Adam Levine

Used for the lead vocals on "Makes Me Wonder", as stated by mix engineer Mark Endert in this September 2007 Sound on Sound interview.

Lead vocal: Waves De–esser, Sony Oxford EQ, Tube–Tech CL1B, Lexicon PCM42, Lexicon 480L

“I love using digital de–essing on the lead vocals. On about every track I mix, the first plug–in insert is probably the Waves De–esser. From there I will do fine–tuning with the EQ. If there’s a narrow band that I want to eliminate or boost, I often use the Sony Oxford EQ immediately after the de–esser. In this case I boosted a little bit around 300Hz, made a small cut around 2500Hz and rolled off some extreme high end. I really like the Oxford EQ for pinpointing frequencies, but as far as sonic shaping is concerned, I prefer the outboard, like the SSL EQ, the GML, or my Neve 1073 modules. You are never going to pinpoint a perfect frequency on a three–band Neve EQ.

“After being treated with the De–Esser and the Oxford EQ, the lead vocals came to the SSL desk, on which I also used EQ, and inserted a compressor. In this case it was a Tube–Tech CL1B, set to a ratio of 5:1. For some reason I like 5:1 on vocals. I added delays on the lead vocals in the choruses — PCM42, eighth note or something like that — and there’s a reverb, most likely a 480L, set to a short reverb time.”

Used for the lead vocals on "Makes Me Wonder", as stated by mix engineer Mark Endert in this September 2007 Sound on Sound interview.

Lead vocal: Waves De–esser, Sony Oxford EQ, Tube–Tech CL1B, Lexicon PCM42, Lexicon 480L

“I love using digital de–essing on the lead vocals. On about every track I mix, the first plug–in insert is probably the Waves De–esser. From there I will do fine–tuning with the EQ. If there’s a narrow band that I want to eliminate or boost, I often use the Sony Oxford EQ immediately after the de–esser. In this case I boosted a little bit around 300Hz, made a small cut around 2500Hz and rolled off some extreme high end. I really like the Oxford EQ for pinpointing frequencies, but as far as sonic shaping is concerned, I prefer the outboard, like the SSL EQ, the GML, or my Neve 1073 modules. You are never going to pinpoint a perfect frequency on a three–band Neve EQ.

“After being treated with the De–Esser and the Oxford EQ, the lead vocals came to the SSL desk, on which I also used EQ, and inserted a compressor. In this case it was a Tube–Tech CL1B, set to a ratio of 5:1. For some reason I like 5:1 on vocals. I added delays on the lead vocals in the choruses — PCM42, eighth note or something like that — and there’s a reverb, most likely a 480L, set to a short reverb time.”

The E6 was used for the backing vocals on "Makes Me Wonder", as stated by mix engineer Mark Endert in this September 2007 Sound on Sound interview.

Backing vocals: SSL channel compressors, McDSP Filterbank

“I compressed the backing vocals with the SSL channel compressors, also set to a 5:1 ratio. When I tried to blend the backing vocals into the chorus, they immediately sounded too slick and too good and too adult. This often happens when the harmonies are lower than the lead vocal; they tend to weigh the track down. In trying to keep the track fresh and young, I combined all the background vocals into two outs from the master output of Pro Tools, and then I put one plug–in EQ on that. I sucked out all the frequencies that made it full, using the McDSP E6 Filterbank, cutting radically at 79.1Hz and 211.2Hz. This made the backing vocals sound transitory and thin, and when I blended them back into the track it sounded much better. In this way the backing vocals could cut through the track, and not weigh it down."