Beyoncé – Lemonade
The music gear and equipment used by the artists, producers, engineers, and more involved in the making of the 2016 album Lemonade.
Music from Lemonade
Artists on Lemonade
Gear Used On Lemonade
Explore the instruments, equipment, software, and production tools used in the making of Beyoncé – Lemonade (2016). Click more on each item to see exactly how it was used.
Microphones used by Beyoncé on Lemonade
Avg price: $13,493.75
One of Beyoncé's primary microphones. She can be seen using a Telefunken Ela M 251 for the recording of "Partition" in this video at 0:57.
The Ela M 251 was also used to record Beyoncé's vocals on Coldplay's "Hymn for the Weekend", as mentioned by A Head Full of Dreams co-producer Rik Simpson in this Sound on Sound article.
Beyoncé’s vocals were done at Chris’ house on the East Coast. It happened very quickly and was very home–grown. We built a vocal booth for her in the bedroom of Chris’ kids. I just came in with a laptop and an Avalon mic pre, and she favours a Telefunken 251. It was great because she is an amazing singer. There was really no comping done. We put the bridge part in loop and she sang over that, and once she had to figured out what to do she layered her parts. I literally used all of it. I did not have to do much to it, it is how she sounds.
According to this September 24, 2016 AudioTechnology interview with producer Stuart White, the 251 was also used on Lemonade.
“For the rest I have a Telefunken Ela M251 microphone, an Avalon mic pre, and a TubeTech compressor, all of which I used to record the majority of Bey’s vocals."
In this September 2018 Sound on Sound interview, White stated that 251 was also used on EVERYTHING IS LOVE.
He recorded both Beyoncé and Jay-Z with his “Telefunken mic, Avalon mic pre, and Tube Tech compressor. That was the chain for the entire album on both of them. I use just the one chain, because they jump back and forth on the mic all day long, and they both sound really good on that mic, so I kept it simple.”
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Avg price: $91.56
Used "occasionally" in the studio, particularly on "Don't Hurt Yourself", as mentioned by producer Stuart White in this this September 24, 2016 AudioTechnology about the production of Lemonade.
“We started in August 2014 at the Record Plant in Los Angeles. We were there for a month and had booked every single room; producers were everywhere writing songs. After that we took a break, then went to Paris for 45 days, where we lived in a hotel and set up two studios in two different hotel rooms. The identical setups consisted of ProAc Studio 100 monitors, an Avid Omni converter, Telefunken Elam 251 mic, an Avalon 737 mic pre, Tube Tech CL1B compressor, a Shure SM58 which she likes to use occasionally, and matching Pro Tools sessions."
(...) "Jack White sent his stuff in for the song Don’t Hurt Yourself, which was recorded on eight-track analogue, with tons of bleed. I love bleed, as it helps glue the track together and creates depth. The thing was, they’d taken all the effects off in the transfer to digital. It was a lot of work for me to get it to fit in our sonic world and make it rock at the same time. We added some samples to beef up the drums and make them fit in our big bass world. Bey sang through a Shure SM58 with distortion and the speakers turned up really loud, like Bono. The 8-track definitely gave it a colour and a mood, then we brought it into our more modern production aesthetic.”
Headphones used by Beyoncé on Lemonade
Beyoncé wearing her Pryma 01 on the "Sandcastles" Music Video
Studio Equipment used by Beyoncé on Lemonade
Universal Audio Apollo Twin USB Duo
Avg price: $764.80
In the music video for "Sandcastles," Beyoncé is seen using the Universal Audio Apollo Twin USB Duo audio interface at the 2:06 mark.
Avg price: $4,369.62
Used on EVERYTHING IS LOVE, as stated by producer Stuart White in this September 2018 Sound on Sound interview.
He recorded both Beyoncé and Jay-Z with his “Telefunken mic, Avalon mic pre, and Tube Tech compressor. That was the chain for the entire album on both of them. I use just the one chain, because they jump back and forth on the mic all day long, and they both sound really good on that mic, so I kept it simple.”
White had previously specified this Tube Tech to be a CL 1B in this September 24, 2016 AudioTechnology interview with producer Stuart White about the production of Lemonade.
“We started in August 2014 at the Record Plant in Los Angeles. We were there for a month and had booked every single room; producers were everywhere writing songs. After that we took a break, then went to Paris for 45 days, where we lived in a hotel and set up two studios in two different hotel rooms. The identical setups consisted of ProAc Studio 100 monitors, an Avid Omni converter, Telefunken Elam 251 mic, an Avalon 737 mic pre, Tube Tech CL1B compressor, a Shure SM58 which she likes to use occasionally, and matching Pro Tools sessions."
Studio Gear used by Beyoncé on Lemonade
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Avg price: $3,340.29
Used on EVERYTHING IS LOVE, as stated by producer Stuart White in this September 2018 Sound on Sound interview.
He recorded both Beyoncé and Jay-Z with his “Telefunken mic, Avalon mic pre, and Tube Tech compressor. That was the chain for the entire album on both of them. I use just the one chain, because they jump back and forth on the mic all day long, and they both sound really good on that mic, so I kept it simple.”
White had previously specified this Tube Tech to be a CL 1B in this September 24, 2016 AudioTechnology interview with producer Stuart White about the production of Lemonade.
“We started in August 2014 at the Record Plant in Los Angeles. We were there for a month and had booked every single room; producers were everywhere writing songs. After that we took a break, then went to Paris for 45 days, where we lived in a hotel and set up two studios in two different hotel rooms. The identical setups consisted of ProAc Studio 100 monitors, an Avid Omni converter, Telefunken Elam 251 mic, an Avalon 737 mic pre, Tube Tech CL1B compressor, a Shure SM58 which she likes to use occasionally, and matching Pro Tools sessions."
