How He Made a Platinum Record with a Single Microphone

Hey guys, I messed up on the Sufjan Stevens bit, my bad! Both in pronunciation and timeline, appreciate the feedback and will double check things like this next time.

Goes to show how talent will always be the highlight of an artist. The equipment just amplifies talent.

Gotta challenge the Sufjan Stevens part... Bon Iver has far more to thank Sufjan for than the other way round. I'm sure there's something to be said for fans of Sufjan finding him through the insane success of For Emma... But musically speaking, Sufjan was doing this stuff way earlier. Many of his early records (like Seven Swans, Michigan and Illinois) are hallmarks of the indie/folk genre and were also put together almost entirely by the man himself... Super DIY, super inspiring stuff. Love this video though, soooo well put together!

No pro gear, no high-level instruments, no insane virtuosity... just heartbreak, pain, and life experience. That's what we hear, and that's all that matters. And you can't buy that with money.

6:20, I think pink Floyd's wish you were here intro is the best example of this, the vinyl scraping and distance you here when the first guitar comes in conveys such emotion, then the 2nd one enters and it adds the punch, having that gritty imperfect recording conveys such emotion, which for emma seems to expand on amazingly

You did a really good job capturing the feel of that guitar recording, maybe not an exact match soundwise, obviously, but it has that same soul and imperfectness that sounds so honest and comforting

love everything about this. it’s easy to get caught up in technology and perfectionism. recording should be fun. adding vocal layers/harmonies and cheap gear fuels the creative process.

This arrived at the right time - I really think that the rawness in indie/folk is what draws me to it so often. I remember asking a producer once about mixing and production and he said “there are no rules - just make it sound juicy. If it takes adding 10db of compression then do it, if it takes drowning something in reverb then do it” and it’s hard to undo the “rules” in my mind but when you do it just all feels more alive. No rules people, experiment and have fun and aim for feel!

Loved the technical bits, the story telling and the overall video. This just came up as a suggestion on Youtube so I jumped in. Glad I did. Great job on this. Subscribed!

REALLY loved watching this. I so appreciate you putting this video together!!

Really awesome man. Thank you for the words of encouragement, and for diving into the artist and album with us!

I’m so glad the algorithm featured you in my feed. I have always quested for a deep dive into how artists I love made the albums I love. Thank you for all your work on this! I’m a happy new subscriber!

you do a great job of giving very very useful information, telling a story, and inspiring. This particular episode spoke to me thank you!

This is my favourite album of all time, bangers from start to finish.Thanks for sharing the story and technical details behind this beautiful piece of artistry.

Great video as always! What Lizzy has said about her latest record "Older" resonates so much with it. I love that idea of rawness and honesty that you can hear in both records

That's what made "the band" so sucessful, imperfect vocals. They had a strategy with their vocal harmonies of "just hit what ever you can" and its made some of the most timeless classic rock master pieces.

More of these, please. Really liked the way its edited.

This just popped up in my feed and I was struck with how well this was put together. Authenticity goes along way.

This is great man! So we’ll done and I really enjoyed it. I loved how up you used actual Justin Vernon footage along with your home footage to explain this story. Very well done!

Love the way you break down the production, great video bro