Chris Martin

In this photo Chris can be seen playing Korg KONTROL49. Coldplay used these MIDI controllers extensively throughout the Viva la Vida and Mylo Xyloto tours. The same keyboard can be seen in detail here: http://lucylovesya.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/012-Another-lovely-keyboard1.jpg

Mentioned by mixing engineer Michael Brauer as being used on "Violet Hill" in this Sound on Sound interview about the production of Viva la Vida & Death and All of His Friends.

Vocals: Waves Renaissance & Digidesign de–essers, AMS reverb, Zoom 1202, Lexicon PCM81, Watkins Copicat, Empirical Labs Distressor, Federal, Gates, Fairchild 666, EAR 660, Neve 1176 & Awa G7201 compressors

"I used two Renaissance de–essers on Chris's voice that were doing different things, and then a stock Digidesign de-esser. That was it for the plug–ins I added on this session. The Sonnox Oxford and the Eoisis were not out yet at the time.

"The analogue things I did on the lead vocal are really interesting. As I said, I initially mixed the songs on my own, because the band was in England re–recording some songs, so I knew I might have to recall each song. But on this song I pretty much nailed it, apart from that Chris wanted the vocals to be more exciting and different. In the end the vocal had some AMS non–linear reverb on it, while the main sound came from an old Zoom 1202 reverb and a Watkins Copicat delay, plus a special patch that I created in the PCM81, which is a much bigger reverb. So it's a combination of things, but you don't really notice them, all you notice is that Chris is in a very present, big room. When I had found that combination 'Violet Hill' really became a song, it really came alive, because his voice was able to fight through all the stuff that was going on and make it personable. There's no reverb on the rest of the track, which is another reason why the lead vocal sounds so huge: it's not fighting another bunch of reverbs. If you send everything to reverb, you don't hear it, but if you send only one thing to reverb, it'll be huge.

"For the main part of the song I had a Distressor on the insert of the lead vocal, and I sent this to another five compressors: the Federal, the Gates, the Fairchild 666, the Neve 1176 and another Distressor in Nuke mode. They're all coming back individually on the board, and it was a matter of blending those compressors. As usual in my way of working, the compressors are there to give attitude and tone, and don't necessarily compress. For the end bit of the song, where it's just Chris and the piano, I used the Awa G7201 limiter/compressor. It's an Australian compressor and it has an incredible air and presence. It's a unique sound that you can clearly hear at the end, as it's the only effect on the vocal on that point. Finally, the church group background vocals are sent to the same combination of reverbs as the main vocals. No other effects, no EQ. It means that all the vocals in the main section blend together."

Mentioned by A Head Full of Dreams co-producer Rik Simpson in this Sound on Sound article.

“With regards to vocal microphones, we have over the years tried most things on Chris [Martin],” says Rik Simpson. “For this album we wanted a clear, vibrant tone, full of humanity and life. I did shootouts between vintage Neumann U47s and U67s, and quite few new mics inspired by the 47, Telefunken 251, and so on. I can’t even recall all of them, but the Soyuz SU17 blew them all out of the water. It’s a hand-made Russian mic, very artisan, and sounds fantastic, very pure and full. Sometimes he’ll pick up a Shure SM58 because he loves holding a mic, with his vocals then sounding over the speakers. He can really get into the zone and perform like that. I’m obviously always trying to get him to sing into a more expensive, great–sounding mic, but if he’s feeling comfortable he’ll get a great performance.

“A lot of the 58 recordings did end up on the album, and I think it sounds great, though I’d never comp between the Soyuz and the 58. At the beginning of the record I asked him to use Telefunken M80 as a hand-held mic. I was trying to get something that sounded better than an SM58, but later on during the sessions we went back to the SM58 because the weight of it feels more comfortable to him. The mic pre on both the 58 and the Soyuz was a UA–610, which sounds great and is a wonderful and very reliable workhorse.

Mentioned by mixing engineer Michael Brauer as being used on "Violet Hill" in this Sound on Sound interview about the production of Viva la Vida & Death and All of His Friends. It is visible in this photo from the same interview.

"In addition to all the above effects, all tracks went through my ABCD multi–bus compression system [see 'Brauerize TheMix' box]. 'A' consists of a Neve 33609 going into a Pultec P1A3S EQ; 'B' is is almost always a Distressor going into my Avalon E55 EQ; 'C' is the Pendulum ES8 tube limiter; 'D' at the time was my Inward Connection stereo tube limiter (but currently it's the [TF Pro] Edward The Compressor P8). So the bass and drums went through B, the guitars went through C — sometimes I'll send guitars through A and C, or I'll send them to C and then send them to a mono compressor return, whichever excites them the best — the keyboards went through A, and the backing vocals through A and D. I did not put the lead vocals through my multi–bus system. I stopped doing that three years ago. Instead they went through these five compressors, the Federal, Gates, Fairchild, 1176 and Distressor.

This item can be spotted in the background of the source.

In this photo inside Coldplay's studio, taken by roadie Matt Miller, Chris Martin can be seen using a MacBook Pro. Source.

Mentioned by FOH engineer Dan Green in this AudioTechnology magazine article about the Ghost Stories Tour.

AT: Could you run me through Chris Martin’s vocal chain?

DG: It starts with a Shure SM58 radio mic which he just loves singing into — the sound and the weight is just right for him. It goes to the Neve 1073 500 series module, and into a channel on the SD7. Then I just use a little bit of channel EQ to clean up the low end, to avoid pumping the compressor unnecessarily — the stage volume is blisteringly loud up there from PA spill, so there’s always going to be some low-end filtering. And then it goes into one of the Waves Puigchild 660 plug-ins. From there, into a Waves H EQ for some general EQ’ing. I really like that EQ for its visual feedback — the spectrum analyser is really handy to quickly pinpoint any frequencies that are poking out or not quite right. Then it finishes with the Waves C6 multiband compressor, which is the most incredible plug-in. I really rely on the C6 for the sound of Chris’s voice because when he’s getting into his low register, his voice is very bassy. But I find if I take some of those overpowering low frequencies out with a regular EQ, when he goes up to his falsetto voice, it sounds a bit thin. With the C6, because it’s a dynamic EQ, as soon as he hits his falsetto voice, all of those rich lows return. Effects-wise, I’ve got an old TC 2290 delay which is MIDI’d up to be part of my snapshot automation. I really like it because it’s hands-on. Saying that, after it’s set up the only control I touch is the tap tempo button. Finally, I have a Bricasti M7 reverb, which I prefer to a Lexicon for its character.

Mentioned by mixing engineer Michael Brauer as being used on "Violet Hill" in this Sound on Sound interview about the production of Viva la Vida & Death and All of His Friends.

Vocals: Waves Renaissance & Digidesign de–essers, AMS reverb, Zoom 1202, Lexicon PCM81, Watkins Copicat, Empirical Labs Distressor, Federal, Gates, Fairchild 666, EAR 660, Neve 1176 & Awa G7201 compressors

"I used two Renaissance de–essers on Chris's voice that were doing different things, and then a stock Digidesign de-esser. That was it for the plug–ins I added on this session. The Sonnox Oxford and the Eoisis were not out yet at the time.

"The analogue things I did on the lead vocal are really interesting. As I said, I initially mixed the songs on my own, because the band was in England re–recording some songs, so I knew I might have to recall each song. But on this song I pretty much nailed it, apart from that Chris wanted the vocals to be more exciting and different. In the end the vocal had some AMS non–linear reverb on it, while the main sound came from an old Zoom 1202 reverb and a Watkins Copicat delay, plus a special patch that I created in the PCM81, which is a much bigger reverb. So it's a combination of things, but you don't really notice them, all you notice is that Chris is in a very present, big room. When I had found that combination 'Violet Hill' really became a song, it really came alive, because his voice was able to fight through all the stuff that was going on and make it personable. There's no reverb on the rest of the track, which is another reason why the lead vocal sounds so huge: it's not fighting another bunch of reverbs. If you send everything to reverb, you don't hear it, but if you send only one thing to reverb, it'll be huge.

"For the main part of the song I had a Distressor on the insert of the lead vocal, and I sent this to another five compressors: the Federal, the Gates, the Fairchild 666, the Neve 1176 and another Distressor in Nuke mode. They're all coming back individually on the board, and it was a matter of blending those compressors. As usual in my way of working, the compressors are there to give attitude and tone, and don't necessarily compress. For the end bit of the song, where it's just Chris and the piano, I used the Awa G7201 limiter/compressor. It's an Australian compressor and it has an incredible air and presence. It's a unique sound that you can clearly hear at the end, as it's the only effect on the vocal on that point. Finally, the church group background vocals are sent to the same combination of reverbs as the main vocals. No other effects, no EQ. It means that all the vocals in the main section blend together."

Mentioned by FOH engineer Dan Green in this AudioTechnology magazine article about the Ghost Stories Tour.

AT: Could you run me through Chris Martin’s vocal chain?

DG: It starts with a Shure SM58 radio mic which he just loves singing into — the sound and the weight is just right for him. It goes to the Neve 1073 500 series module, and into a channel on the SD7. Then I just use a little bit of channel EQ to clean up the low end, to avoid pumping the compressor unnecessarily — the stage volume is blisteringly loud up there from PA spill, so there’s always going to be some low-end filtering. And then it goes into one of the Waves Puigchild 660 plug-ins. From there, into a Waves H EQ for some general EQ’ing. I really like that EQ for its visual feedback — the spectrum analyser is really handy to quickly pinpoint any frequencies that are poking out or not quite right. Then it finishes with the Waves C6 multiband compressor, which is the most incredible plug-in. I really rely on the C6 for the sound of Chris’s voice because when he’s getting into his low register, his voice is very bassy. But I find if I take some of those overpowering low frequencies out with a regular EQ, when he goes up to his falsetto voice, it sounds a bit thin. With the C6, because it’s a dynamic EQ, as soon as he hits his falsetto voice, all of those rich lows return. Effects-wise, I’ve got an old TC 2290 delay which is MIDI’d up to be part of my snapshot automation. I really like it because it’s hands-on. Saying that, after it’s set up the only control I touch is the tap tempo button. Finally, I have a Bricasti M7 reverb, which I prefer to a Lexicon for its character.

Mentioned by FOH engineer Dan Green in this AudioTechnology magazine article about the Ghost Stories Tour.

AT: Could you run me through Chris Martin’s vocal chain?

DG: It starts with a Shure SM58 radio mic which he just loves singing into — the sound and the weight is just right for him. It goes to the Neve 1073 500 series module, and into a channel on the SD7. Then I just use a little bit of channel EQ to clean up the low end, to avoid pumping the compressor unnecessarily — the stage volume is blisteringly loud up there from PA spill, so there’s always going to be some low-end filtering. And then it goes into one of the Waves Puigchild 660 plug-ins. From there, into a Waves H EQ for some general EQ’ing. I really like that EQ for its visual feedback — the spectrum analyser is really handy to quickly pinpoint any frequencies that are poking out or not quite right. Then it finishes with the Waves C6 multiband compressor, which is the most incredible plug-in. I really rely on the C6 for the sound of Chris’s voice because when he’s getting into his low register, his voice is very bassy. But I find if I take some of those overpowering low frequencies out with a regular EQ, when he goes up to his falsetto voice, it sounds a bit thin. With the C6, because it’s a dynamic EQ, as soon as he hits his falsetto voice, all of those rich lows return. Effects-wise, I’ve got an old TC 2290 delay which is MIDI’d up to be part of my snapshot automation. I really like it because it’s hands-on. Saying that, after it’s set up the only control I touch is the tap tempo button. Finally, I have a Bricasti M7 reverb, which I prefer to a Lexicon for its character.

Mentioned by mixing engineer Michael Brauer as being used on "Violet Hill" in this Sound on Sound interview about the production of Viva la Vida & Death and All of His Friends.

Keyboards: Urei LA3A, Focusrite 115 HD, Neve Portico 5014

"The piano had my regular piano insert, which is two Urei LA3As going into my prototype Focusrite stereo 115 HD EQ. For some additional width I sent it to a Neve Portico 5014 Sound Field Editor. No reverb. I left the intro ambience as it was given to me. The keys had nothing on them either, not even EQ, jut flat, panned left and right. A lot of the tracks had hardly any EQ on them. Again, they did their homework and got the sounds that they wanted and didn't leave me to reinvent the song. What they wanted from me was to get their vision out there. That's my job."

Mentioned by mixing engineer Michael Brauer as being used on "Violet Hill" in this Sound on Sound interview about the production of Viva la Vida & Death and All of His Friends.

Keyboards: Urei LA3A, Focusrite 115 HD, Neve Portico 5014

"The piano had my regular piano insert, which is two Urei LA3As going into my prototype Focusrite stereo 115 HD EQ. For some additional width I sent it to a Neve Portico 5014 Sound Field Editor. No reverb. I left the intro ambience as it was given to me. The keys had nothing on them either, not even EQ, jut flat, panned left and right. A lot of the tracks had hardly any EQ on them. Again, they did their homework and got the sounds that they wanted and didn't leave me to reinvent the song. What they wanted from me was to get their vision out there. That's my job."

Mentioned by mixing engineer Michael Brauer as being used on "Violet Hill" in this Sound on Sound interview about the production of Viva la Vida & Death and All of His Friends.

Vocals: Waves Renaissance & Digidesign de–essers, AMS reverb, Zoom 1202, Lexicon PCM81, Watkins Copicat, Empirical Labs Distressor, Federal, Gates, Fairchild 666, EAR 660, Neve 1176 & Awa G7201 compressors

"I used two Renaissance de–essers on Chris's voice that were doing different things, and then a stock Digidesign de-esser. That was it for the plug–ins I added on this session. The Sonnox Oxford and the Eoisis were not out yet at the time.

"The analogue things I did on the lead vocal are really interesting. As I said, I initially mixed the songs on my own, because the band was in England re–recording some songs, so I knew I might have to recall each song. But on this song I pretty much nailed it, apart from that Chris wanted the vocals to be more exciting and different. In the end the vocal had some AMS non–linear reverb on it, while the main sound came from an old Zoom 1202 reverb and a Watkins Copicat delay, plus a special patch that I created in the PCM81, which is a much bigger reverb. So it's a combination of things, but you don't really notice them, all you notice is that Chris is in a very present, big room. When I had found that combination 'Violet Hill' really became a song, it really came alive, because his voice was able to fight through all the stuff that was going on and make it personable. There's no reverb on the rest of the track, which is another reason why the lead vocal sounds so huge: it's not fighting another bunch of reverbs. If you send everything to reverb, you don't hear it, but if you send only one thing to reverb, it'll be huge.

"For the main part of the song I had a Distressor on the insert of the lead vocal, and I sent this to another five compressors: the Federal, the Gates, the Fairchild 666, the Neve 1176 and another Distressor in Nuke mode. They're all coming back individually on the board, and it was a matter of blending those compressors. As usual in my way of working, the compressors are there to give attitude and tone, and don't necessarily compress. For the end bit of the song, where it's just Chris and the piano, I used the Awa G7201 limiter/compressor. It's an Australian compressor and it has an incredible air and presence. It's a unique sound that you can clearly hear at the end, as it's the only effect on the vocal on that point. Finally, the church group background vocals are sent to the same combination of reverbs as the main vocals. No other effects, no EQ. It means that all the vocals in the main section blend together."

Mentioned by mixing engineer Michael Brauer as being used on "Violet Hill" in this Sound on Sound interview about the production of Viva la Vida & Death and All of His Friends. It is visible in this photo from the same interview.

Vocals: Waves Renaissance & Digidesign de–essers, AMS reverb, Zoom 1202, Lexicon PCM81, Watkins Copicat, Empirical Labs Distressor, Federal, Gates, Fairchild 666, EAR 660, Neve 1176 & Awa G7201 compressors

"I used two Renaissance de–essers on Chris's voice that were doing different things, and then a stock Digidesign de-esser. That was it for the plug–ins I added on this session. The Sonnox Oxford and the Eoisis were not out yet at the time.

"The analogue things I did on the lead vocal are really interesting. As I said, I initially mixed the songs on my own, because the band was in England re–recording some songs, so I knew I might have to recall each song. But on this song I pretty much nailed it, apart from that Chris wanted the vocals to be more exciting and different. In the end the vocal had some AMS non–linear reverb on it, while the main sound came from an old Zoom 1202 reverb and a Watkins Copicat delay, plus a special patch that I created in the PCM81, which is a much bigger reverb. So it's a combination of things, but you don't really notice them, all you notice is that Chris is in a very present, big room. When I had found that combination 'Violet Hill' really became a song, it really came alive, because his voice was able to fight through all the stuff that was going on and make it personable. There's no reverb on the rest of the track, which is another reason why the lead vocal sounds so huge: it's not fighting another bunch of reverbs. If you send everything to reverb, you don't hear it, but if you send only one thing to reverb, it'll be huge.

"For the main part of the song I had a Distressor on the insert of the lead vocal, and I sent this to another five compressors: the Federal, the Gates, the Fairchild 666, the Neve 1176 and another Distressor in Nuke mode. They're all coming back individually on the board, and it was a matter of blending those compressors. As usual in my way of working, the compressors are there to give attitude and tone, and don't necessarily compress. For the end bit of the song, where it's just Chris and the piano, I used the Awa G7201 limiter/compressor. It's an Australian compressor and it has an incredible air and presence. It's a unique sound that you can clearly hear at the end, as it's the only effect on the vocal on that point. Finally, the church group background vocals are sent to the same combination of reverbs as the main vocals. No other effects, no EQ. It means that all the vocals in the main section blend together."

Mentioned by mixing engineer Michael Brauer as being used on "Violet Hill" in this Sound on Sound interview about the production of Viva la Vida & Death and All of His Friends, erroneously transcribed as a Neve 1176. The Urei 1176 is mentioned earlier as having been used on Coldplay drummer Will Champion's drums.

Vocals: Waves Renaissance & Digidesign de–essers, AMS reverb, Zoom 1202, Lexicon PCM81, Watkins Copicat, Empirical Labs Distressor, Federal, Gates, Fairchild 666, EAR 660, Neve 1176 & Awa G7201 compressors

"I used two Renaissance de–essers on Chris's voice that were doing different things, and then a stock Digidesign de-esser. That was it for the plug–ins I added on this session. The Sonnox Oxford and the Eoisis were not out yet at the time.

"The analogue things I did on the lead vocal are really interesting. As I said, I initially mixed the songs on my own, because the band was in England re–recording some songs, so I knew I might have to recall each song. But on this song I pretty much nailed it, apart from that Chris wanted the vocals to be more exciting and different. In the end the vocal had some AMS non–linear reverb on it, while the main sound came from an old Zoom 1202 reverb and a Watkins Copicat delay, plus a special patch that I created in the PCM81, which is a much bigger reverb. So it's a combination of things, but you don't really notice them, all you notice is that Chris is in a very present, big room. When I had found that combination 'Violet Hill' really became a song, it really came alive, because his voice was able to fight through all the stuff that was going on and make it personable. There's no reverb on the rest of the track, which is another reason why the lead vocal sounds so huge: it's not fighting another bunch of reverbs. If you send everything to reverb, you don't hear it, but if you send only one thing to reverb, it'll be huge.

"For the main part of the song I had a Distressor on the insert of the lead vocal, and I sent this to another five compressors: the Federal, the Gates, the Fairchild 666, the Neve 1176 and another Distressor in Nuke mode. They're all coming back individually on the board, and it was a matter of blending those compressors. As usual in my way of working, the compressors are there to give attitude and tone, and don't necessarily compress. For the end bit of the song, where it's just Chris and the piano, I used the Awa G7201 limiter/compressor. It's an Australian compressor and it has an incredible air and presence. It's a unique sound that you can clearly hear at the end, as it's the only effect on the vocal on that point. Finally, the church group background vocals are sent to the same combination of reverbs as the main vocals. No other effects, no EQ. It means that all the vocals in the main section blend together."

Mentioned by mixing engineer Michael Brauer as being used on "Violet Hill" in this Sound on Sound interview about the production of Viva la Vida & Death and All of His Friends.

Keyboards: Urei LA3A, Focusrite 115 HD, Neve Portico 5014

"The piano had my regular piano insert, which is two Urei LA3As going into my prototype Focusrite stereo 115 HD EQ. For some additional width I sent it to a Neve Portico 5014 Sound Field Editor. No reverb. I left the intro ambience as it was given to me. The keys had nothing on them either, not even EQ, jut flat, panned left and right. A lot of the tracks had hardly any EQ on them. Again, they did their homework and got the sounds that they wanted and didn't leave me to reinvent the song. What they wanted from me was to get their vision out there. That's my job."

Mentioned by mixing engineer Michael Brauer as being used on "Violet Hill" in this Sound on Sound interview about the production of Viva la Vida & Death and All of His Friends.

Vocals: Waves Renaissance & Digidesign de–essers, AMS reverb, Zoom 1202, Lexicon PCM81, Watkins Copicat, Empirical Labs Distressor, Federal, Gates, Fairchild 666, EAR 660, Neve 1176 & Awa G7201 compressors

"I used two Renaissance de–essers on Chris's voice that were doing different things, and then a stock Digidesign de-esser. That was it for the plug–ins I added on this session. The Sonnox Oxford and the Eoisis were not out yet at the time.

"The analogue things I did on the lead vocal are really interesting. As I said, I initially mixed the songs on my own, because the band was in England re–recording some songs, so I knew I might have to recall each song. But on this song I pretty much nailed it, apart from that Chris wanted the vocals to be more exciting and different. In the end the vocal had some AMS non–linear reverb on it, while the main sound came from an old Zoom 1202 reverb and a Watkins Copicat delay, plus a special patch that I created in the PCM81, which is a much bigger reverb. So it's a combination of things, but you don't really notice them, all you notice is that Chris is in a very present, big room. When I had found that combination 'Violet Hill' really became a song, it really came alive, because his voice was able to fight through all the stuff that was going on and make it personable. There's no reverb on the rest of the track, which is another reason why the lead vocal sounds so huge: it's not fighting another bunch of reverbs. If you send everything to reverb, you don't hear it, but if you send only one thing to reverb, it'll be huge.

"For the main part of the song I had a Distressor on the insert of the lead vocal, and I sent this to another five compressors: the Federal, the Gates, the Fairchild 666, the Neve 1176 and another Distressor in Nuke mode. They're all coming back individually on the board, and it was a matter of blending those compressors. As usual in my way of working, the compressors are there to give attitude and tone, and don't necessarily compress. For the end bit of the song, where it's just Chris and the piano, I used the Awa G7201 limiter/compressor. It's an Australian compressor and it has an incredible air and presence. It's a unique sound that you can clearly hear at the end, as it's the only effect on the vocal on that point. Finally, the church group background vocals are sent to the same combination of reverbs as the main vocals. No other effects, no EQ. It means that all the vocals in the main section blend together."

Mentioned by mixing engineer Michael Brauer as being used on "Violet Hill" in this Sound on Sound interview about the production of Viva la Vida & Death and All of His Friends. It is visible in this photo from the same interview.

Vocals: Waves Renaissance & Digidesign de–essers, AMS reverb, Zoom 1202, Lexicon PCM81, Watkins Copicat, Empirical Labs Distressor, Federal, Gates, Fairchild 666, EAR 660, Neve 1176 & Awa G7201 compressors

"I used two Renaissance de–essers on Chris's voice that were doing different things, and then a stock Digidesign de-esser. That was it for the plug–ins I added on this session. The Sonnox Oxford and the Eoisis were not out yet at the time.

"The analogue things I did on the lead vocal are really interesting. As I said, I initially mixed the songs on my own, because the band was in England re–recording some songs, so I knew I might have to recall each song. But on this song I pretty much nailed it, apart from that Chris wanted the vocals to be more exciting and different. In the end the vocal had some AMS non–linear reverb on it, while the main sound came from an old Zoom 1202 reverb and a Watkins Copicat delay, plus a special patch that I created in the PCM81, which is a much bigger reverb. So it's a combination of things, but you don't really notice them, all you notice is that Chris is in a very present, big room. When I had found that combination 'Violet Hill' really became a song, it really came alive, because his voice was able to fight through all the stuff that was going on and make it personable. There's no reverb on the rest of the track, which is another reason why the lead vocal sounds so huge: it's not fighting another bunch of reverbs. If you send everything to reverb, you don't hear it, but if you send only one thing to reverb, it'll be huge.

"For the main part of the song I had a Distressor on the insert of the lead vocal, and I sent this to another five compressors: the Federal, the Gates, the Fairchild 666, the Neve 1176 and another Distressor in Nuke mode. They're all coming back individually on the board, and it was a matter of blending those compressors. As usual in my way of working, the compressors are there to give attitude and tone, and don't necessarily compress. For the end bit of the song, where it's just Chris and the piano, I used the Awa G7201 limiter/compressor. It's an Australian compressor and it has an incredible air and presence. It's a unique sound that you can clearly hear at the end, as it's the only effect on the vocal on that point. Finally, the church group background vocals are sent to the same combination of reverbs as the main vocals. No other effects, no EQ. It means that all the vocals in the main section blend together."

Mentioned by mixing engineer Michael Brauer as being used on "Violet Hill" in this Sound on Sound interview about the production of Viva la Vida & Death and All of His Friends.

Vocals: Waves Renaissance & Digidesign de–essers, AMS reverb, Zoom 1202, Lexicon PCM81, Watkins Copicat, Empirical Labs Distressor, Federal, Gates, Fairchild 666, EAR 660, Neve 1176 & Awa G7201 compressors

"I used two Renaissance de–essers on Chris's voice that were doing different things, and then a stock Digidesign de-esser. That was it for the plug–ins I added on this session. The Sonnox Oxford and the Eoisis were not out yet at the time.

"The analogue things I did on the lead vocal are really interesting. As I said, I initially mixed the songs on my own, because the band was in England re–recording some songs, so I knew I might have to recall each song. But on this song I pretty much nailed it, apart from that Chris wanted the vocals to be more exciting and different. In the end the vocal had some AMS non–linear reverb on it, while the main sound came from an old Zoom 1202 reverb and a Watkins Copicat delay, plus a special patch that I created in the PCM81, which is a much bigger reverb. So it's a combination of things, but you don't really notice them, all you notice is that Chris is in a very present, big room. When I had found that combination 'Violet Hill' really became a song, it really came alive, because his voice was able to fight through all the stuff that was going on and make it personable. There's no reverb on the rest of the track, which is another reason why the lead vocal sounds so huge: it's not fighting another bunch of reverbs. If you send everything to reverb, you don't hear it, but if you send only one thing to reverb, it'll be huge.

"For the main part of the song I had a Distressor on the insert of the lead vocal, and I sent this to another five compressors: the Federal, the Gates, the Fairchild 666, the Neve 1176 and another Distressor in Nuke mode. They're all coming back individually on the board, and it was a matter of blending those compressors. As usual in my way of working, the compressors are there to give attitude and tone, and don't necessarily compress. For the end bit of the song, where it's just Chris and the piano, I used the Awa G7201 limiter/compressor. It's an Australian compressor and it has an incredible air and presence. It's a unique sound that you can clearly hear at the end, as it's the only effect on the vocal on that point. Finally, the church group background vocals are sent to the same combination of reverbs as the main vocals. No other effects, no EQ. It means that all the vocals in the main section blend together."

Mentioned by mixing engineer Michael Brauer as being used on "Violet Hill" in this Sound on Sound interview about the production of Viva la Vida & Death and All of His Friends.

Vocals: Waves Renaissance & Digidesign de–essers, AMS reverb, Zoom 1202, Lexicon PCM81, Watkins Copicat, Empirical Labs Distressor, Federal, Gates, Fairchild 666, EAR 660, Neve 1176 & Awa G7201 compressors

"I used two Renaissance de–essers on Chris's voice that were doing different things, and then a stock Digidesign de-esser. That was it for the plug–ins I added on this session. The Sonnox Oxford and the Eoisis were not out yet at the time.

"The analogue things I did on the lead vocal are really interesting. As I said, I initially mixed the songs on my own, because the band was in England re–recording some songs, so I knew I might have to recall each song. But on this song I pretty much nailed it, apart from that Chris wanted the vocals to be more exciting and different. In the end the vocal had some AMS non–linear reverb on it, while the main sound came from an old Zoom 1202 reverb and a Watkins Copicat delay, plus a special patch that I created in the PCM81, which is a much bigger reverb. So it's a combination of things, but you don't really notice them, all you notice is that Chris is in a very present, big room. When I had found that combination 'Violet Hill' really became a song, it really came alive, because his voice was able to fight through all the stuff that was going on and make it personable. There's no reverb on the rest of the track, which is another reason why the lead vocal sounds so huge: it's not fighting another bunch of reverbs. If you send everything to reverb, you don't hear it, but if you send only one thing to reverb, it'll be huge.

"For the main part of the song I had a Distressor on the insert of the lead vocal, and I sent this to another five compressors: the Federal, the Gates, the Fairchild 666, the Neve 1176 and another Distressor in Nuke mode. They're all coming back individually on the board, and it was a matter of blending those compressors. As usual in my way of working, the compressors are there to give attitude and tone, and don't necessarily compress. For the end bit of the song, where it's just Chris and the piano, I used the Awa G7201 limiter/compressor. It's an Australian compressor and it has an incredible air and presence. It's a unique sound that you can clearly hear at the end, as it's the only effect on the vocal on that point. Finally, the church group background vocals are sent to the same combination of reverbs as the main vocals. No other effects, no EQ. It means that all the vocals in the main section blend together."