How It Was Recorded

Sarah McLachlan · Album, 1998

Surfacing

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: Adia, Angel, Building a Mystery. We found nothing specific to these songs, so this album record is the closest account we have.

Lead vocalDrum loops and programmingKeyboards, samplers and pianoRecording and consoleVerified4Reported2Inferred2

What the sources do and do not say

Album record for Surfacing: two Paul Tingen interviews with producer Pierre Marchand cover the album's sessions but never discuss 'Adia' itself. Statements are album-level or general practice. The articles date Surfacing to 1997; the year 1998 is as supplied in the batch file. Role wording follows each passage; no settings beyond the stated compressor settings.

Lead vocal

Sarah McLachlan

Microphone

Neumann M149

Verified

Producer says it replaced the Neumann U47 as the microphone on McLachlan's voice from the Surfacing sessions onward, because its top end was sweeter and needed no EQ at the mix.

Source: Sound On Sound, 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

Tube-Tech CL 1

InferredUsual practice

Producer's usual light compression on McLachlan's voice while recording, kept to a minimum.

Settings
Minimum compression, fast attack, medium release

A suggestion, not a documented fact: Marchand describes his standard vocal compression for McLachlan's voice in general, not for a named record.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Close match

Softube Tube-Tech CL 1B Mk II

compressor

The source says CL 1. This models the CL 1B, the unit the name usually means.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Drum loops and programming

Pierre Marchand

Instrument

Akai MPC60

Reported

Article states it was used purely to make drum loops on the Surfacing album.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Approximate

Akai Professional MPC Beats

instrument · free

Akai's free MPC software. It gives the MPC way of working, not the sound of this hardware.

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Keyboards, samplers and piano

Pierre Marchand

Instrument

Kurzweil K2000

Reported

Article says it was one of the keyboards and samplers sequenced in Logic Audio on the Surfacing album.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Covers this kind of unit

Korg KORG Collection

instrument

A 1990s-style sample-based workstation collection (M1, Trinity, Triton), so it builds sounds from stored samples through filters and effects in the same way; it is not a model of this unit.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

E-mu E4

Verified

Producer used a sine wave from it to make a hypnotic sub-bass feel on the Surfacing track 'I Love You'.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Approximate

TAL Software TAL-Sampler

instrument

A sampler plugin with vintage-style converters. It is not a model of this unit, and you load your own samples.

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Microphone

Neumann KM 150

InferredUsual practice

Usual practice, not stated for this record: Pair placed right above the strings of the Steinway Model B grand piano for his piano sound.

Position
Two microphones directly above the piano strings

A suggestion, not a documented fact: The journalist describes how Marchand typically gets his piano sound, without naming a song or album.

Source: Sound On Sound, 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.

Recording and console

Pierre Marchand

Input chain

Otari RADAR

Verified

Producer says the whole Surfacing album was recorded on this hard-disk recorder, which he also used for editing.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. A digital recorder. Your DAW does this job, so no plugin is needed to stand in for it.

Mix effects

Helios Console (model not stated)

Verified

Producer used its channel mutes to build a rhythm from the feedback guitar on the Surfacing track 'Sweet Surrender'.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Close match

Universal Audio Helios Type 69 Preamp and EQ Collection

preamp and EQ

Models the Helios Type 69 channel, with its transformer microphone preamp and three-band equaliser. The source does not say which Helios desk was used.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Sources

  1. Pierre Marchand: Producing Sarah McLachlan, Sound On Sound, 2000-03. Accessed 15 Nov 2026.
  2. Pierre Marchand: Producing Sarah McLachlan, on Land and on Sea, Mix, 2000-06-01. 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.

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