How It Was Recorded

The Strokes · Album, 2001

Is This It

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: Hard to Explain, Last Nite, Someday. We found nothing specific to these songs, so this album record is the closest account we have.

Lead vocalGuitars (Albert Hammond Jr and Nick Valensi)Drum kitVerified8

What the sources do and do not say

Single source: Sound On Sound April 2002 interview with producer Gordon Raphael about the Is This It sessions. He never ties any gear to Last Nite specifically, so every row is album-level and the record is an album record. The Mix Online page and the SOS Angles article were read or checked and do not cover this album's sessions.

Lead vocal

Julian Casablancas

Amplifier

Peavey Practice amp (model not stated)

Verified

Small practice amp the singer liked to sing through, a habit he found himself while making demos; it was miked to give a deliberately rough vocal sound.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Covers this kind of unit

IK Multimedia AmpliTube 5

amp and cabinet simulator

An amp and cabinet simulator that covers a wide range of amplifiers and speaker cabinets of this kind. It is not a model of this unit, so pick the nearest one in it by ear.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Also worth a look: Native Instruments Guitar Rig 7 Pro (An amp and cabinet simulator that covers a wide range of amplifiers and speaker cabinets of this kind. It is not a model of this unit, so pick the nearest one in it by ear).

Microphone

Neumann TLM 103

Verified

Picked up the sound of the small practice amp the vocalist sang through, to capture its detail, as the second vocal technique.

Position
Miked on the small Peavey practice 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. The TLM 103 is still made.

Input chain

Avalon 737

Verified

Took the signal from the vocal microphone in the first of two vocal techniques used on the album.

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

Guitars (Albert Hammond Jr and Nick Valensi)

Albert Hammond Jr and Nick Valensi

Instrument

Gibson Semi-hollow guitar with P90 (model not stated)

Verified

Nick Valensi's semi-hollow Gibson fitted with an old single-coil P90 pickup.

Source: Sound On Sound, 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.

Amplifier

Fender DeVille

Verified

Amp used by each of the two guitarists.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Covers this kind of unit

IK Multimedia AmpliTube 5

amp and cabinet simulator

An amp and cabinet simulator that covers a wide range of amplifiers and speaker cabinets of this kind. It is not a model of this unit, so pick the nearest one in it by ear.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Also worth a look: Native Instruments Guitar Rig 7 Pro (An amp and cabinet simulator that covers a wide range of amplifiers and speaker cabinets of this kind. It is not a model of this unit, so pick the nearest one in it by ear).

Microphone

Sennheiser MD 421

Verified

Placed in front of each guitar amp.

Position
Dangling in front of each DeVille, the two amps on opposite sides of the room

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. The MD 421 is still made.

Drum kit

Fabrizio Moretti

Microphone

Shure Beta 58

Verified

Kick drum microphone.

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

Verified

Took the signal from the 4033A mic in front of the drum kit.

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

Sources

  1. Gordon Raphael: Producing The Strokes, Sound On Sound, 2002-04. 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.