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How It Was Recorded

Marvin Gaye · Album, 1971

What's Going On

8 sourced items across 4 sectionsVerified5Inferred3

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: Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler), Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology), What's Going On. We found nothing specific to these songs, so this album record is the closest account we have.

What the sources do and do not say

Single source: Sound On Sound Classic Tracks (July 2011), mostly Ken Sands's recollections. Little is tied to the title track itself (the mix console and monitors are); the drum microphones describe Sands's method for Pistol Allen, who did not play on this record, and the line-amplifier and tape machine rows describe Studio A in general. Record is therefore album-level. The article does not name the piano, guitar or bass instruments used.

Lead vocal

1 item

Marvin Gaye

Microphone

  • The real chain

    Neumann U 87

    Verified

    Lead vocal microphone on Gaye's vocals at the time, which Sands says replaced the tube U67 after the studios switched to solid-state mics.

    Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

    Get the sound · our suggestion

    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.

Guitars

1 item

Robert White

Amplifier

  • The real chain

    Recorded direct (DI), no amplifier

    InferredUsual practice

    Usual practice, not stated for this record: Guitars were plugged into the same Studio A house line amplifier and recorded direct.

    A suggestion, not a documented fact: Sands describes the standard Studio A setup used by the guitarists, not this song specifically.

    Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

    Get the sound · our suggestion

    No plugin suggested. Recorded direct, so there is no amp to model. Leave the amp simulator off.

Bass

1 item

James Jamerson

Amplifier

  • The real chain

    Recorded direct (DI), no amplifier

    InferredUsual practice

    Usual practice, not stated for this record: Bass was plugged into the Studio A house line amplifier built by Mike McLean and recorded direct, with a 12-inch speaker in the unit letting the player hear it.

    A suggestion, not a documented fact: Sands describes the standard Studio A setup that Jamerson played through, not this song specifically.

    Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

    Get the sound · our suggestion

    No plugin suggested. Recorded direct, so there is no amp to model. Leave the amp simulator off.

Studio, tape and mix

5 items

Input chain

  • The real chain

    Ampex MM-1000

    InferredUsual practice

    Usual practice, not stated for this record: Two-inch 16-track tape machine in Studio A from 1968, replacing the home-built eight-track.

    A suggestion, not a documented fact: The journalist describes the Studio A tape machine from 1968; it is not stated to be the machine used on this song.

    Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

    Get the sound · our suggestion

    Approximate

    Slate Digital Virtual Tape Machines

    tape

    Models two Studer machines, not this recorder. It gives the general behaviour of analogue multitrack tape.

    Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for
    Also worth a look 1

Mix effects

  • The real chain

    Electrodyne Console (model not stated)

    VerifiedOne song

    Console on which Sands and Gaye made the stereo mix of this song, at the Motown Center.

    Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

    Get the sound · our suggestion

    No plugin suggested. The source does not name the model, so no specific plugin can be suggested.

  • The real chain

    Altec 604E

    VerifiedOne song

    Pair of monitor speakers used for the stereo mix of this song.

    Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

    Get the sound · our suggestion

    No plugin suggested. Used for listening back, so it is not part of the recorded signal. There is nothing for a plugin to stand in for.

  • The real chain

    Motown Echo chambers (model not stated)

    Verified

    Attic echo chambers on West Grand, fed over an equalised telephone line to the mix rooms, still part of the Motown sound by the time this record was made.

    Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

    Get the sound · our suggestion

    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

  • The real chain

    Shure SM57

    Verified

    Microphones placed in the echo chambers, with drivers, to pick up the reverb return.

    Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

    Get the sound · our suggestion

    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.

Sources

  1. Classic Tracks: Marvin Gaye 'What's Going On?', Sound On Sound, 2011-07. Accessed 15 Nov 2026.

What the ratings mean

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.

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