Mezzamorphis - Recording and Production

Recording and Production

Following their breakthrough 1997 album King of Fools, Delirious? started recording Mezzamorphis in February 1998, and continued to record throughout that year, interspersed with summer tours throughout the US and UK. The band began recording with roughly half the songs already written, and continued writing as they recorded. Most of the recording took place in an old school in West Sussex. In the words of lead vocalist Martin Smith, "We turned a classroom into a control room, and there were some wooden rooms where students used to dine, in which we set up a drum kit with different mike positions. We did the bulk of it there for the first six months in between touring. In the end, we went to a smaller studio in Ford just to finish it off." The band used movable drapes to experiment with different drum sounds and reverbs; most of the drums on the album are thus natural and unprocessed.

Formerly known for a sound similar to that of U2, Delirious? aimed for a more dense and electronic sound, taking inspiration from Radiohead. Producer Tedd T was brought in to add aspects of electronica to the production. Recording was finished at a small studio near Littlehampton, putting the final touches on vocals.

The album was mixed by Jack Joseph Puig in Los Angeles early in 1999. In the words of guitarist Stu G, "Martin and I went out to LA in January for three weeks and sat down with him and explained to him what we were doing and where we were coming from, what we were trying to accomplish with the music. He was very perceptive. He definitely took our tracks and made them into something we couldn't have done ourselves." Puig's mixing of the album deepened the bass sound and brought it more of a "club" feel.