Pharrell Williams
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Role
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Pharrell Williams' Gear
In this interview piece, Pharrell talks about his switch to using Logic.
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Pharrell Williams uses the Neumann TLM 103 microphone during his #OTHERtone radio show on Beats1, as seen on his Instagram.
"The streamlined approach to vocals helps; Coleman will tell you that a good large-diaphragm condenser microphone like the C12 through the Avalon 737 is a pleasantly neutral signal path." - via Sound On Sound interview with Pharrell's engineer Andrew Coleman
Pharrell can be seen using the M-Audio Axiom 61 as his midi controller in this video while producing for Rick Ross.
"The streamlined approach to vocals helps; Coleman will tell you that a good large-diaphragm condenser microphone like the C12 through the Avalon 737 is a pleasantly neutral signal path." - via Sound On Sound interview with Pharrell's engineer Andrew Coleman
"You get an idea of what the sound of their voice is really like and make adjustments accordingly. A few weeks ago we had Robin Thicke in here and he loved the Telefunken 251. It's very rich-sounding and I had never used it before." - via Sound On Sound interview with Pharrell's engineer, Andrew Coleman
Sequencing on a Korg O1W. Sounds come from Roland 5080s, TR Rack, 1080, 2080, Motif rack, Triton Extreme, lots of chopped up drum breaks.
Pro tools for tracking everything.
Neumann U67 ---> Avalon 737 (babyface) ---> Apogee Rosetta for vocals.
"Pharrell's favourite outboard equipment — Tube-tech CL1, Dbx 160, LA2A, Neve 9098 EQs, Summit EQ/compressors — are all normalled." - via Sound On Sound interview with Pharrell's engineer Andrew Coleman
"Hugo has small Genelecs as mains in studio C, and all rooms share several pairs of Yamaha NS10, Mackie and Proac nearfields." - via Sound On Sound interview with Pharrell's engineer, Andrew Coleman.
"Coming in from the front of the bus, one enters a vocal booth just in front and to the side of the main rear cabin-cum-control room/boudoir. The rear wall of the room has soffited Genelec 1037A monitors. (The monitoring configuration is virtually identical to the wall of the B studio at South Beach Studios in Miami, a Neptunes favourite.)" - via Sound On Sound interview with Pharrell's engineer, Andrew Coleman
At 0:57 Pharrell uses the preset Dat-Dat vocal preset and Omnisphere
In this interview Pharrell's engineer Andrew Coleman talks about using the Waves' Renaissance compressor. "It's not a whole lot — about 18 channels of [processing], plus plug-ins like Metric Halo's Channel Strip and Waves' Renaissance compressors and the Sony Oxford Compressor — but we know exactly what to expect from each combination."
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"Pharrell's favourite outboard equipment — Tube-tech CL1, Dbx 160, LA2A, Neve 9098 EQs, Summit EQ/compressors — are all normalled." - via Sound On Sound interview with Pharrell's engineer Andrew Coleman
You can see him playing an M-Audio Oxygen 49.
Mix Engineer Leslie Braithwaite on recording "Happy" : "You will note that I have the same three plug?ins on each individual vocal track: the Waves De?esser, the Waves Renaissance Compressor and the Universal Audio or Waves SSL Channel for EQ."
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at 1:26 you can see Pharrell using a Alesis VI49
Pharrell Williams can be seen using the Shure SM57 microphne in the "Feels" video.
In this interview Pharrell's engineer Andrew Coleman talks about the plugin he uses including Metric Halo's Channel Strip. "plus plug-ins like Metric Halo's Channel Strip and Waves' Renaissance compressors and the Sony Oxford Compressor — but we know exactly what to expect from each combination."
"Pharrell's favourite outboard equipment — Tube-tech CL1, Dbx 160, LA2A, Neve 9098 EQs, Summit EQ/compressors — are all normalled." - via Sound On Sound interview with Pharrell's engineer Andrew Coleman
"Hovercraft, as it's now known, still has the same layout as the studio that preceded it. Three studios hold four Pro Tools rigs; the Amek G2520 console, one of seven prototypes made, is still in Studio A, with Digidesign Pro Controls in Studios B and C" - via Sound On Sound interview with Pharrell's enginer, Andrew Coleman
You can see him wearing Beats headphones in this photo.
At 1:52, An Ensoniq ASR-10 can be seen in Pharell's studio.
In the photo, Pharrell can be seen using the Virus T12 Polar while producing a track with Pusha T. Source.
You can also see he's working on an Apple MacBook Pro in this photo.
Used for Lil Uzi Vert's "The Way Life Goes", as stated by mix engineer Kesha Lee in this December 2017 Sound on Sound article.
The standard for Atlanta seems to be to use Yamaha NS10s or Augspurger monitors,” Lee explains, “and the recording signal chain consists of an Avalon VT-737sp mic pre and a Tube-Tech CL 1B compressor." (...) An almost obligatory addition to any rap album these days appears to be the involvement of a few celebrity singers, with Pharrell Williams and the Weeknd particularly popular. Both feature on Luv Is Rage 2; the Weeknd sent in his vocal contribution, while Williams’ vocals were recorded during the lay-over in LA. Lee had expected to just be watching Williams’ regular engineer record him, but instead she ended up behind the controls at Conway. “I imported my template for the song ‘Neon Gets’ into his track-out session, and Pharrell was down to use whatever Uzi was comfortable with, so as I mentioned, we used the [Neumann] TLM 170, and the Avalon. So that was very easy.”
"Three studios hold four Pro Tools rigs; the Amek G2520 console, one of seven prototypes made, is still in Studio A, with Digidesign Pro Controls in Studios B and C." - via Sound On Sound interview with Pharrell's engineer Andrew Coleman
He is using this MIDI keyboard throughout the entire video. You can see him using it for the choir, bass, and making a bridge.
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In this Instagram post by Pharrell, he is using the monitors with Jack Harlow in a portable studio set up.
In the Beats by Dre video titled "Solo Pro | More Matte Collection with Pharrell Williams," Pharrell Williams is featured designing the Beats by Dre Beats Solo Pro headphones.
This is a community-built gear list for Pharrell Williams.
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Discography
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Double Life (From "Despicable Me 4")
Pharrell Williams · 2024
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Piece By Piece - Music from the Motion Picture
Pharrell Williams · 2024
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