Lakeman was excited to put their new Metric Halo ULN-8 through its paces as soon as it arrived in the spring of 2010 but as Dillon was pregnant with their third child, the sessions for their next album took a back seat.
Almost a year after first receiving the unit, the BBC asked Dillon to record a version of “Corrina Corrina” in celebration of Bob Dylan’s 70th birthday.
Lakeman used a collection of high-end Neumann and AKG microphones, including the Neumann KU-100 binaural head to capture the room and spot-mic the banjo, mandolin, guitar, and, of course, Dillon’s vocals.
And at long last he was able to put the Metric Halo ULN-8 to use, which provided all of the mic pres and conversion.
At mixdown, Lakeman used the unit’s DSP “tube mic character” settings on both the banjo and the mandolin, along with reverb, equalization, and compression across everything.
“On top of the routine stuff, the guitar took some significant processing to clean it up and set it back into the mix, which was no problem using the ULN-8’s DSP,” said Lakeman.
Although their children still command the front seat, with the music still in the back seat, Lakeman is very pleased with his decision and looks forward to tracking the next Cara Dillon album with the new ULN-8.