Hi Mike nice to meet you, I have a question about the Just Push Play album, I remember when it was released years ago, there was a lot of opinions on Digidesign's forum, Roger Nichols forum, etc, about how this record sounded.
Someone said that maybe it was ruined by the mastering engineer other said that maybe the arrangements was to charged by guitars and strings so the mix can't breath, etc, etc.

So my question is:

How it sounded your original master compared with the final mastered version?

I think that it is a great mix and I don't know if radio and video versions were the same as the CD because on MTV and radio that song sounds beautifull.

Thank you very much, its a great honor to be talking with one of my heroes.

I know well your entire career and I've read every single article about you.

Armando Avila.
www.cosmosproducciones.com

P.S. Thanks to Gearslutz for give us such oportunities to learn!!!

Jaded sounded GREAT on the radio..

Exactly what I thought when it first hit the airwaves. Great song and production. Never heard it on a home stereo, does it hold up or is it a 'radio tailored' mix?

Andi

I have the CD, and loud mastering aside, I think it sounds great! I reference Mike's work often when I'm mixing in a new place.

Sounds fine via a Benchmark DAC-1 and my ADAM speakers..

I never liked "JPP". I don't think the songs were all that strong but the production was just too slick, polished or plastic for a rock band (for my taste). Haven't heard the album for a while so I should spin it again and see if I still feel the same way. "Jaded" did sound good on the radio though.

I listened to Pump six months ago and thought that sounded thin, plastic and processed too. "Jani's got a gun" stood out above most of the other tracks production wise.

I think Kevin Shirly got Aerosmith right on the Nine Lives record. The songs weren't all that great either but the production had balls and attitude. It also sounded like the band actually played together at the same time when laying it down. I hear Neve all over that record.

Regardless, I'm still interested in the production of JPP so please continue...

Personally my favorite Aerosmith album is "Get A Grip" produced by Bruce Fairbairn.

I just listened to "Just Push Play" and it sounds great, I like the polished and modern sound of this record.
It must not have been easy to mix this record with a such intense production : I guess that Mike received a ton of tracks per song to mix.

Part 1
Well... Aerosmith.here's an interesting topic about the mastering etc....I found out after I joined Gearslutz about some discussion about the mastering that had gone on and was completely unaware of it.
The brief outline is that I had to cobble a mix studio together in Joe's extra house outside of Boston. We imported a 9k from England and a bunch of gear from OceanWay in Los Angeles. I have had a lot of experience with putting studios in odd spaces and putting in SSL's for short term work due to alot of the tax exile type bands Iv'e worked for, but this console was gonna stay put for about 3 months . I knew how much AC was gonna be needed to keep the board cool..about 5 tons of AC is normal for a room with a J in it.
I had delegated the responsibility of getting the AC done and the wiring etc cos I was too busy to oversee it all. I wanted to just pitch up and get going after maybe a day of messing around with speaker placement and hangin' out with the band to talk etc.
When I get to the "studio"..I find that the dipshit that was in charge figured he knew more than me about SSL 9k's and the AC etc....so he figured it was ok to just pull in cooler air from outside to cool the board down!!!!! Wrong...that might work for a Mackie or something but not an SSL...so the board was pretty much fried but I had no choice but to work on as the AC was being worked out but the heat had caused the sound of the board to drift wildly and it was severely acting up.
All this going on while I've got a bunch of nut cases in the studio having a power struggle over who's producing the bloody record!!!!.
It was chaos and I was trying to steer a rudderless ship whilst wrestling with a pig of a console that was acting up.I called in SSL and it took them a week to arrive to have a look at the console and they were up countless times but they were not able to help as the board was drifting so much that to stop and re service the board would change the sound of it so much .....all our work would be lost. AAArghhhh

As for the mastering etc.......I mastered Jaded for the single and all seemed well apart from the balance of a couple of small things that the computer had decided to change on it's own accord.!! That's how far the console was gone.
So much crap had gone down timewise that I had to stay in Boston and keep mixing while a the record was being mastered.the band couldn't go 'cos they were doing some gig......superbowl or something and I was still mixing and sending what I could finish to the Mastering house. So I wasnt around for it.
In fact all I heard was Jaded and also on the radio and it was ok....vocal was a little quiet but it was ok. As for the album....umm different story really...it sounded very dark to me and was not as it was sent from the "studio"..eventho that was dubious anyway!!!!!
The long and short of it is ....it was a done deal....just one of those things.....a lesson learnt about a lot of things on that record.
Too many cooks in the kitchen.
It was a bugger of a record to mix and the fact that it made it onto a cd in the first place is a miracle to me.
I just wanted to go on vacation and forget about it cos it burnt me out ...so I did.
I will never let a record go out before I;ve heard the mastering , but the band and label and everyone had heard it by the time I got back form vacation and I was onto something else.
Thats the bad story....the good story is that as much hell as it was and seeing everyone melt down countless times and have brawl's and stuff in the control room....Steven Tyler and Joe Perry are completely fantastic , I love'em.....all the shit was worth going thru to spend time with guy's who are so passionate and get exited . It was not one of their better records but it was an experience I will never forget.

Thanks for your time Mike, this is a good story.

Its fascinating to read all this stuff.

Armando Avila.