Recording - February 2021 - 60

Log
Session
Log

THE ANGELHEADED
HIPSTER Part 2: Vocals

preamp I used the Manley VoxBox outboard with little or no compression (as
is my habit).

I've been in situations before where an artist wanted to record vocals in the control
room and hear themselves through speakers. I did this on a Lou Reed session at Avatar
Studios. I had to stealthily ride the master fader of the mix between verses, or even
words, to limit the amount of music bleed into the mic, akin to how a sidechained
compressor ducks the background music on the radio when the host speaks. With
that experience in the back of my head, I had prepared all the mics. I also planned
on recording the music without the vocals into that same mic(s) after everyone left to
attempt some leakage subtraction by way of phase cancellation.
Fortunately, Bono was very kind and amenable and let himself be ushered into the
vocal booth, wore headphones, gave us a couple of great vocal takes (in two different
styles), and then chose which approach worked best for the song. After that day, Hal
always affectionately complimented and commended me in front of other people,
recounting how " Marc was the first to convince Bono to sing in a booth, " but I didn't
have to do any convincing, and I doubt that was really Bono's first time in a vocal
booth. If any praises have to be given for that, they should be directed at Hal, for I've
seen many artists shed their preconceived notions and break down their walls of fame
and authority in front of Hal Willner.

Nick Cave

Elton John

Todd Rundgren, Børns
and Devendra Banhart

On the same track with U2, Sir Elton John played the piano and did some singing as well. Hal and I flew to France to record Elton in a private studio that had a
piano. We were told Elton would only play the piano, but it's the engineer's job
to be ready for everything, so I prepared a vocal mic, line checked it and tucked
it under the piano, just to be safe. After
Elton wowed us with his piano playing, he
asked, " Do you guys want some vocals? "
And swiftly out came my microphone! For
Elton, I used the studio's Brauner VM1. I'd
never used this mic before, but this is an
excellent time to remind you to trust local
knowledge. I asked the studio's personnel what they usually used for vocals and
went with their recommendation. Since
this studio did not have a console, for a

I used a Shure SM7B to record Nick
Cave's gorgeous vocal performance on
'Cosmic Dancer', which is many listeners'
favorite track on this record (and as of
Record Store Day 2020, available as a
limited edition 7 " ). I chose this mic because Nick and his piano were in the
same room as the rest of the band, so I
wanted to use a good-sounding microphone with excellent off-axis rejection. The
SM7B excels at that, and its built-in pop
filter does a good job too. The mic needs
a few more dB of gain than other dynamic
mics, but that was certainly no issue when
using the gorgeous Neve 1081 preamps
on The Village Studio A console.

I also used an SM7B as a secondary
flavor when recording Todd Rundgren at
Brooklyn Recording. In that instance, the
primary mic was a Telefunken U 47.
Speaking of the U 47, both the excellent new TELEFUNKEN version and
especially an original Neumann version
are still my favorite go-to vocal microphones. Sadly, I don't own one, but
they're readily available in the best studios. I used it on Børns and Devendra
Banhart at The Village Studio D through
the Neve 88R preamps, and on Perry
Farrell at Sunset Sound, through their
Studio II Neve 8080 console pres.

Williams, Jett, Orton,
Johansen, Khan and McKee

Elton John outboard: Manley VoxBox
60 RECORDING February 2021

Two other great microphones made a
frequent appearance on this album: Lucinda Williams, Joan Jett, Beth Orton, David
Johansen and King Khan were all recorded at Sear Sound in New York using
Walter Sear's favorite mic, the AKG C12,
through Studio A's Neve 8038 preamps
or Studio C's custom Sear-Avalon console's Class A M3 preamps. A single C12
capsule from a stereo AKG C24 was also
used for the closing track on the record
sung by Maria McKee. In the case of Joan
Jett, we did a second overdub session at
Germano Studio 2 in New York using a
TELEFUNKEN ELA M251E. This particular
Telefunken was also used to record Kesha
and Emily Haines' performances.

Recording - February 2021

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