Backstage Spotlight™
November 2003 Recording Engineer Obie
O'Brien
L-R: TL of Claire Bros Sound
(Lititz, PA) and Obie O'Brien at the console at Wembley Stadium August 2000. Photo
courtesy Obie & Denise O'Brien
Recording Engineer Obie O’Brien has
worked with many of the most successful recording artists in the world. He was working at
New York’s famous Power Station recording studios in 1980 when an ambitious kid named
John Bongiovi got a job there sweeping floors, getting coffee, and running errands. The
two became fast friends, and Obie and the guy who would become Jon Bon Jovi have been
working together ever since. Fast forward 23 years, Bon Jovi has sold 100 million albums,
and Obie O’Brien shares co-production credits on several of them. Plus, he designed
the studio on Jon’s property where the band now records.
In late 1999, our Editor-in-Chief had the pleasure of talking with Obie O’Brien as
Bon Jovi finished up the Crush album and prepared to head out on tour. Much has gone on in
Bon Jovi world since then, so recently we talked with Obie again to catch up. He filled us
in on the recording of the new Bon Jovi album, This left Feels Right (due in stores
November 4), what it was like doing Front of House sound on the Crush tour, and the
process of going through over 20 years of archival material to create 2002’s One
Wild Night live album and the forthcoming Bon Jovi box set (due out in late 2004).
MBADC: Tell us about This Left Feels Right,
and about the process of making it.
Obie: Actually, this was Jon’s idea. Basically, I see this thing as something for
the real fan, who knows this band and who knows the material. So Jon and the band picked
some selected hits, and it originally started out as being just an acoustic record. And it
was going to be a very straight-ahead acoustic record. And I didn’t think Jon, at the
end of the day, thought it was a creative enough endeavor, and he wanted to give something
a little different to everyone. So he brought in Patrick Leonard to produce this. Patrick
Leonard is just a very, very talented musician to start with, and he has very eclectic
ideas. And he came in, not really knowing the songs like, you would think you would hire a
producer who really knows every song in the history. He came in not really knowing the
stuff, and they would play things for him, and the next day would come in and go,
"Let’s try it like this." And would be so off the wall you’d be going,
"this is great."
MBADC: What was Jon and Richie’s reaction, as the songwriters?
Obie: Jon’s initial reaction was, I think he was into it. I think at first
everybody goes, "wow" because it’s so out of left field. But as soon as you
start the process, everybody goes, "Oh, I get this. This is very cool." And
actually, I’m glad Patrick wasn’t so married to the songs and the arrangements
and melodies and chord changes. Some of the songs, he didn’t even want to hear the
original version; he just asked Jon and Richie to get a guitar and just sort of go through
the song, and play it and sing it, and he would start the process. I just thought it was
great. A lot of unusual instruments, a lot of very organic, acoustic instruments, totally
weaving the melodies in and out of these different chord structures. If you took the lyric
out, you honestly would not know what song it is. I mean, we did "Wanted Dead or
Alive, " and it still has a signature guitar part…In a few places they kept
something like that. But it’s quite an unusual vocal performance by Jon sound-wise
and melody-wise.
From my end of it, I loved it. Because Tico just didn’t play the drums--we had bass
drums laid on the floor, and Tico would actually play the bass drum with his hands. On a
couple songs he played with brushes on a cardboard box. So I got to do all the crazy stuff
I like to do: Just making an instrument. Or using sort of a mundane instrument you’d
gotten used to in a very unusual way. A lot of odd tunings on the drum. Using a marching
drum. All these little noisemakers that Tico sort of came up with…These pot-like
items that you cup your hand over the hole and they make these odd noises. Some Indian
instruments. I mean, for me, it was great. Because you got to go out and just have fun.
And Patrick Leonard and the band were very open to let you try whatever you wanted.
Patrick would say, "You know what I’m looking for? I think it needs this."
But the window was so big when he gave you what he was looking for, you got to go out and
[play] around and try a bunch of stuff. So if you’re an engineer, and you’re
sitting there and you want to try all this crazy stuff, it’s great.
MBADC: The method sounds very Tom Waits-esque.
Obie: Yes. Absolutely. And the way this band works, the [usual] process is, they write
the song, you might just do a quick guitar-vocal demo. Then you come in the studio, and
the band plays and you have that demo, and then you listen to that, and you make some
changes, and then you go and you do the record. This one, most of the stuff--I’d say
about 95% of the stuff--came together right there in the studio.
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