Whitesnake - Bad Boys

[Top40Music]

I've Justed been Floored By the Bad Boy video by Whitesnake on youtube .
it's was Recorded live in the UK 2004.
just recently landed a FOE gig at a Mega church in Atlanta : I would love to get OUR audio recording that polished. MAN! What gets me is that it was Recorded 6 years ago and it's still that GOOD! David's Vocals are easily heard over that massive wall of sound of AMPS and DRUMS! Can anyone share if you know how it was done? And with no mic feedback wow!
Does anyone know's David's Live Vocal Chain From Mic Compressor etc?

[Top40Music]

YouTube - Whitesnake - Bad Boys

[rocksure]

No idea how it was recorded..but I enjoyed the video. Coverdales voice and the wall of guitars. Nice.

[Top40Music]

O Man yes ! They Killed it! And hats off to who ever was part of the Recording process.

[5down1up]

the whole dvd is KILLER

[ebulb]

this is an educated guess.. the vocal is almost totally overdubbed.. they have just kept the small ad lib parts.. Listen to his mics tone through the singing portions and then listen to where he says "and some bad girls" you can hear the ambience behind him when he is pointing to the two girls isnt like the rest of his singing..

It would also not surprise me if other parts are redone also.. This is what i hate about bands doing live recordings for release purposes.. they all feel its acceptible to redo things and drain the authenticity out of it. The drums are often the only thing that remains from the original gig.. I like whitesnake and that band was really good so im not having a dig at them specifically, its just a shame most bands seem to do the same thing..

[Top40Music]

Overdubs! No Wonder!

[hbphotoav]

Originally Posted by Top40Music

Overdubs! No Wonder!

Yeah... another indication is when he pulls that Sennheiser RF mic down from his mouth at the end of a phrase, the tone doesn't change at all...

The sweep of excitement on stage and the quick-cut editing minimize the ability to pick up that stuff the first time or two through. But if there is a magic piece of gear that keeps the actual live vocal sounding like it does whether he's on-mic or it's down by his navel... I want one, too.

I think I'll not hold my breath.

[Top40Music]

Thanks for the heads up ! I was thinking the FOE NAILED it !
With the right mic placement and gear selection . They got me

[Top40Music]

Well if the Drums are not overdub ; my hats off to Tommy Aldridge He made it Happened!

[ebulb]

yes, i got that DVD not long after it came out and i was impressed by tommys playing, especially considering he has a few more miles on the clock these days... its physical stuff playing double bass like he does and i think he would be in his 60s..

[audiomichael]

I read an article where Doug Aldrich (guitar) said they recorded a TON of shows. They easily could have comped together audio performances from multiple shows, and video from a couple shows. You just need the same venue and everyone to wear the same clothes. All of those guys can play and Dave can sing, so there might not be any grand conspiracy.

[mgoorevich]

Off course it's overdub.
You can here it's the studio recording with studio sound.
There is some basic editing of original (album) version.
Plus some crowd conversation was added to make it more believable....and it works for some...

Putting some crowd fx and gluing everything flawless is not a big deal for experience editor. However there are many off sync places. I can see it as I mainly work for post.
Not such a good job I would say...but thats ok for VH1 or MTV.
But listen to your ears - this is all from the scratch - studio only.

I am a big fun of Whitesnake too. I was on their concert here in Tel Aviv 2 years ago. They cannot perform as they used to do. They have no energy they had once. And although they perform still very technical and are super pro musicians, you can easily feel the lack of groove (chemistry) and floating pitch.
Out of topic but I bought their last studio album - and returned it because the awful mastering (over compressed to death with hearable distortion).

[philper]

I guess you had to be there. The video is depressingly conventional in every way.

phil p

[LX3]

The video is depressingly conventional in every way.

A bit harsh maybe? The band, venue, lighting and set are themselves very conventional and formulaic (not saying it's bad, it's just been done a million times - in that respect it's a bit depressing but not unexpected), so the chances of doing anything unusual with the video are limited.

But having done lots of live video, I think it's well shot. The jib shots from behind the drums are cool, and that must have taken a fair bit of organisation.

I agree with everyone, the vocals seem overdubbed to me. Typically on these things, the drums are often also triggers rather than live... Although if you have a great drummer, with properly-tuned and properly-miced drums it is possible to get that sound live. But it doesn't work out very often.

For comparison's sake, I can tell you for certain that everything on the video below is live, no overdubs or triggers. Same venue, similar style of music. It may not be quite as polished a sound, but I find the disconnection between audio and visuals on the Whitesnake jarring by comparison.

YouTube - Thunder Live DVD "At The End Of The Road"

[ebulb]

Did you work on the thunder DVD Paul ?

[LX3]

How did you guess?

[Top40Music]

God Paul that Video you've worked on is Clear as Day Hats off to you and your Crew. As far as Whitesnake I Just love that style of music I don't Know what it is ; When I hear it I Turn it up!

[Remoteness]

Paul, I love the sound quality of the vocals on that Thunder video you posted.
I mean, it sounds like a real capture; very strong!

[LX3]

Thanks Steve and Top40, you're too kind.

Really. When you're mixing a singer as amazing as Danny Bowes, you would have to really suck at the job to make him sound bad.

[Sounds like I could have de-essed him a little more though. Hindsight. Or it could be YouTube smashing the audio to pieces. I'll have a listen to the actual disc. Has anyone ever mixed a gig, then listened back six months later and NOT heard things they could have done better?]

I didn't know much about Thunder before we did that show. Great band, and understandably missed by their fans.

BTW, it reminds me of a story, if you don't mind me going OT a bit:

A long time ago a friend of mine was booked to engineer a studio session for Tina Turner. Never having recorded her before, he was more than a bit worried about getting "her vocal sound". What could he do? He hadn't been given any guidance as to what she liked or disliked... So he got the multitrack up, set up an 87 in the studio, patched it straight into the desk and waited, knowing he'd just have to play it by ear as the session ran. She arrived, sang into the mic, and by the second or third take it was job done. No compression, barely any eq, the vocal just sat beautifully in the track. Turns out all you have to do is put Tina Turner in front of a mic and it sounds like a Tina Turner record.

IME, great musicians are easy to make sound great. It's everyone else that's hard work

[Remoteness]

Like I always say, "an engineer is only as good as the musicians he/she keeps."

[ebulb]

Originally Posted by LX3

IME, great musicians are easy to make sound great. It's everyone else that's hard work

Thats what i find the hardest about working with local independant bands, or younger bands.. They often dont realise how much the result relies on the playing and their own instrument sounds.. i have worked with one band a few times and the snare drum is literally a tin can.. i hear it after recording the show and drop my head and think im gonna have to be houdini to get out of this one.. Its really nice when you work with a band that can really play and you know its going to make your own work shine..

[Top40Music]

Originally Posted by ebulb

Thats what i find the hardest about working with local independant bands, or younger bands.. They often dont realise how much the result relies on the playing and their own instrument sounds.. i have worked with one band a few times and the snare drum is literally a tin can.. i hear it after recording the show and drop my head and think im gonna have to be houdini to get out of this one.. Its really nice when you work with a band that can really play and you know its going to make your own work shine..

Brother I'm with you. There's only so much we as sound guys can do.