How It Was Recorded

Sinéad O'Connor · I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got, 1990

Nothing Compares 2 U

Lead vocalProgrammed strings and celloTracking recorderVerified3Reported3

What the sources do and do not say

Two Classic Tracks interviews with Chris Birkett (plus Gota Yashiki in the SOS piece). Neither names drum or piano gear, and the two disagree on where the mix was done (SOS: Eden on an SSL; Mix: mixing at his CB Sound studio with a Soundtracs console and Soundcraft 24-track, which is album-level and not included). Mix also says Hooper and O'Connor are credited differently from SOS.

Lead vocal

Sinéad O'Connor

Microphone

AKG C 414 B-ULS

VerifiedAlbum sessions

Album sessions, not stated for this song: Birkett's chosen vocal microphone for O'Connor, picked because it copes with her wide dynamics where a Neumann would have distorted.

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

SSL E Series

Reported

Control-room console at Westside Studios, where the remaining parts including the lead vocal were recorded.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Emulation of this unit

Waves SSL E-Channel

channel strip

Made with SSL as a model of the 4000 E channel strip.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Also worth a look: Solid State Logic SSL Native Channel Strip 2 (SSL's own channel-strip plugin, based on a later desk).

Mix effects

SSL Console (model not stated)

Verified

Mix console at Eden Studios; Birkett rode its automation syllable by syllable and rode the EQ by hand to tame the overloaded high-mids in the uncompressed vocal.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Close match

Solid State Logic SSL Native Channel Strip 2

channel strip

SSL's own channel-strip plugin. It is not a model of this particular desk.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Also worth a look: Waves SSL E-Channel (Models the 4000 E channel strip; the source does not make this the same desk).

Lexicon PCM 70

ReportedAlbum sessions

Album sessions, not stated for this song: Birkett built a custom reverb from the Cascade programme, used in O'Connor's headphone monitoring and in the mix.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Close match

Universal Audio Lexicon 224 Digital Reverb

reverb

A model of the Lexicon 224, the larger Lexicon digital reverb whose family of programmes the PCM 70 drew on; it is not a model of the PCM 70 itself.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Programmed strings and cello

Gota Yashiki

Instrument

Akai S1100

Verified

Sampler used in pre-production for programming and later played from a keyboard to overdub the cello part at Britannia Row.

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.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Tracking recorder

Input chain

Studer 24-track tape machine (model not stated)

Reported

Analogue 24-track recorder, with Dolby SR, used at Westside Studios for the remaining parts of the song.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Close match

Universal Audio Studer A800 Tape Recorder

tape

Models a Studer 24-track. The source does not give the model used.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Also worth a look: Slate Digital Virtual Tape Machines (Includes a model of a two-inch Studer multitrack).

Sources

  1. Classic Tracks: Sinéad O’Connor ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’, Sound On Sound, 2012-02. Accessed 15 Nov 2026.
  2. Classic Tracks: Sinéad O’Connor's "Nothing Compares 2U", Mix, 2007-05-01. 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.

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.