There was no computer involved in the second record, it was all analogue and manual mixing, no automation. "Four years ago I used an old 3M machine and a TG console from Abbey Road, and I mixed to quarter–inch. King recorded the band live in the studio, to analogue 16–track, as he had for Because Of The Times, but there were a number of differences in the sessions for Only By The Night.
The basic track sheet for 'Sex On Fire' further effects tracks and overdubs were later added during and after the transfer to Pro Tools.Recordings for Only By The Night took place in Nashville at Blackbird Studio D (the same room where Joe Chiccarelli and the White Stripes recorded Icky Thump, see SOS October 2007) during the first months of 2008. Pre–production is about getting organised and having conversations about the songs and being ready to be efficient in the studio." Experimenting With Sound
I don't like to develop set ideas during pre–production about how a song is going to be executed, because you don't really know how things will work out and feel until you actually record them. We really fine–tuned the arrangements and approach in the recording studio later on. In any case, rock & roll has always been fairly explicit.Īs well as the largest API Legacy desk yet built, the Studio D control room is home to vast amounts of vintage and modern outboard."We identified 18 songs that we wanted to work on for the record, and we had a couple of weeks of proper pre–production a few months later, with the band set up in a large rehearsal room, on a stage with a PA and so on, as if they were playing live. Everyone felt that it was a great melody and song, and the band already has a reputation for singing about sex, so we encouraged him as much as we could. Caleb would get out an acoustic or electric guitar and would show us some ideas that he had, including 'Sex On Fire'. "We just hung out together last year," recalls King, "and of course you start talking about the record and about the songs. This meant that preparations for the recording of Only By The Night began with informal social meetings. Grammy Award–winning King has also worked with Tom Waits, Buddy Guy, Modest Mouse and Josh Ritter, and, like the band, makes his home in Nashville, Tennessee. The former engineered, mixed and co–produced Youth And Young Manhood (2003) and Because Of The Times (2007), while King performed the same duties on Aha Shake Heartbreak (2004) and again on Only By The Night.
Petraglia has worked on all four, while Ethan Johns (son of the legendary Glyn) and Jacquire King have swapped places twice. Only By The Night (US sleeve).Only By The Night has been Kings Of Leon's first hit album in their native America, but is their fourth overall. Only By The Night has different sleeves in the US (above) and internationally. It has certainly paid off, because 'Sex On Fire' and its parent album Only By The Night have charged to the top of hit parades worldwide. Embarrassed about the explicit sexual nature of the lyrics, he needed some coaxing to convince him that the song was worth doing, and even during the recording sessions the following Spring, more arm–twisting was required to get the singer to overdub his vocals. Some time late last year, Kings Of Leon frontman Caleb Followill presented an incomplete song called 'Sex On Fire' to the band and their producers, Jacquire King and Angelo Petraglia. The result: a worldwide smash and a long–awaited breakthrough in the band's native US. Jacquire King in Blackbird Studio D, where Only By The Night was recorded.įor the recording of their fourth album Only By The Night, Kings Of Leon and co–producer Jacquire King decided to aim high.