By 1983, songwriter and producer Jim Steinman had firmly established a reputation for creating dramatic, theatrical rock productions. His style had first reached a massive audience through the Bat Out Of Hell album written for Meat Loaf, and that same sweeping musical approach is unmistakable in Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse Of The Heart. Built around Steinman’s grand arrangements and emotionally charged melodies, the song stands as one of the most recognisable examples of his signature songwriting style.
The recording sessions featured a carefully constructed microphone setup designed to capture a powerful and expansive performance. The Yamaha piano, remembered by engineer Larry Alexander Dorfsman as being particularly bright in tone, was recorded with a pair of AKG C451 microphones placed close to the instrument.
The drum kit was extensively miked, with Shure SM57 microphones on the top and bottom of the snare drum, while the kick drum used a combination of an AKG D12 and a Neumann U47 FET. Sennheiser MD 421 microphones were positioned on both the top and bottom of the toms, with AKG C451 microphones covering the hi-hat and overhead positions. For the ambient sound of the room, Neumann U87 microphones were used, and Dorfsman recalls that a Shure SM7 may also have been set up as an additional room microphone.
The band worked through a large number of takes while recording the track, with Dorfsman recalling that around twenty takes were completed before the final performance was chosen. These takes included Bonnie Tyler’s live lead vocal performances. When recording Tyler’s voice, the engineers most likely used either a Neumann U67 or a Telefunken ELA M 251, both microphones well known for their ability to capture detailed and powerful vocal performances.
The most distinctive production characteristic of Total Eclipse Of The Heart emerged during the mix. Reverb played a central role in shaping the enormous sonic scale of the record. During the final mixdown almost every element in the arrangement, with the exception of the kick drum and bass guitar, was fed into the reverb sends. Multiple EMT 140 plate reverbs were used to create the dense and expansive ambience heard throughout the track, and additional reverberation was achieved by using bathrooms as echo chambers during the mix process. The result was a vast, atmospheric soundstage that pushed the already dramatic arrangement even further.
The song became Bonnie Tyler’s biggest international success. In the United Kingdom it reached number one on the Singles Chart and finished the year as the fifth best selling single of 1983. In the United States it held the top position on the charts for four weeks. During that run it famously kept another Jim Steinman composition, Making Love Out Of Nothing At All by Air Supply, from reaching the number one spot. The recording was also nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and remains one of the defining pop productions of the decade.