Alex Van Halen Explains Problem With Roth’s Albums

Alex Van Halen recently revealed that it wasn’t until the band’s “1984” album that he felt they achieved the studio sound he had been chasing throughout their career.

Due to producer Ted Templeman’s expertise in getting a live sound in the studio, Van Halen’s albums with David Lee Roth from 1978 to 1984 have stood the test of time and do not sound dated at all. Their classic self-titled debut from 1978, which perfectly captures the excitement and rawness of the band early on.

However, Alex Van Halen feels otherwise. He was not entirely satisfied with Van Halen’s sound inside the studio until well into the band’s career. In fact, their last album with Roth before he fled, 1984.

Alex Van Halen opens up on the matter

In a recent interview with Modern Drummer, Alex explained why he felt this way and why it took so many albums to finally get things to sound up to his expected sonic standard.

“I was in a constant battle with Donn Landee. And he was gracious enough to humor me and pretend like he was listening,” Alex said with a laugh (transcribed by Ultimate Guitar). “I got a 15-minute sound check before we started recording, which I kind of felt slighted. But, y’know, it took six records to get to where I wanted it to be, in terms of mixing in the sound of the band with the drums and have a coherent picture.”

“Most people who I talked to don’t quite see the fact that it all works together. You take one element out, and it’s going to sound different than if you keep them in. That doesn’t explain it very clearly. But after six records, we finally got close to what I thought the drum should sound.”

Alex highlighted that though, that he did still enjoy Van Halen’s albums prior to “1984.”

“Now, there are a lot of people who love the sound from the previous records. And I do not hate the sound or dislike it. But it was a process of how to get there that made it very unique.”

Alex explained that the studio wasn’t ideal and it was small, built for demos, and lacked high ceilings. So the band had to get creative, using old-school techniques inspired by The Beatles to shape the sound. Despite the long, difficult process, they poured everything into the recording, and by the end felt proud, confident, and satisfied with the final result.

“The studio was originally built as a demo studio, so it didn’t have large rooms. It didn’t really have the high ceilings that you need. So, we used little tricks and little techniques – kind of like what The Beatles used to do by moving stuff around and putting it in certain places in the room to get the sound that we wanted.”

“And even though it was a very belabored process, I think in the end, really our blood and sweat is in there. And that’s what I think makes at the end of the day, when we walked out, that’s when we said, ‘Yeah, this is the shit, man’.”