NORAH JONES RECORDING SESSIONS HISTORY: July 2009

The Coop, New York, NY

Band members: Norah Jones (vocals, wurlitzer, piano, acoustic guitar, electric guitar), Sam Cohen (electric guitar), Will Sayles (tambourine, hand drum, percussion)

Producer/Engineer: Jacquire King

Additional Engineers: Brad Bivens and Tom Schick

Set:

• [O] Chasing Pirates
• [O] Even Though
• [O] Light as a Feather
• [O] It’s Gonna Be
• [O] You’ve Ruined Me
• [O] Stuck
• [O] Can’t Stop
• [?] others

Guide:

[X] = confirmed to exist, unreleased
[O] = officially released

Best available sources:

Notes: The first official “wrap up” session to record songs for The Fall.

King noted that this session was after the first official recording session, going “back to her place for a week, to follow up on those two weeks [of the Magic Shop session], and get ready for our trip to Los Angeles [to wrap up the album].” As stated in the first session writeup, this session was for purposes of “pre-production, and overdubbing, like if we were having one or two musicians over at a time, or she was singing or playing something as an overdub.” (1)

Cohen and Sayles were not present at the main session, so they made their contributions at Norah’s home studio. On “Chasing Pirates,” Norah added a second Wurlitzer piano track to the one that had already been recorded by James Poyser in the first session. Cohen also contributed a second electric guitar track to compliment Smokey Hormel’s existing guitar. Most interesting though was the vocal addition to the track – Norah added a background vocal by singing the track again, but then having her voice digitally manipulated so it sounded almost robotic, and dropped an octave lower.

Norah added an additional layer of piano to “Even Though,” while Sayles added Tambourine.

On Light as a Feather, although Sasha Dobson had already recorded an acoustic guitar track, Norah decided to add a second layer of acoustic guitar herself, while Sayles added a hand drum.

Sayles added a layer of additional percussion to “It’s Gonna Be.”

Norah added another layer of electric guitar to “You’ve Ruined Me.”

Background/harmony vocals were added to “Can’t Stop,” although it is unclear if there was anything else added.

References:

1. Universal Audio Webzine – Marsha Vdovin –  Engineer/Producer Jacquire King Holds Court with Norah Jones, Kings of Leon, and More

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