Alex G – Alex G

Confirmed by Tom Kelly via direct message. It was used on House of Sugar, as stated in this November 5, 2019 American Songwriters interview and Alex G's Terrorbird artist profile.

American Songwriter, "Following My Gut: A Q&A With (Sandy) Alex G"

I pretty much do everything with one mic—this time I had a nicer mic. In the past, I had this mic called a Samson Q1u, which is a little USB mic that looks like an SM-57. I’d stick that in front of everything, play, and if it sounds bad just move it back a bit. This record was the same process but I borrowed Tom’s microphone… it’s like a clone that he built, it’s like a Neumann or something? I forget the name but whenever I tell people they’re like “oh that’s really nice.” But I did the same thing, I’d put that in front of the drums, put it in front of the guitar, put it in front of the violin. That’s pretty much it.

Terrorbird Profile

Which is to say, “cohesive” doesn’t imply that House of Sugar dispenses with the out-there sonic adventurism that’s made previous (Sandy) Alex G records so singular. Giannascoli recorded with a clone of the Neumann U87 microphone, built by Tom Kelly—the first time he’d ever used a microphone other than the Samson Q1U USB mic that he got as a teenager. The new mic, coupled with an updated version of Garageband that came with a replacement laptop, provided Giannascoli a new toolkit for home-recording, prompting him to analyze the types of sounds he’d been making and that he wanted to make. In addition to bolstering the rich, polished mix of its rock-oriented songs, the new equipment allowed for a broad range of unique technical experiments that provide each track emotional and tonal complexity. This includes not only the otherworldly vocals that haunt songs such as “Walk Away,” “Taking,” and “Bad Man,” but also the more subtle hums and echoes that texture “Hope” and “Gretel,” and the distorted soundscapes into which listeners of “Sugar” and “Near” are immersed.