Pensado's Place #90 - Producer/Engineer Mike Clink

In the 90th episode of Pensado's Place, Dave and Herb are joined by Producer, Engineer, and Mix Engineer Mike Clink! Mike is probably best known for his work with Guns N' Roses, Mötley Crüe, Megadeth, Triumph, UFO (including Strangers in the Night), Jefferson Starship, The Babys, Heart, Eddie Money and many others.
Among many other topics, the three discuss working with Guns N' Roses on "Appetite for Destruction", as well as recording and mixing the live half-time show for Superbowl XXXV that featured Aerosmith, 'N Sync, Nelly, and Britney Spears.
For more information on Mike, check him out here:
- www.mikeclinkproductions.com/
- / clinkink
- / mikeclinkproductions
- www.mcdman.com/clink.html
ENTER THE HOUSE OF ROCK GIVEAWAY:
- vintageking.com/houseofrock
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[@Merle1987]

This guy did Appetite and Rust in Peace, two of my favourite albums. He is definitely underrated. I remember somebody called him a "knob twiddler," but bands are always down on producers.

[@bobnellis375]

That's like saying Spielberg and Scorsese are just "lens adjusters" --- dumbest thing I ever heard --- Clink is a genius and GNR would've never made it big without him

[@adjo82]

The Guns N Roses invisible band member, without him the the GNR sound wouldnt exist. They would just have been another matal band from LA, massively underated tech wizard.

[@manicmurph]

He mixed the illusion albums he's a genius.

[@OrganicPickups]

Nope, Mike Clink recorded and produced all the Guns albums but the Illusion albums were mixed by Bill Price.

[@Boleskinebeatz]

Mike Clink's ability to get the hi mid detail come through on bass and drums is his real superpower. Even when the bog guitars come in and eat up so much sonic space you can still hear the kit and the bass clear as day.

[@Ekkobelli]

Ohhhh, tooo shooooort! (Great show, thank you everybody and especially Mike Clink, the man who is partially responsible for adjusting my ears in their early ages!!)

[@ArthurStone]

Excellent show. Thank you all.

[@rjlong89]

AFD starts at 29:08

[@oliverpinelli5170]

after wtching almost every episode I can onl say one thing Mr. Pensado:" I´m a producer- songwroter and mix engineer since 25 years but I HAVE LEARNED A LOT A LOT ALOT here in the lair. Not only little fresh ups, new tricks and inspirations (which are presented in a great way) but mostly that there are very nice and noble people like you around who share their knowledge and experience with the world. This makes you a fiend of humans. May you be lucky and free from suffering. ThanXs 4 your time

[@ssuburbia]

Thanks for everything guys.

[@kukulalibor]

Oh my! I didn´t know this hero and he made Rust in peace. This is the best youtube channel ever.

[@bbbbbbbb723]

very interesting feature of mike, what a legendary producer! Appetite and Rust = Masterpieces

[@PiaAshleyRocks]

KIRKLAND *insert pose*, lol. Awesome as always guys. Thank you!

[@zeroman614]

So glad I stumbled on this channel. Invaluable info and FREE???? Thank you so much.

[@MattCellittiMusicTutorials]

why do you continuously give us all this great, free education?! and please don't stop!!! Many sincere thanks

[@doftpunk101]

I'd love to see an episode with a performer as the guest speaking about how to ensure a good performance and the different between a good and great engineer.

[@JimijaymesProductions]

Why wouldn't anyone care about UFO strangers in the night is a great live album! And Michael Schenker is an awesome guitarist!

[@EndOfEntertainment]

Cool stuff :)

[@chumbawumba797]

Michael Schenker and Dave and Herb rock!

[@CARETAKER89able]

Mike Clink made Appetite Brilliant.Its in Slash's Book. He said no Drugs in the Studio,so they could actually get the Album done.

[@reggaefan2700]

Johnny Marlin If he made Appetite brilliant what happened on the albums thereafter? They all sounded horrible, i.e. Use Your Illusion albums. Those 'Use Your Illusion' albums sounded horrible sonically...they were too clean.

[@midirok]

Reggae Fan That whole Slash story is a bunch of shit. It's amazing how sloppy the guy is live. I've seen him too many times and he has never ever captured the integrity of the album recordings. That whole Tim Caswell bullshit is also ridiculous. The guy just wanted to make money and went along with this dumb story. Listen to Mike Clink talk about recording this and he is so vague and won't get into details about it and just says they went on to become better players. That's more than likely because someone else learned Slash's parts off a cassette and tracked what we now believe is Slash but it's probably Lukather or somebody of that caliber. Who really had a 59 Les Paul. The Slash stories are ridiculous, a special made Les Paul and modded Marshall T amp to get the tone on Appetite is just a bunch of horse shit listening back on it all and having seen the guy try to reproduce the recordings live. Use your illusion and all the stolen amp stories as to why it didn't sound anywhere the same in regards to tone is just more horse shit. Then you listen to his solo albums and I just throw in the towel as the tone is no where the same nor are the chops he uses. Second Velvet album a waste of time and money. Then you go back to old articles and one in particular that stands out is one in Hef's magazine when they talk about an old Aerosmith album that the guitar tracks were done by others not in the band. And they said they liked the idea so that is also what leads me down this trail of crap. Then you get the post Axl made on his site bitching out Slash saying he is a cancer and that he just wanted to be a guitar hero and he stops himself short of saying that he's not a guitar hero because he didn't track the shit on appetite that he can't reproduce. I feel he wouldn't say that because he would throw the whole integrity of the album in the trash. How many other guitarists with anthem types of songs come up with this horse shit and can't reproduce what was actually done?

[@reggaefan2700]

midirok You are correct in so many ways. Slash is way overrated as a guitarist. To me, he needs to go take guitar lessons to 1) become a better guitar player and 2) learn how to play the guitar to begin with. To your point about why he can never reproduce the APD tone: maybe he was high on drugs then that he can't even remember how it was done. I can't knock him too much because I loved the Sweet Chile solo but besides this his playing never really improved after the APD album. That solo from November Rain heralded as one of the best ever is a joke....it's a long extended exercise in poser grandeur. It's no Stairway to Heaven for sure. His newer solo efforts suck big time also. He has no clue about rhythm playing. APD has such cool riffs, I wonder why can't he come up with one cool riff now Mr. Guitar Hero. Everything he did outside of GnR sucked. You can't say that about other great guitarists who always seemed to bring the goods: Blackmore, Hendrix, Mustaine, Ronnie Montrosse, etc. These guitarists would eat Slash alive. At it's core, Slash's playing is just a whole bunch of mindless noodling crap.

[@NolalanD]

@@reggaefan2700 You two down here: I have heard this rumor for a long time too. I can't believe that all the parts were done by other guitarists; just like I can't believe Slash had 0 lessons and drank every day he tracked. But Slash has played thousands of times in front of people (reproduced on youtube and before, millions of times) with a normal variation in ability so I think when you say you're not trying to "knock him," too late, you just did. There would be no way to keep the lid on total fakery, known by so many, for so long. But, that being said, I have noticed in a lot of songs on appetite there are 3 rhythm parts, Izzy, Slash, and one that usually doubles Slash or combines some of the Slash and Izzy, but is precise rhythmically. Also, sometimes Izzy's parts sound too good to be true, and Slash wasn't even there so he can't say he watched Izzy record them. Therefore, I am agreeing with the possibility of a 3rd guitarist on there, a session man. As for illusion sounding different; you can have the slightest change in the weather or gear or temperament affect recordings tremendously so I don't think Reggae fan's dislike of that illusion album's sound compared to appetite as proof that someone else tracked appetite (anyway "Civil War," "Locomotive," "You could be Mine," and "Pretty Tied Up" sound great. Also, studios, like movie studios, make magic happen. I don't necessarily think they would need a real 59 to get what Slash or whoever got down on tape. He definitely used more guitars on Illusion, including sitar and bari. What I do think is made up is Slash's whole, I don't work hard to get this sound. That is the image that fools people. I think he probably can be quite focused and brilliant and Clink seems like the kind of guy that could help that. That being said they were so young when they made appetite.

[@marceloevera2009]

@@midirok stop doing drugs

[@MrJampottt]

Using 'Inserts' in the I/O menu within Pro Tools.

[@AudioReplica2023]

I think I made this comment already but freak it...lol. Theres 3 reasons why I got into mixing. 1- GnR 2- Bill Price(mix engineer from illusions albums). and 3- this guy.

[@SluffAdlin]

Slash's guitar is a 59 Les Paul replica built by Kris Derrig with Seymour Duncan Alnco II Pro (Zebra Style) played through an early 1970's Modified Marshall rented from S.I.R. with the numbers #36 spray painted on the side. The replica guitar has been replicated (lol) by Gibson in 2010 known as the Gibson "Appetite" Guitar (USA, and VOS). The Marshall has also been replicated and released as the Slash signature model Marshall AFD100.

[@OrganicPickups]

The SD were 59s, the alnico II pro, became later. Check for a story about Kris trying different 59s to get that paf sound. I believe is in the les paul forum.

[@SluffAdlin]

Organic Pickups I have those picksups in my Epiphone, sound very good. Would really like to buy the AFD100 but I will probably settle with modding a JMP or a JCM with #36 mod. It's probably a lot cheaper to do.

[@TheMtb312000]

Appetite was 1987

[@phillipcox370]

Nevermind.... 28:15 PEOPLE!

[@moretimeproductions]

HD stands for...Herb and Dave

[@fiddlefolk]

Herb for President!

[@MrJampottt]

Not neccessarily. When you set up the 'insert' in the I/O menu, you can insert the output on a Pro Tools Channel and it will act like a plug-in. You will still have to insert it back into your system, and if you've outputted at as output 3, it'll assume it's being reinputted in input 3. No need to print, though for total recall it's helpful.

[@phillipcox370]

"Is it single coiled"....wtf man

[@DanielCardin_ATX]

+Phil Mandarino Cox No shit. What a dumb fucking question.

[@phillipcox370]

When do they officially start talking about GN'FN'R'S????

[@Barefoot67]

but doesn't he then have to set up a new audio track and then route the track with the outboard gear effect on it to it and then record it in order to use the effect in the mix?

[@Barefoot67]

how is he able to use the outboard gear inside a daw?

[@springhillgolfer878]

Is this one of the first KZbin "podcasts?" 2012?

[@debgibsonfan]

14:40

[@jonnieforster6159]

Thanks Dave for including The James Douglas Show's "Wonderfully" during the ITL this week. The band is so pumped right now. We just left Sunset Sessions in Vegas and we debuted your mix. The programmers loved it as did the music supes. To come back to LA and see that we're included in your show caps off the weekend. FYI - we are looking for some amazing anthemic party songs for the band right now in the Funk-N-Soul-N-Rock-N-Roll vein. Please shoot to me at [e-mail].

[@alekp6822]

29:12 Appetite for destruction

[@shuseiko]

Dave, in last video you look light,thin and younger.

[@ciaran6309]

paul Stanley was going to be the original producer

[@illestofdemall13]

He keeps saying '79, and no one corrects him.

[@MykEviiL]

87" / 89"

[@AmpsforBuddha]

37:30 A 57? ...SM57? I'm confused. Did he misspeak? ...Never heard of a 57.

[@michaelharrington75]

"79"? AFD came out in 87. Nobody ever corrects this guy saying the album came out in 79!

[@fiddlefolk]

I had heard long ago that Steve Lukather actually played a lot of Slash's parts uncredited. Is this true? Just curious if this was true!

[@mattwalsh9413]

Mix @12:53 sounds like fucking garbage.

[@mrtonescale]

Dave, Appetite For Destruction was 1987 to '89, not '79. You keep saying it throughout the video and even reference the punk movement, how very embarrassing man, you are 10 years off on the 'last classic album'...

[@pedroazevedo1]

Jesus, this Mike Clink is soooo full of himself!

[@rupertkent2370]

pedroazevedo1 You must be joking! Dude says he explicitly does not imprint his own production ideas on the bands he works with. Dude works with disadvantaged kids from children's hospitals to get involved with music. Dude is massively respected and successful for a reason.

[@AudioReplica2023]

don't worry guys , this kid only knows who's Chris lord alge thanks to waves plugins😂 So obviously he doesn't know who's Mike Clink and his impact on music history.

[@debgibsonfan]

Most producers are.

[@NolalanD]

@@TML0677 Control your anger, lest it lead you to the dark side( you should know?)