Mike Patton
Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Fantômas, etc.
Mike Patton's Gear
Patton also uses a CB radio mic that is plugged into a Korg Kaoss pad for added distortion and delay effects, as well as a pair of full-size megaphones miked with a Shure Beta 98 taped inside and a radio transmitter strapped to the side of each unit. In Patton’s vocal chain, Brennan uses Avid plug-ins for reverbs, distortion, delays, tape flanging and Leslie speaker simulation. - See more at: http://www.mixonline.com/news/tours/faith-no-more/424720#sthash.lLEGuRQB.dpuf
In a photo from the Soundwave festival on February 28, 2015, Mike Patton is seen using the Shure KSM9 microphone.
Mike Patton's Tomahawk rig. Clearly seen in photos/video
In an interview for Lakeshore Records, featured on YouTube, Mike Patton discusses his use of the Genelec 1032C SAM™ Studio Monitor while composing for the film "Crank: High Voltage."
The liner notes for Mr. Bungle’s live album and video The Night They Came Home report that Mike Patton uses Telefunken. In this performance from 10/31/20 he is seen with a chrome handheld mic that appears to be an M80.
He uses it live for improvising and recording on the studio.
Mike Patton is shown using the Roland DJ-70MKII, a sampler known for its 32MB RAM and SCSI port capabilities, in a DeviantArt piece by shiiu.
listed in article, clearly visible in pictures.
listed in article, visible in picture.
Fantomas at Rockout Fest - Santiago, Chile - December 2014
During the Bizarre Festival performance in Cologne, Germany on August 19, 2000, Mike Patton can be seen using the Roland DJ-70 MKII, as captured in the video by MrBungleChannel on YouTube.
I use this plug probably not so much for compression, as I assume it was intended – but more as a distortion box! It’s great both in-chain or for crushing tracks after the fact. A trusted squashing beast! Love it on drums and percussion especially. I have a hardware version of this but lean on the plugin many times, as it can be much more convenient… and no shitty dirty pots to worry about!
Find it on:
Mike Patton
Singer, Songwriter, Multi-Instrumentalist, Film Composer, Producer
Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Tomahawk, Fantomas
“This super-clean EQ is all over the live strings on my Mondo Cane record. It enabled me and my engineers to really dig deeply into specific bothersome frequencies.”
Find it on:
Doppler and Doubler are both fun plugins to use while experimenting. Doppler is known as a sound design plugin, but I’ve used these two on voice in Faith No More and Dead Cross, as well as some single note guitar melodies on various projects. This combination a little difficult to describe – but it provides almost a sort of ‘3D’ depth in certain cases.
Find it on:
Doppler and Doubler are both fun plugins to use while experimenting. Doppler is known as a sound design plugin, but I’ve used these two on voice in Faith No More and Dead Cross, as well as some single note guitar melodies on various projects. This combination a little difficult to describe – but it provides almost a sort of ‘3D’ depth in certain cases.
Eddie Kramer Effects Channel is a go-to when I need a solid slapback delay. It’s all over my soundtrack for A Perfect Place, for example, which had a certain film noir/big band aesthetic: horns, guitars, you name it. The Z Slap and H Slap functions are instant gratification for me, especially when I don’t feel like wrestling with my old tape echoes and their uncleanliness!
Find it on:
J37: A juicy tape emulator that can be used on literally ANYTHING. I have used this on entire stereo mixes, and it made them sound as if they were recorded next to a warm fireplace!
Find it on:
JJP Guitars: A nifty post-production tool. I used it on a couple soundtracks, particularly The Place Beyond the Pines, which utilized a lot of featured guitar lines. It really helped clean up some muddy guitar passages and made it easy to dial in certain frequencies in a main melody/chord progression.
For ‘engineer-challenged’ people like me, these plugs are a godsend. OneKnob Brighter, Driver, Pumper – all are delightfully easy to navigate and every tweak makes me smile. You know that horrible feeling when you enable a plug, adjust parameters, and just keep clicking… waiting for something to happen? It’s the worst feeling in the world. These plugs do NOT do that!
Find it on:
Greg Wells PianoCentric: Although this was designed for piano, I find myself using it on many things. It's especially effective when I try to ‘dirty up’ an annoying digital sample. It gives me a sort of ‘dungeon’ vibe that can really come in handy. Greg Wells VoiceCentric also has a similar magic, although i don’t necessarily use it on vocals either. The fact that these two plugs each have one large dial and are uncomplicated makes them instant fun medicines for me!
X-Hum and X-Noise: When you use funky old gear like noisy amps, ungrounded spring reverbs, etc., these plugs can be a lifesaver. During the recording of my soundtrack for Netflix’s 1922, these were indispensable. The musical aesthetic was very minimal, so each instrumental passage had to carry a certain weight, gravity and clarity. These plugs breathed new life into some cranky mellotron and grimy fiddle tracks, saving my ass!
Find it on:
The API 2500 plugin is something I often use to ‘excite’ a droopy vocal in the mid/high register. I actually have the original hardware, but I use the plugin just as much if not more – it has the ‘teeth’ you would expect from anything API. On 1922, I used the API 2500 to remove unwanted ‘girth’ on low-end bass and percussive instruments, for example on my processed celli – and it was literally like giving them a facial!
Find it on:
Mike Patton praises the Waves Reel ADT plugin, particularly highlighting its varispeed function, which he frequently automates for real-time adjustments. He notes its unique sound, reminiscent of the Tropicália movement and psychedelic influences, as described on waves.com.
Find it on:
Mike Patton praises the Waves Renaissance Bass Plugin for its ability to transform synths and low-end sounds into powerful, Godzilla-like tones, as noted in a feature on waves.com.
Find it on:
“Send a slightly overdriven signal – a crispy snare, a snappy vocal – to this reverb plate plugin, and watch the magic happen! I usually use a little extra drive, depending on the source. And the ‘damper’ function is a go-to on certain vocal information – it can really help smooth out certain spikes in true old-school plate style.”
Mike Patton describes the Waves Manny Marroquin Distortion plugin as "a digital deep fryer" for achieving a crispy exterior on any sound, highlighting its effectiveness in sound design. This statement is featured on Waves' official website under the Manny Marroquin Distortion Plugin section.
Find it on:
In the provided photo, Mike Patton is shown with the Alesis airSynth.
In a video by TC Helicon on YouTube, Mike Patton discusses his initial experience using the VoiceLive Touch 2, highlighting its addition to his effects setup. This video provides insight into his use of Avid Pro Tools within his music production process.
"The final overdubs on the album were Mike Patton’s vocals, which were laid down at his own home studio. [...] “He has an old Orban spring reverb that he really likes that he can drive, which he almost uses like a guitar pedal. And he has these compression settings where he just knows where it feels good for him. He gets a good performance but then he also knows where the sweet spots are and how he can drive it. He also has some kind of funky old delay which he distorts and he brings that in too and records it on a separate track. You can blend that to taste, if you want it. I don’t even know what it is but it’s really funky. Mike has a [Neumann] U87. That’s his mic but we actually did use a [JZ Microphones] Vintage 11 on a couple of things. On some songs, it was great for his voice but on others not so great. It did kind of complement his U87 that he’s always used in the past and that he knows really well. Between those two, we had it covered.”"
This is a community-built gear list for Mike Patton.
- Find relevant music gear like Microphones, Pianos, Keyboards and Synthesizers, and other instruments and add it to Mike Patton.
- The best places to look for gear usage are typically on the artist's social media, YouTube, live performance images, and interviews.
- To receive email updates when Mike Patton is seen with new gear, follow the artist.
Discography
Romances
2004
General Patton vs. The X-Ecutioners
2005
"A Perfect Place" Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
2008
Crank High Voltage (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
2009
Mondo Cane
2010
The Solitude of Prime Numbers
2011
Laborintus II
2012
The Place Beyond the Pines (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
2013
Bacteria Cult
2016
1922 Original Score
2018
Corpse Flower
2019
AVTT/PTTN
2025
Album Credits
-
Engineer
-
Crank High Voltage (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Mike Patton & Mike Patton · 2009
Mixing Engineer Producer -
"A Perfect Place" Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Mike Patton & Mike Patton · 2008
Mixing Engineer Producer -
General Patton vs. The X-Ecutioners
Mike Patton & Mike Patton · 2005
Mixing Engineer Producer -
Producer
-
Recording Engineer