How It Was Recorded

Shania Twain · Album, 2003

Up!

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: Forever and for Always, I'm Gonna Getcha Good!, Ka-Ching!. We found nothing specific to these songs, so this album record is the closest account we have.

Electric guitarBanjoFiddle and mandolinVerified3Reported7

What the sources do and do not say

Album record from the Sound On Sound interview with engineer Bob Bullock, who recorded the Nashville overdubs for the country ('green') version of Up! at Compass Point, Nassau. The article does not mention Forever and for Always and says nothing about Twain's vocals or the pre-recorded drums and bass, so everything is album-level. The Neve V3 console is named but not tied to a specific task, and the Mix article on the TV special is about a live broadcast and was not used.

Electric guitar

Microphone

AKG C414

Reported

Ambient microphone set back from the electric guitar amp to pick up the air around it.

Position
back from the amp

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

Unidentified Outboard digital delay (model not stated)

Verified

Bullock added outboard digital delay to Brent Mason's electric guitar parts.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Covers this kind of unit

Soundtoys PrimalTap

delay

Models an early studio digital delay, the Lexicon Prime Time, so it has the same grainy, band-limited repeats. It is not a model of the unit on the record, which the source does not name.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Banjo

Microphone

AKG C451

Reported

Pair of microphones in an X-Y arrangement used to record the banjo in stereo.

Position
X-Y pair
Settings
X-Y stereo pair

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.

Neumann TLM 170

Reported

Microphone used on some banjo parts, aimed at the instrument's head.

Position
aimed straight at the head skin

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.

Audio-Technica AT4050

Reported

Alternative microphone used on some banjo parts.

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.

Fiddle and mandolin

Microphone

Beyerdynamic M 834 (stated as Beyer 834)

Reported

Main microphone for fiddle and mandolin, set to cardioid.

Settings
cardioid pattern

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.

Royer SF1

Reported

Second microphone on the fiddle setup, used to trigger effects in the fiddler's rack.

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

Avalon 737 SP

Reported

Microphone preamp for the main fiddle and mandolin microphone.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Emulation of this unit

Universal Audio Avalon VT-737 Tube Channel Strip

channel strip

Made with Avalon as a model of the VT-737sp channel strip.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

UREI 1176

Verified

One of two compressors Bullock used on fiddle and mandolin, with an LA-2A.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Emulation of this unit

Universal Audio 1176 Classic Limiter Collection

compressor

Models several revisions of the 1176, including the blackface units.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Also worth a look: Waves CLA-76 Compressor / Limiter (Models two 1176 revisions (blacky and bluey)).

Teletronix LA-2A

Verified

One of two compressors Bullock used on fiddle and mandolin, with an 1176.

Source: Sound On Sound, 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).

Sources

  1. Recording Shania Twain's Up!, Sound On Sound, 2004-08. 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.