Hozier – Take Me to Church EP

" It was sent through a [Electro–Harmonix] Memory Man pedal, with the gain turned up loudly, a ProCo Rat guitar pedal for that distorted guitar sound, and one of these new hand-wired Vox AC15 amps, and then a Knas Ekdahl Moisturizer spring reverb. This was the guitar chain and it gave a really interesting tone that suited Andrew’s music." - Rob Kirwan about "Take Me To Church" recording process.

For "Take Me To Church" recording, Hozier sung into Neumann CMV563 microphone, which is owned by Rob Kirwan, producer and engineer of the song.

Used on vocals for "Take Me to Church", as stated by mix engineer Rob Kirwan in this March 2015 Sound on Sound interview.

“I recorded Andrew’s vocals with him in the room, right behind me, so there were no natural acoustics on them. I already spoke about my CMV563/M7 vocal chain. I also always had a Sennheiser M441 on him as a sort of safeguard, and I combined these two while mixing. My mic pre on the 441 was the 1071, and I also had the Vac Rac EQ on his vocals, and the LA2A. So the vocal chain was as warm as it could be. The mic he used in his attic is a Neumann U87. The problem with 87s and 414s for me is that they are so accurate that everything sounds pretty sterile on them, hence my preference for using Gefells and other unusual microphones with lots of character. But it worked on his vocals because his performance was so good.”

The version goes unspecified in both this interview and on Kirwan's official microphone inventory list, evincing that it is the original U version.

Used on vocals for the demos and final mixes of the Take Me to Church EP, as stated by mix engineer Rob Kirwan in this March 2015 Sound on Sound interview.

“Andrew had worked with a few other producers,” recalled Kirwan, “with quite poppy results, with which he was not very comfortable, so he never went forward with those recordings. So he set about doing some demos in his attic, on a Logic system, and the brief from the record company was for him to redo his vocals on three songs, and for me to then mix these tracks. When I heard the demos I felt that the vocals were the best thing about them, but that we had to re–record everything else, because many of the instruments sounded too thin and not powerful enough. So we did it exactly the other way round!" (...) “I recorded Andrew’s vocals with him in the room, right behind me, so there were no natural acoustics on them. I already spoke about my CMV563/M7 vocal chain. I also always had a Sennheiser M441 on him as a sort of safeguard, and I combined these two while mixing. My mic pre on the 441 was the 1071, and I also had the Vac Rac EQ on his vocals, and the LA2A. So the vocal chain was as warm as it could be. The mic he used in his attic is a Neumann U87. The problem with 87s and 414s for me is that they are so accurate that everything sounds pretty sterile on them, hence my preference for using Gefells and other unusual microphones with lots of character. But it worked on his vocals because his performance was so good.”

Used on guitar and organ for the Take Me to Church EP, as stated by mix engineer Rob Kirwan in this March 2015 Sound on Sound interview.

“Guitars I generally record using an SM57 and a Sontronics Delta. The former will go through a ‘lunchbox’ Neve 1073 copy, and the latter through an API 3124+. I’ll compress that with the ADL 100 and an LA2A. The Delta is a ribbon mic, and I use it a lot. I like Sontronics’ ribbon microphones. They give you that ribbon sound, but the problem with a lot of traditional ribbon mics is that the gain is so low that you end up bringing up a lot of noise to get them to speak. I don’t think it is worth it, whereas the Sontronics microphones require phantom power to start off with, which is pretty wild, and they are loud. They really complement the 57. The Delta mic gives the guitar lovely warmth and big bottom end, and the 57 picks up the edgy stuff in the middle. I use those two microphones on pretty much every guitar amplifier that I record."

Used on guitar and organ for the Take Me to Church EP, as stated by mix engineer Rob Kirwan in this March 2015 Sound on Sound interview.

“Guitars I generally record using an SM57 and a Sontronics Delta. The former will go through a ‘lunchbox’ Neve 1073 copy, and the latter through an API 3124+. I’ll compress that with the ADL 100 and an LA2A. The Delta is a ribbon mic, and I use it a lot. I like Sontronics’ ribbon microphones. They give you that ribbon sound, but the problem with a lot of traditional ribbon mics is that the gain is so low that you end up bringing up a lot of noise to get them to speak. I don’t think it is worth it, whereas the Sontronics microphones require phantom power to start off with, which is pretty wild, and they are loud. They really complement the 57. The Delta mic gives the guitar lovely warmth and big bottom end, and the 57 picks up the edgy stuff in the middle. I use those two microphones on pretty much every guitar amplifier that I record."

This preamp served as vocal microphone preamp for "Take Me To Church", according to Sound on Sound interview with Rob Kirwan.

Used on vocals for "Take Me to Church", as stated by mix engineer Rob Kirwan in this March 2015 Sound on Sound interview.

“I recorded Andrew’s vocals with him in the room, right behind me, so there were no natural acoustics on them. I already spoke about my CMV563/M7 vocal chain. I also always had a Sennheiser M441 on him as a sort of safeguard, and I combined these two while mixing. My mic pre on the 441 was the 1071, and I also had the Vac Rac EQ on his vocals, and the LA2A. So the vocal chain was as warm as it could be. The mic he used in his attic is a Neumann U87. The problem with 87s and 414s for me is that they are so accurate that everything sounds pretty sterile on them, hence my preference for using Gefells and other unusual microphones with lots of character. But it worked on his vocals because his performance was so good.”

Used on guitar for the Take Me to Church EP, as stated by mix engineer Rob Kirwan in this March 2015 Sound on Sound interview (who refers to it as "a 'lunchbox' Neve 1073 copy"). It can be seen in this photo of Kirwan's production setup and is listed on Kirwan's official list of studio equipment.

“Guitars I generally record using an SM57 and a Sontronics Delta. The former will go through a ‘lunchbox’ Neve 1073 copy, and the latter through an API 3124+. I’ll compress that with the ADL 100 and an LA2A. The Delta is a ribbon mic, and I use it a lot. I like Sontronics’ ribbon microphones. They give you that ribbon sound, but the problem with a lot of traditional ribbon mics is that the gain is so low that you end up bringing up a lot of noise to get them to speak. I don’t think it is worth it, whereas the Sontronics microphones require phantom power to start off with, which is pretty wild, and they are loud. They really complement the 57. The Delta mic gives the guitar lovely warmth and big bottom end, and the 57 picks up the edgy stuff in the middle. I use those two microphones on pretty much every guitar amplifier that I record."

Used on guitar for the Take Me to Church EP, as stated by mix engineer Rob Kirwan in this March 2015 Sound on Sound interview.

“Guitars I generally record using an SM57 and a Sontronics Delta. The former will go through a ‘lunchbox’ Neve 1073 copy, and the latter through an API 3124+. I’ll compress that with the ADL 100 and an LA2A. The Delta is a ribbon mic, and I use it a lot. I like Sontronics’ ribbon microphones. They give you that ribbon sound, but the problem with a lot of traditional ribbon mics is that the gain is so low that you end up bringing up a lot of noise to get them to speak. I don’t think it is worth it, whereas the Sontronics microphones require phantom power to start off with, which is pretty wild, and they are loud. They really complement the 57. The Delta mic gives the guitar lovely warmth and big bottom end, and the 57 picks up the edgy stuff in the middle. I use those two microphones on pretty much every guitar amplifier that I record."

This effect was used by Hozier for "Take Me To Church", according to Rob Kirwan, producer and engineer.

Used on the guitar and vocals for the Take Me to Church EP, as stated by mix engineer Rob Kirwan in this March 2015 Sound on Sound interview. An image of the settings can be found here.

A few items caught Hozier’s attention in particular, said Kirwan. One was the latter’s “Eastwood Airline guitar, which I bought after working on the PJ Harvey album [Let England Shake], because so many bands play run–of–the–mill guitars. Andrew loved it, and it played a very prominent role on the album. It was sent through a [Electro–Harmonix] Memory Man pedal, with the gain turned up loudly, a ProCo Rat guitar pedal for that distorted guitar sound, and one of these new hand-wired Vox AC15 amps, and then a Knas Ekdahl Moisturizer spring reverb. This was the guitar chain and it gave a really interesting tone that suited Andrew’s music. I also used the Ekdahl reverb extensively on his vocals, as well as my Neumann CMV563 microphone with an M7 capsule and Martech MSS10 preamp. This signal chain distorted in a nice way, and Andrew adored that sound. He can sing really loud sometimes, which meant that we got a distortion similar to that from the 1950s and ’60s.

“And finally, a lot of people, including artists, have been asking me for the nature of the reverb on Andrew’s vocals. It’s a combination of my Knas Moisturizer that I already mentioned, and the Altiverb [plug–in]. I used a Wendy Carlos EMT plate [preset], from which I removed all the top end, and to which I added a pre–delay.”

(...) Vocals: Bomb Factory 1176, Focusrite Red EQ, SoundToys Echo Boy, Line 6 Echo Farm, Knas Ekdahl Moisturizer, Waves Renaissance Compressor, Avid Trim & Audio Ease Altiverb.

“The two ‘tele’ voices at the top are backing vocals. I think they were ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ that came from the demo. They don’t sound like telephone voices at all, so I’m not sure why they’re called that. Instead they almost sound like church voices. Below are two aux tracks for those vocals, with Bomb Factory compression, Focusrite EQ and an Echo Boy delay. The backing vocals below that — ‘BV1–4’ — are the ones with the signature Leslie effect on them, and they again have some Focusrite EQ and Bomb Factory compression, and I gave them some Echo Farm slap delay to add depth to the reverb.

“The next tracks are the verse lead vocals from his Logic session, called ‘Male Creamy Lead Vocals’, on which I put some Renaissance compression and a Trim, and ‘Vox Verb’ is the Moisturizer track, plus two Trim plug–ins, one being +1dB and the other –0.5dB. I hate automating in Pro Tools, so I will often use the Trim to bypass it. Writing automation is a tedious task. Below this are the chorus vocals, called ‘New Vocal’, so we obviously recorded these again at my studio. In order to make them sound like the demo vocal I stuck them through the same chain and EQ’d them heavily. ‘Vox Plate’ is the Altiverb, and there’s a delay track below it which again has the Echo Farm, on a delay setting. Finally there are several more double–tracked chorus vocals, and they also have the Renaissance and Focusrite, and the Moisturizer and Echo Farm aux tracks below them.”

Used on vocals for "Take Me to Church", as stated by mix engineer Rob Kirwan in this March 2015 Sound on Sound interview. It is visible in this photo of Kirwan's production setup.

“I recorded Andrew’s vocals with him in the room, right behind me, so there were no natural acoustics on them. I already spoke about my CMV563/M7 vocal chain. I also always had a Sennheiser M441 on him as a sort of safeguard, and I combined these two while mixing. My mic pre on the 441 was the 1071, and I also had the Vac Rac EQ on his vocals, and the LA2A. So the vocal chain was as warm as it could be. The mic he used in his attic is a Neumann U87. The problem with 87s and 414s for me is that they are so accurate that everything sounds pretty sterile on them, hence my preference for using Gefells and other unusual microphones with lots of character. But it worked on his vocals because his performance was so good.”

Used on vocals and guitar for the Take Me to Church EP, as stated by mix engineer Rob Kirwan in this March 2015 Sound on Sound interview.

The gear at Kirwan’s studio that inspired Hozier included analogue goodies like the Inward Connections Vac Rac EQ, Teletronix LA2A, Anthony Demaria Labs 1000 compressor, Neve 33609/J reissue compressor, Manley Massive Passive, Neve and API mic pres, and a ’70s Klein+Hummel mastering EQ. (...) > “Guitars I generally record using an SM57 and a Sontronics Delta. The former will go through a ‘lunchbox’ Neve 1073 copy, and the latter through an API 3124+. I’ll compress that with the ADL 100 and an LA2A. The Delta is a ribbon mic, and I use it a lot. I like Sontronics’ ribbon microphones. They give you that ribbon sound, but the problem with a lot of traditional ribbon mics is that the gain is so low that you end up bringing up a lot of noise to get them to speak. I don’t think it is worth it, whereas the Sontronics microphones require phantom power to start off with, which is pretty wild, and they are loud. They really complement the 57. The Delta mic gives the guitar lovely warmth and big bottom end, and the 57 picks up the edgy stuff in the middle. I use those two microphones on pretty much every guitar amplifier that I record."

“I recorded Andrew’s vocals with him in the room, right behind me, so there were no natural acoustics on them. I already spoke about my CMV563/M7 vocal chain. I also always had a Sennheiser M441 on him as a sort of safeguard, and I combined these two while mixing. My mic pre on the 441 was the 1071, and I also had the Vac Rac EQ on his vocals, and the LA2A. So the vocal chain was as warm as it could be. The mic he used in his attic is a Neumann U87. The problem with 87s and 414s for me is that they are so accurate that everything sounds pretty sterile on them, hence my preference for using Gefells and other unusual microphones with lots of character. But it worked on his vocals because his performance was so good.”

Used on guitar for the Take Me to Church EP, as stated by mix engineer Rob Kirwan in this March 2015 Sound on Sound interview. It is erroneously transcribed as an ADL "100", but Kirwan's official studio equipment list shows the correct 1000.

“Guitars I generally record using an SM57 and a Sontronics Delta. The former will go through a ‘lunchbox’ Neve 1073 copy, and the latter through an API 3124+. I’ll compress that with the ADL 100 and an LA2A. The Delta is a ribbon mic, and I use it a lot. I like Sontronics’ ribbon microphones. They give you that ribbon sound, but the problem with a lot of traditional ribbon mics is that the gain is so low that you end up bringing up a lot of noise to get them to speak. I don’t think it is worth it, whereas the Sontronics microphones require phantom power to start off with, which is pretty wild, and they are loud. They really complement the 57. The Delta mic gives the guitar lovely warmth and big bottom end, and the 57 picks up the edgy stuff in the middle. I use those two microphones on pretty much every guitar amplifier that I record."

Used on the organ for "Take Me to Church", stated by mix engineer Rob Kirwan in this March 2015 Sound on Sound interview.

Guitars & keyboards: TL Labs TL Aggro, Avid Trim, Waves Puigtech EQP1A, Eventide H3000, Focusrite Red EQ & Audio Ease Altiverb.

“Below the ‘Kit Plate’ aux track are four organ tracks. The top two were recorded through an amplifier via my 57 and Delta mics, and below that is a distorted organ track, with the Trillium Lane Labs TL Aggro compression plug–in on it and a Pultec EQ. The ‘Organ 3000’ track is probably me putting one of Andrew’s Logic organs through my Eventide H3000. Further down are six guitar tracks without any treatments — the ‘T’ on one of them is a Trim — and below that are the piano tracks, some of which are again heavily edited. Andrew wasn’t as good yet at playing the piano. He’s very good now, though! I got him to do the left hand separately, which are the ‘New Piano’ tracks. I once again had the Focusrite Red EQ plug–in on the piano, and there’s a ‘Piano Verb’ aux track, which also has the Wendy Carlos EMT plate from Altiverb, just with a different pre–delay. In general I like to create a sense of everything coming from the same space, so the Wendy Carlos plate is on many things in this song. There’s more piano below that, again with just Focusrite EQ. In all there’s a lot of piano, it was one of the most important elements of the song.”

Used on vocals and piano for the Take Me to Church EP, as stated by mix engineer Rob Kirwan in this March 2015 Sound on Sound interview.

“And finally, a lot of people, including artists, have been asking me for the nature of the reverb on Andrew’s vocals. It’s a combination of my Knas Moisturizer that I already mentioned, and the Altiverb [plug–in]. I used a Wendy Carlos EMT plate [preset], from which I removed all the top end, and to which I added a pre–delay.”

(...) * Guitars & keyboards: TL Labs TL Aggro, Avid Trim, Waves Puigtech EQP1A, Eventide H3000, Focusrite Red EQ & Audio Ease Altiverb.

“Below the ‘Kit Plate’ aux track are four organ tracks. The top two were recorded through an amplifier via my 57 and Delta mics, and below that is a distorted organ track, with the Trillium Lane Labs TL Aggro compression plug–in on it and a Pultec EQ. The ‘Organ 3000’ track is probably me putting one of Andrew’s Logic organs through my Eventide H3000. Further down are six guitar tracks without any treatments — the ‘T’ on one of them is a Trim — and below that are the piano tracks, some of which are again heavily edited. Andrew wasn’t as good yet at playing the piano. He’s very good now, though! I got him to do the left hand separately, which are the ‘New Piano’ tracks. I once again had the Focusrite Red EQ plug–in on the piano, and there’s a ‘Piano Verb’ aux track, which also has the Wendy Carlos EMT plate from Altiverb, just with a different pre–delay. In general I like to create a sense of everything coming from the same space, so the Wendy Carlos plate is on many things in this song. There’s more piano below that, again with just Focusrite EQ. In all there’s a lot of piano, it was one of the most important elements of the song.”

• Vocals: Bomb Factory 1176, Focusrite Red EQ, SoundToys Echo Boy, Line 6 Echo Farm, Knas Ekdahl Moisturizer, Waves Renaissance Compressor, Avid Trim & Audio Ease Altiverb.

“The two ‘tele’ voices at the top are backing vocals. I think they were ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ that came from the demo. They don’t sound like telephone voices at all, so I’m not sure why they’re called that. Instead they almost sound like church voices. Below are two aux tracks for those vocals, with Bomb Factory compression, Focusrite EQ and an Echo Boy delay. The backing vocals below that — ‘BV1–4’ — are the ones with the signature Leslie effect on them, and they again have some Focusrite EQ and Bomb Factory compression, and I gave them some Echo Farm slap delay to add depth to the reverb.

“The next tracks are the verse lead vocals from his Logic session, called ‘Male Creamy Lead Vocals’, on which I put some Renaissance compression and a Trim, and ‘Vox Verb’ is the Moisturizer track, plus two Trim plug–ins, one being +1dB and the other –0.5dB. I hate automating in Pro Tools, so I will often use the Trim to bypass it. Writing automation is a tedious task. Below this are the chorus vocals, called ‘New Vocal’, so we obviously recorded these again at my studio. In order to make them sound like the demo vocal I stuck them through the same chain and EQ’d them heavily. ‘Vox Plate’ is the Altiverb, and there’s a delay track below it which again has the Echo Farm, on a delay setting. Finally there are several more double–tracked chorus vocals, and they also have the Renaissance and Focusrite, and the Moisturizer and Echo Farm aux tracks below them.”

The Red 2 EQ emulation was used on the piano and vocals for "Take Me to Church", stated by mix engineer Rob Kirwan in this March 2015 Sound on Sound interview.

• Guitars & keyboards: TL Labs TL Aggro, Avid Trim, Waves Puigtech EQP1A, Eventide H3000, Focusrite Red EQ & Audio Ease Altiverb.

“Below the ‘Kit Plate’ aux track are four organ tracks. The top two were recorded through an amplifier via my 57 and Delta mics, and below that is a distorted organ track, with the Trillium Lane Labs TL Aggro compression plug–in on it and a Pultec EQ. The ‘Organ 3000’ track is probably me putting one of Andrew’s Logic organs through my Eventide H3000. Further down are six guitar tracks without any treatments — the ‘T’ on one of them is a Trim — and below that are the piano tracks, some of which are again heavily edited. Andrew wasn’t as good yet at playing the piano. He’s very good now, though! I got him to do the left hand separately, which are the ‘New Piano’ tracks. I once again had the Focusrite Red EQ plug–in on the piano, and there’s a ‘Piano Verb’ aux track, which also has the Wendy Carlos EMT plate from Altiverb, just with a different pre–delay. In general I like to create a sense of everything coming from the same space, so the Wendy Carlos plate is on many things in this song. There’s more piano below that, again with just Focusrite EQ. In all there’s a lot of piano, it was one of the most important elements of the song.”

Used on the vocals for "Take Me to Church", as stated by mix engineer Rob Kirwan in this March 2015 Sound on Sound interview.

• Vocals: Bomb Factory 1176, Focusrite Red EQ, SoundToys Echo Boy, Line 6 Echo Farm, Knas Ekdahl Moisturizer, Waves Renaissance Compressor, Avid Trim & Audio Ease Altiverb.

“The two ‘tele’ voices at the top are backing vocals. I think they were ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ that came from the demo. They don’t sound like telephone voices at all, so I’m not sure why they’re called that. Instead they almost sound like church voices. Below are two aux tracks for those vocals, with Bomb Factory compression, Focusrite EQ and an Echo Boy delay. The backing vocals below that — ‘BV1–4’ — are the ones with the signature Leslie effect on them, and they again have some Focusrite EQ and Bomb Factory compression, and I gave them some Echo Farm slap delay to add depth to the reverb.

“The next tracks are the verse lead vocals from his Logic session, called ‘Male Creamy Lead Vocals’, on which I put some Renaissance compression and a Trim, and ‘Vox Verb’ is the Moisturizer track, plus two Trim plug–ins, one being +1dB and the other –0.5dB. I hate automating in Pro Tools, so I will often use the Trim to bypass it. Writing automation is a tedious task. Below this are the chorus vocals, called ‘New Vocal’, so we obviously recorded these again at my studio. In order to make them sound like the demo vocal I stuck them through the same chain and EQ’d them heavily. ‘Vox Plate’ is the Altiverb, and there’s a delay track below it which again has the Echo Farm, on a delay setting. Finally there are several more double–tracked chorus vocals, and they also have the Renaissance and Focusrite, and the Moisturizer and Echo Farm aux tracks below them.”

The EQP-1A was used on the organ for "Take Me to Church", stated by mix engineer Rob Kirwan in this March 2015 Sound on Sound interview.

Guitars & keyboards: TL Labs TL Aggro, Avid Trim, Waves Puigtech EQP1A, Eventide H3000, Focusrite Red EQ & Audio Ease Altiverb.

“Below the ‘Kit Plate’ aux track are four organ tracks. The top two were recorded through an amplifier via my 57 and Delta mics, and below that is a distorted organ track, with the Trillium Lane Labs TL Aggro compression plug–in on it and a Pultec EQ. The ‘Organ 3000’ track is probably me putting one of Andrew’s Logic organs through my Eventide H3000. Further down are six guitar tracks without any treatments — the ‘T’ on one of them is a Trim — and below that are the piano tracks, some of which are again heavily edited. Andrew wasn’t as good yet at playing the piano. He’s very good now, though! I got him to do the left hand separately, which are the ‘New Piano’ tracks. I once again had the Focusrite Red EQ plug–in on the piano, and there’s a ‘Piano Verb’ aux track, which also has the Wendy Carlos EMT plate from Altiverb, just with a different pre–delay. In general I like to create a sense of everything coming from the same space, so the Wendy Carlos plate is on many things in this song. There’s more piano below that, again with just Focusrite EQ. In all there’s a lot of piano, it was one of the most important elements of the song.”

Used on the organ for "Take Me to Church", stated by mix engineer Rob Kirwan in this March 2015 Sound on Sound interview.

Guitars & keyboards: TL Labs TL Aggro, Avid Trim, Waves Puigtech EQP1A, Eventide H3000, Focusrite Red EQ & Audio Ease Altiverb.

“Below the ‘Kit Plate’ aux track are four organ tracks. The top two were recorded through an amplifier via my 57 and Delta mics, and below that is a distorted organ track, with the Trillium Lane Labs TL Aggro compression plug–in on it and a Pultec EQ. The ‘Organ 3000’ track is probably me putting one of Andrew’s Logic organs through my Eventide H3000. Further down are six guitar tracks without any treatments — the ‘T’ on one of them is a Trim — and below that are the piano tracks, some of which are again heavily edited. Andrew wasn’t as good yet at playing the piano. He’s very good now, though! I got him to do the left hand separately, which are the ‘New Piano’ tracks. I once again had the Focusrite Red EQ plug–in on the piano, and there’s a ‘Piano Verb’ aux track, which also has the Wendy Carlos EMT plate from Altiverb, just with a different pre–delay. In general I like to create a sense of everything coming from the same space, so the Wendy Carlos plate is on many things in this song. There’s more piano below that, again with just Focusrite EQ. In all there’s a lot of piano, it was one of the most important elements of the song.”