How It Was Recorded

John Lennon · Album, 1980

Double Fantasy

This is an album-level record: the sources describe how the album as a whole was recorded, not one song. Where a detail belongs to a single song, the row says so.

Songs this record stands for: (Just Like) Starting Over, Watching the Wheels, Woman. We found nothing specific to these songs, so this album record is the closest account we have.

Lead vocalGuitarsReported10

What the sources do and do not say

Only source is a Mix Classic Tracks piece on Watching the Wheels, so every row is album-level and reported by the journalist rather than quoted from Jack Douglas. It does not discuss Just Like Starting Over; its piano, Rhodes, bass, drum and Prophet 5 details belong to the other song and were left out. The Hummingbird is described without a maker; the Flying V copy detail comes from an earlier sentence than the locator.

Lead vocal

John Lennon

Microphone

Neumann U 67

Reported

Lennon's lead vocal microphone on the Double Fantasy sessions, with him singing live alongside the band.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. Microphone-modelling plugins only work with their own matched hardware microphone, so there is no plugin to link. Placement and the room matter more than the model.

Input chain

Teletronix LA-2A

Reported

Compressed the lead vocal and its double-track together once the double had been recorded.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Emulation of this unit

Universal Audio Teletronix LA-2A Leveler Collection

compressor

Universal Audio owns the Teletronix name; this is its own model of the LA-2A.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Also worth a look: Waves CLA-2A Compressor / Limiter (Models an LA-2A from Chris Lord-Alge's collection. Cheaper and runs without UA hardware).

Pultec EQ (model not stated)

Reported

Followed the compressor on the vocal to restore some low end that the compressor tended to remove.

Settings
Around 100 Hz

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Emulation of this unit

Universal Audio Pultec Passive EQ Collection

equaliser

Models the Pultec EQP-1A, MEQ-5 and HLF-3C. The source does not say which Pultec was used.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Also worth a look: Waves PuigTec EQs (EQP-1A and MEQ-5) (Models the Pultec EQP-1A and MEQ-5).

Mix effects

Unidentified Tape echo (model not stated)

Reported

Slap tape echo applied to the double-tracked lead vocal.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Covers this kind of unit

Soundtoys EchoBoy

delay

Includes tape-echo and studio tape-machine delay styles, the same method as the delay on the record. The machine is not identified, so it is not a model of the unit used.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Unidentified Chamber reverb (model not stated)

Reported

Some chamber reverb was added to the double-tracked lead vocal.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Covers this kind of unit

Universal Audio Capitol Chambers

reverb

A real echo chamber, the same method as the one on the record: a loudspeaker and microphones in a hard, empty room. It is not a model of this chamber, so set the decay by ear.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Guitars

John Lennon

Instrument

Unidentified Hummingbird acoustic guitar

Reported

One of two old guitars from above Lennon's bed that he ended up using for everything on the sessions.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. A guitar is the source of the sound, not a process applied to it. No plugin stands in for it.

Unidentified Sardonicus (Flying V copy electric guitar)

Reported

Lennon's electric guitar on the sessions, a Flying V copy he used for everything alongside the acoustic.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. A guitar is the source of the sound, not a process applied to it. No plugin stands in for it.

Microphone

Sony D30

Reported

One of three microphones used on each guitar amp.

Position
Hung in the middle, between the other two microphones
Settings
Switch set to M for music, which added warmth

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. Microphone-modelling plugins only work with their own matched hardware microphone, so there is no plugin to link. Placement and the room matter more than the model.

Shure SM57

Reported

One of the three microphones on each guitar amp, alongside the Sony and the Sennheiser.

Position
Pointed inwards in a V formation with the Sennheiser, with phase checked

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. Microphone-modelling plugins only work with their own matched hardware microphone, so there is no plugin to link. Placement and the room matter more than the model. The SM57 is still made and inexpensive: the real thing is the practical route.

Sennheiser MD 421

Reported

One of the three microphones on each guitar amp, alongside the Sony and the Shure.

Position
Pointed inwards in a V formation with the SM57, with phase checked

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. Microphone-modelling plugins only work with their own matched hardware microphone, so there is no plugin to link. Placement and the room matter more than the model. The MD 421 is still made.

Sources

  1. Classic Tracks: John Lennon and Yoko Ono's "Watching the Wheels", Mix, 2024-12-13. Accessed 15 Nov 2026.
Verified

Stated by the engineer, producer or artist, or by the manufacturer.

Reported

Stated by a reputable secondary source.

Inferred

An educated suggestion, not a documented fact.

Disclosure: plugin links currently go straight to the maker and earn us nothing. If that changes, affiliate links will be marked here. Suggestions are chosen on fit, never on commission, and are kept separate from the recording facts. More.