Investigating the other instruments in 'Superstition'

 

13/4/24

Today I found an article on Liveabout Dotcom (2019) I discovered it as a reference someone listed in a Sound on Sound forum (2009) discussing how Stevie Wonder captured the iconic tones of this track.

The article breaks down the original stems from the track as they are available online. The overall track is 16 tracks "On this mix, we have 16 tracks to work with" Liveabout Dotcom (2019).

The initial thing to note is that there are only 3 drum mics deviating from the previous article I studied. The drums feature "three channels: kick, overhead left (including high-hat), and overhead right (including ride cymbal)" Liveabout Dotcom (2019).

The bass is a single track of a Moog synth as supported by Rolling Stone (2018) "The cavernous Moog bass with undulating ARP synthesizers that became Stevie signature sound in hits like 'Superstition' "

The vocals are double tracked and were likely recorded using a Neumann 87 or Electro-Voice RE20 as suggested by a Sound On Sound article (2007) I found through Quora (2012) "On some songs we used a [Neumann] 87 for Steve's vocals" fortunately we have the modern equivalent U87 on campus.

The brass parts are contained within two tracks however, I don't intend to re-record them.

Finally the clavinet parts are spread across 8 tracks as additionally supported by a track breakdown by Trinity College London (Date Unknown) " What you hear on the track is actually eight separate clavinet tracks mixed together".

With this information I can now begin to decide on how I will transfer elements of 'Kane Guru' over to this style. I would like to stick to the 16 track restriction that Stevie Wonder had at the time.


Bibliography:

Liveabout Dotcom, JS., 2019. Mixing Stevie Wonders "Superstition". New York, New York City: Dotdash Meredith. Available from: https://www.liveabout.com/mixing-stevie-wonders-superstition-1817747 [Accessed 13 April 2024]

Sound On Sound, RB., 2007. Classic Tracks: Stevie Wonder 'Past Time Paradise'. Cambridgeshire, Cambridge: SOS Publications Group. Available from: https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/classic-tracks-stevie-wonder-pastime-paradise [Accessed 13 April 2024]

Trinity College London, 2017. Superstition Stevie Wonder [Article]. London: Trinity College London. Unpublished

Sound On Sound, BB., 2009. Mixing Stevie Wonder. Cambridgeshire, Cambridge: SOS Publications Group. Available from: https://www.soundonsound.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14299 [Accessed 13 April 2024]

Quora, EH., 2012. What Kinds of Microphones did Stevie Wonder use for his classic recordings?. California, Mountain View. Available from: https://www.quora.com/What-kinds-of-microphones-did-Stevie-Wonder-use-for-his-classic-recordings [Accessed 13 April 2024]

RollingStone, MP. DG., 2018. TONTO: The 50-Year Saga of the Synth Heard on Stevie Wonder Classics. New York, New York City: Rolling Stone, LLC. Available from: https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/history-of-giant-stevie-wonder-synth-tonto-752161/ [Accessed 13 April 2024]


  


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