SOS Article - Recording Bon Jovi - Have a Nice Day

[ibleedburgundy]

So I was reading the latest Sound on Sound magazine. They have this guy John Shanks explaining how he recorded some of Bon Jovi's more recent stuff. I really appreciate that this guy is willing to disclose some of what gear and plug-ins he used. I'm extremely confused by some of his choices. I told myself I wouldn't listen to the actual recording until after I read the entire article - upon reading seemed like dude had some pretty neat ideas. Part way through the article they explain that the original mix engineer was essentially fired because he sucked. How embarrassing! Then I listen to the song and it sounds like total ass to me lol. Don't get me wrong, it's not as if I could do better, but I'm speaking purely relative to bands that are massively rich and could record anywhere they want on any gear they want with whoever they want.

Things about the article that I just can't wrap my mind around:

Dude spends a paragraph explaining how awesome Jon Bon Jovi's studio sounds for drums. Then he uses four tracks replacing synth snare sounds in place of the actual snare. Then he uses an additional 2-3 tracks to put synth bass drums in place of the actual bass drum. To my ear, the drums sound decent, but fake. I am not hearing the room.

Dude uses like 10 effects on the lead vocals. They sound OK I guess.

Dude uses like 26 tracks and a zillion effects on back up vocals and they sound pretty bad IMO.

The guy puts two delays of different lengths on certain tracks and then when there is a pause in the music there is this monumentally stupid double echo effect.

Inside Track: Bon Jovi

The whole thing sounds over-compressed or something. I can't put my finger on it, but it ain't good IMO. Thoughts?

 

[witzendoz]

Can't read the whole article unless you are a subscription holder or by the magazine.

Alan.

 

[CFox]

So I was reading the latest Sound on Sound magazine. They have this guy John Shanks explaining how he recorded some of Bon Jovi's more recent stuff. I really appreciate that this guy is willing to disclose some of what gear and plug-ins he used. I'm extremely confused by some of his choices. I told myself I wouldn't listen to the actual recording until after I read the entire article - upon reading seemed like dude had some pretty neat ideas. Part way through the article they explain that the original mix engineer was essentially fired because he sucked. How embarrassing! Then I listen to the song and it sounds like total ass to me lol. Don't get me wrong, it's not as if I could do better, but I'm speaking purely relative to bands that are massively rich and could record anywhere they want on any gear they want with whoever they want.

Things about the article that I just can't wrap my mind around:

Dude spends a paragraph explaining how awesome Jon Bon Jovi's studio sounds for drums. Then he uses four tracks replacing synth snare sounds in place of the actual snare. Then he uses an additional 2-3 tracks to put synth bass drums in place of the actual bass drum. To my ear, the drums sound decent, but fake. I am not hearing the room.

Dude uses like 10 effects on the lead vocals. They sound OK I guess.

Dude uses like 26 tracks and a zillion effects on back up vocals and they sound pretty bad IMO.

The guy puts two delays of different lengths on certain tracks and then when there is a pause in the music there is this monumentally stupid double echo effect.

Inside Track: Bon Jovi

The whole thing sounds over-compressed or something. I can't put my finger on it, but it ain't good IMO. Thoughts?

My thoughts:

They are only going to tell you anything they think will help sell their services. This could include total BS.

JBJ's voice is so strong and identifiable that short of running it through a ring modulator, its going to survive an FX assault.

If you think the mastering is overdone, try listening to some Nickelback through decent monitors at normal listening volumes without diving for the stop button. It's squeezed, excited and enhanced so much you'd think the mastering engineer had just dl'd the Ozone demo.

 

[Greg_L]

I lost interest at "Bon Jovi".