Boston, MA (October 31, 2011)—Legendary producer Jack Douglas used a mix of new and classic vintage Sennheiser and Neumann microphones on Aerosmith’s first new album in over a decade.
Much of the album has been recorded at Aerosmith’s own studio, Pandora’s Box, which features a custom recording console consisting of 24 channels of Neve, eight channels of API and eight channels of original Focusrite.
“We were really going for that ‘Bonham’ sound,” Douglas recalls. On the main drum kit, he used a Sennheiser e 906 on the inside of the kick, and also underneath the floor tom. “I love these because they really catch the big boom,” he says.
On the outside of the kick, Douglas set up a Neumann TLM 103 and Sennheiser MD 421 IIs, which were placed on top of the floor toms. For the snare, a tightly tuned, double-headed parade drum, Douglas used a new Neumann TLM 67.
“I was surprised at how great the new TLM 67 sounded, and now I can’t wait to try it on vocals,” Douglas says. A pair of new Neumann U 87 Ais was placed above the kit as overheads, and a vintage U 67 was set up further out in the room.
On acoustic guitars, Douglas turned to Sennheiser MKH 8040 cardioid and MKH 8050 super cardioid microphones, both of which were fed into a Universal Audio LA2A compressor and then into a Pultec EQ. On Joe Perry’s extensive collection of boutique guitar amplifiers, Douglas used Sennheiser e 609s right on the speaker and often in combination with a Sennheiser MD 421 II.
Now that all the basic tracks have been completed, Douglas will soon be recording various overdubs and lead vocals, and intends to put Neumann’s Solution D digital microphone to work. “The first thing I am going to try it on is the room—I am really looking forward to that,” he says.
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