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Vigil was recorded and mixed from July 1998 to May 2000 at Skyline Studios in Oakland, CA. Additional recording was done in 1997 at Altra Mix Productions and Axent Productions in St. Louis, MO. Additional mixing was done at Number 6 Studios in Oakland, CA. Most of the recording used 16-bit or 20-bit ADAT machines. Some recording was done in ProTools. A few tracks were sketched out on a Roland VS-880 and later transferred to ADAT. All editing was done using ProTools or Cubase. A goal of this project was to make a cohesive recording that would represent the band as an entity: to capture the basic feel of the band's live performances, while having the freedom to add enhancements at will. The music on Vigil was fully conceived and well-rehearsed before recording began. Most of the material was already in the Trance Lucid live repertoire. Each song developed with the help of engineer/co-producer Todd Evans. The recording environment was comfortable, yet expensive, and did not always allow for working at the level of detail that was desired. The guitars used were an Ibanez RG-550 and an Electra Westone Dynasty XV-2 in standard tuning, and a Yamaha AEX500N in drop-A tuning. A Digitech GSP-2101 was used extensively. The primary amplifier used was a MosValve 962 with a Marshall 2 x 12 cabinet (1922). A Musicman 112RP 65 and a Roland JC-77 were used on several songs. The cabinets were usually mic'd with a Telefunken 251, sometimes with a Shure SM57, Sennheiser 421, or AKG C24. The bass was usually mic'd with a Neumann U67 (sometimes direct) and then processed through an Avalon AD2022 preamp and a UA 1176LN peak limiter. The drums were usually recorded with a traditional mic set-up (kick: U47 or D112, snare: SM57 or AKG 414, hihat: AKG C61, toms: Sennheiser 421, AT4050, D112, overheads: C24), with some variations. Other microphones used: Shure SM81, SM94, AKG D3500, CAD E100. Synthesizers used were: Roland JV-80, Korg 01R/W, Roland D-50, Roland Super JD, and Juno 106. A Roland S-760 sampler was also used. |
