

Inferred

An educated suggestion, not a documented fact.

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