NORAH JONES RECORDING SESSIONS HISTORY: August 2009
The Coop,
Band members: Norah Jones (vocals, wurlitzer), Sam Cohen (electric guitar), Will Sayles (shaker), Jon Graboff (pedal steel), Mike Martin (vocals)
Producer/Engineer: Jacquire King
Additional Engineers: Brad Bivens and Tom Schick
Set:
Guide:
[X] = confirmed to exist, unreleased
[O] = officially released
Best available sources:
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The Fall |
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Released in November 2009 on Blue Note Records. |
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The Fall (Import) |
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Released in November 2009 on Blue Note Records. |
Notes: The final session to record songs for The Fall (that featured Norah).
This was the “week and a half back at Norah’s” referred to earlier by King. (1)
Cohen and Sayles once again made their contributions at Norah’s home studio, while “Young Blood” co-writer and non-musician Mike Martin also dropped by. On “Young Blood” Sayles added a shaker to the song, while Mike Martin, the co-writer of the song, added his deep, baritone background vocals to supplement Norah’s existing vocal part.
Cohen added an electric guitar part to “I Wouldn’t Need You,” while Norah added some Wurlitzer.
On “Back to
King did note some technical changes at this last session, to how he recorded these final overdubs, abandoning the 2192 setup he had used at Sunset Sound. “The 2-610 [mic] I used pretty extensively once we got back to her place for bass and Wurlitzer. I did some background vocals with it. I love the way the EQ works, especially the top end. It's got a really nice shape to it, and you can kind of crank on it, and it doesn't sound harsh. It's just very pleasing, especially with ribbon mics, like a Coles or a Royer, that have that rolled off and very smooth top end you can crank it back up with a 610… very nice. The pre has a really nice amount of headroom; you can really push things into it. And the tubes kind of saturate in a very pleasing way. I've also used the 2-610, not on this record but in the past, for like a drum buss side chain. And driving it a little bit, just to where the tubes and the circuits start to get just a little bit choked, gives a nice harmonic quality to the sound. That's my favorite thing about that box.” (1)
At the conclusion of this session, King took the completed
tracks with him back to
King went into extensive detail describing his mixing process to Universal Audio Webzine: “I've tried to mix in other environments, and I just keep gravitating back to my own setup. I like the way my 1176 sounds. I've had it for 15 years, and I just love the way it sounds. I love the way all my stuff is situated.”
For extensive detail on King’s mixing process, we refer the reader to the
excellent interview with Universal Audio Webzine. (1)
Mastering was completed on September 4, 2009. (2)
References: