Session Plan: Clavinet

 

28/4/24

Setup:

I will be using a DI box to achieve this recording, due to not having a real clavinet only a Digital Piano with a clavinet sound. The DI box is because The Hohner Clavinet D6 has a jack output as seen in images on Vintage Rock Keyboards (2015) So I feel this will be the best way of recording it.


Back panel of a clavinet. Vintage Rock Keyboards (2015)

I will be recording the clavinet in 8 layers identically to 'Superstition' (1972) as described by Trinity College London (Date Unknown) " What you hear on the track is actually eight separate clavinet tracks mixed together"

Processing:

The tracks will come in through Neve 1073DPA pre-amps, adding saturation, an idea suggested by Gear4Music (2023) "you can even place them on your mix bus to add gentle harmonic distortion."

After the pre-amps the tracks will go through a Neve 1073LB EQ unit to take some bass off around 200Hz reducing clashes with the synth bass and drums and boost the high frequencies around 5kHz. 

Next the tracks will run through a DL441 compressor unit to take some of the edge of and leave some dynamic room for the vocals as suggested by Sound On Sound (1996) "Perhaps the most useful application is to force backing instruments such as rhythm guitars or pad keyboard parts to drop in level by a dB or two when vocals are present".

At this point the two tracks needing delay, will be sent through the Lexicon PCM92 reverb unit and will then get routed with the SSL Desk like the other tracks.



Routing order for the session.


To make sure my session keyboardist knows what to play I've made reference midi tracks: a melody track and a chord track.


Bibliography:

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 Unpublished

VINTAGE ROCK KEYBOARDS, AL., 2015. Hohner Calvinet D6. Alan Lenhoff. Available from: https://vintagerockkeyboards.com/2015/08/04/hohner-clavinet-d6/ [Accessed 28 April 2024]

Sound On Sound, PW., 1996. Compression and Limiting. Cambridgeshire, Cambridge: SOS Publications Group. Available from: https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/compression-limiting [Accessed 28 April 2024]

Gear4Music, CB., 2023. What is a preamp, and how will it help my sound?. York, Holgate: Gear4Music. Available from: https://www.gear4music.com/blog/what-is-a-preamp/ [Accessed 28 April 2024]

References:

Multitrack Guru, 2020. Stevie Wonder - Superstition multitracks [video]. YouTube. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrNIlAcDhTU&ab_channel=MultitrackGuru [Accessed 28 April 2024]

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