Alanis Morissette

"I use six dbx 160A compressors for the bass and acoustic guitars, then two dbx 160XT for the kicks and snares, coupled with four Drawmer DS201s stereo gates so you have a gate/compressor setup there, where the signal goes into the Drawmers then into the 160XTs. I also have a Drawmer 1960 tube compressor that I use on the guitars. I also use a dbx 1046 compressor; I use two lines for the keys and two for the stereo Leslie inputs."

— Terry Pearson, Morissette's FOH engineer for Under Rug Swept's promotional tour

"For effects, Pearson uses a variety of multi-effects units to help create different sonic textures. 'I have a TC M5000 multi-effects unit, a Lexicon 480L reverb, a [Yamaha] SPX-990 multi-effects, a PCM 42 delay and an Eventide H3000 Harmonizer. On Alanis' CDs, she overdubs her voice a lot to create harmonies and textures, so I use a variety of delays and the harmonizer to create different textures between the verses and the chorus. But [I] keep it sounding natural to imply the effect that she uses on the CDs."

"I use six dbx 160A compressors for the bass and acoustic guitars, then two dbx 160XT for the kicks and snares, coupled with four Drawmer DS201s stereo gates so you have a gate/compressor setup there, where the signal goes into the Drawmers then into the 160XTs. I also have a Drawmer 1960 tube compressor that I use on the guitars. I also use a dbx 1046 compressor; I use two lines for the keys and two for the stereo Leslie inputs."

— Terry Pearson, Morissette's FOH engineer for Under Rug Swept's promotional tour

"Though Pearson uses the XL4 mic pre's for most of the microphones onstage, for Alanis' vocal channel, he uses an Avalon VT737SP tube compressor/mic pre for more accuracy. 'I route that into a BSS DPR-901 II selectable-frequency compressor. Then I have a Klark-Teknik DN410 Parametric EQ that I assign to the vocal group on the Midas, so I can EQ specifically for her voice. Alanis writes all of her lyrics, and I think people come to the show to hear those lyrics, so I try to mix so that [the lyrics] are on top and out front and intelligible. She is a wonderful singer and really carries the show with her voice. However, she doesn't sing very loudly, and because of that, her vocal mic has a lot of gain, and she moves all over the stage, so you pick up stage volume through the vocal mic, which is the biggest challenge in mixing the show.'"

"Though Pearson uses the XL4 mic pre's for most of the microphones onstage, for Alanis' vocal channel, he uses an Avalon VT737SP tube compressor/mic pre for more accuracy. 'I route that into a BSS DPR-901 II selectable-frequency compressor. Then I have a Klark-Teknik DN410 Parametric EQ that I assign to the vocal group on the Midas, so I can EQ specifically for her voice. Alanis writes all of her lyrics, and I think people come to the show to hear those lyrics, so I try to mix so that [the lyrics] are on top and out front and intelligible. She is a wonderful singer and really carries the show with her voice. However, she doesn't sing very loudly, and because of that, her vocal mic has a lot of gain, and she moves all over the stage, so you pick up stage volume through the vocal mic, which is the biggest challenge in mixing the show.'"

"For effects, Pearson uses a variety of multi-effects units to help create different sonic textures. 'I have a TC M5000 multi-effects unit, a Lexicon 480L reverb, a [Yamaha] SPX-990 multi-effects, a PCM 42 delay and an Eventide H3000 Harmonizer. On Alanis' CDs, she overdubs her voice a lot to create harmonies and textures, so I use a variety of delays and the harmonizer to create different textures between the verses and the chorus. But [I] keep it sounding natural to imply the effect that she uses on the CDs."

"For effects, Pearson uses a variety of multi-effects units to help create different sonic textures. 'I have a TC M5000 multi-effects unit, a Lexicon 480L reverb, a [Yamaha] SPX-990 multi-effects, a PCM 42 delay and an Eventide H3000 Harmonizer. On Alanis' CDs, she overdubs her voice a lot to create harmonies and textures, so I use a variety of delays and the harmonizer to create different textures between the verses and the chorus. But [I] keep it sounding natural to imply the effect that she uses on the CDs."

"For effects, Pearson uses a variety of multi-effects units to help create different sonic textures. 'I have a TC M5000 multi-effects unit, a Lexicon 480L reverb, a [Yamaha] SPX-990 multi-effects, a PCM 42 delay and an Eventide H3000 Harmonizer. On Alanis' CDs, she overdubs her voice a lot to create harmonies and textures, so I use a variety of delays and the harmonizer to create different textures between the verses and the chorus. But [I] keep it sounding natural to imply the effect that she uses on the CDs."

"For effects, Pearson uses a variety of multi-effects units to help create different sonic textures. 'I have a TC M5000 multi-effects unit, a Lexicon 480L reverb, a [Yamaha] SPX-990 multi-effects, a PCM 42 delay and an Eventide H3000 Harmonizer. On Alanis' CDs, she overdubs her voice a lot to create harmonies and textures, so I use a variety of delays and the harmonizer to create different textures between the verses and the chorus. But [I] keep it sounding natural to imply the effect that she uses on the CDs."

"I use six dbx 160A compressors for the bass and acoustic guitars, then two dbx 160XT for the kicks and snares, coupled with four Drawmer DS201s stereo gates so you have a gate/compressor setup there, where the signal goes into the Drawmers then into the 160XTs. I also have a Drawmer 1960 tube compressor that I use on the guitars. I also use a dbx 1046 compressor; I use two lines for the keys and two for the stereo Leslie inputs."

— Terry Pearson, Morissette's FOH engineer for Under Rug Swept's promotional tour

"But [songwriter and producer Glen] Ballard’s latest project, an acoustic re-recording of Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill required techniques a bit more delicate. Ballard’s collaboration with Ms. Ironic on the original was both artists’ biggest commercial success, and they commemorated the albums’ 10th anniversary by revisiting the songs unplugged.

The acoustic instruments were captured at Westlake Audio Studios (where Ballard once jammed on the synth of Michael Jackson’s Bad) with his cherished standbys — a vintage [AKG] D12, and a trio of Neumann mics — a 49, 47, and 67. These went through outboard Neve 1073 preamp, a classic Neve BCM-10 'sidecar' console."

Used for the vocals on Havoc and Bright Lights, as stated by producer Joe Chiccarelli in this July 26, 2012 Universal Audio blog interview.

I recorded her vocal through a Sunset Sound preamp, which is a kind of hybrid Jensen/API design. It’s a very unusual preamp; very warm sounding, but very fast and aggressive at the same time.

Then it went through a real vintage UREI 1176. I like to do different types of compression for lead vocals and background vocals, often I’ll use tighter compression with background vocals. All the backgrounds were done with vintage LA-3A Audio Levelers and a lot more compression than I would have used on her lead vocal.

She always has used an AKG C12 microphone. She’s used it for all her career so we stuck with it.

Used for the background vocals on Havoc and Bright Lights, as stated by producer Joe Chiccarelli in this July 26, 2012 Universal Audio blog interview.

I recorded her vocal through a Sunset Sound preamp, which is a kind of hybrid Jensen/API design. It’s a very unusual preamp; very warm sounding, but very fast and aggressive at the same time.

Then it went through a real vintage UREI 1176. I like to do different types of compression for lead vocals and background vocals, often I’ll use tighter compression with background vocals. All the backgrounds were done with vintage LA-3A Audio Levelers and a lot more compression than I would have used on her lead vocal.

She always has used an AKG C12 microphone. She’s used it for all her career so we stuck with it.