How It Was Recorded

The Chambers Brothers · The Time Has Come, 1967

Time Has Come Today

VocalsDrumsSession-wide recording chainPsychedelic middle-section effectsCowbellVerified2Reported5

What the sources do and do not say

One Mix Classic Tracks article (Blair Jackson, March 2013) covering the August 1967 Columbia New York Studio E session for the album version, with Rubinson and Catero quoted. It names few makes: mics are mostly unspecified and Catero's Neumann recollection is hedged. The electric harpsichord overdub belongs to the earlier 1966 single version, so it is excluded.

Vocals

The Chambers Brothers

Microphone

Unidentified Microphone (model not stated)

Reported

Four channels on the 8-track carried the vocals, and one of those vocal channels also picked up the cowbell.

Source: Mix, 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.

Drums

Brian Keenan

Microphone

Unidentified Microphone (model not stated)

Reported

Three microphones on the drum kit were mixed down to one mono channel, placed on the left side of the stereo spread.

Position
Three mics mixed to mono, placed on the left of the stereo spread

Source: Mix, 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.

Session-wide recording chain

Input chain

Columbia Custom 12-input console (tube, rotary knobs)

Reported

A custom Columbia console with twelve inputs, controlled by rotary knobs rather than faders, with its tube preamps and EQ held in a rack behind it.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. A one-off or custom-built desk. No plugin models it.

Ampex 8-track one-inch tape machine (model not stated)

Reported

The session was recorded to one-inch 8-track Ampex tape.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

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: Universal Audio Studer A800 Tape Recorder (Models a Studer A800, not this recorder. It gives the general behaviour of analogue multitrack tape).

Psychedelic middle-section effects

Mix effects

Unidentified Tape machine (model not stated)

Verified

A second tape machine ran with a slight delay, fed from the mic signal; tape speed set the delay time and feeding it back produced multiple repeats.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

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: Universal Audio Studer A800 Tape Recorder (Models a Studer A800, not this recorder. It gives the general behaviour of analogue multitrack tape).

Unidentified Echo chamber (model not stated)

Verified

The playback-head signal from the delay tape machine was sent to an echo chamber and returned to the record head, creating repeating, refolding echoes.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

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

Cowbell

Lester Chambers

Instrument

Unidentified Cowbell (model not stated)

Reported

The cowbell part heard throughout the song was Rubinson's idea and was played by Lester.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

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

Sources

  1. Classic Track: The Chambers Brothers, “Time Has Come Today”, Mix, 2013-03. 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.