Recording Kurt Cobain's Vocals

[ScumBum]

I read somewhere that Kurt didn't like singing in headphones and you set up a speaker system for him to track his vocals .

Could you describe this setup , like mic position and speakers ?

How loud was the volume ?

As producer what did you do to help get the best performance out of him ?

What was a typical session tracking his vocals like ? Could you only get 5 takes out of him , then his voice was blown ?

[PlatinumSamples]

If you have AT&T U-Verse.. they have VH1 Classic Albums: Nirvana's Nevermind free on Video On Demand -- you should check it out.

Rail

[matskull]

I would really like to hear this as well, nirvana as inspired me for so long.

[ButchVig]

Originally Posted by ScumBum

I read somewhere that Kurt didn't like singing in headphones and you set up a speaker system for him to track his vocals .

Could you describe this setup , like mic position and speakers ?

How loud was the volume ?

As producer what did you do to help get the best performance out of him ?

What was a typical session tracking his vocals like ? Could you only get 5 takes out of him , then his voice was blown ?

I tried using the out of phase speakers with no headphones but I didn't like it (I could hear the weird phase bleed), so I convinced Kurt to wear headphones. We used a U67 on most of his vocals, I think it was the Neve pre, and probably an LA2A.

I was lucky if I got 4 takes. Usually 3...I would get him to do a warmup and adjust levels (and record it) and then get him to do a couple takes. He did not have the patience to do more than that, and usually blew his voice out anyway, so I would take anything I could get!

It's funny, I can hear the vocal comp on some songs...like Lithium. The verses are really obvious between the different takes.