by alex u. case

the study of recording

Superman

Notes:

Compression
The lead vocal is bone dry, filtered for low-fi splendor (no highs/no lows, either through microphone choice or EQ), and limited for a clear clamping-down on dynamics. The drum loop, the witty and open arrangement -- with banjo and theremin-like synth and harmonica -- beg for a vocal that also sounds artificial, and under the influence of machinery. The man is not super.

Doubling
Doublings on the vocal, most obviously at the end of several choruses, singing, um, the hook and title, "I'm no Superman," allow for the feeling of crescendo in a mix whose pieces are kept static, unchanging and repeating.

Sources

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