What happened to Donn Landee?

[garbeaj]

I posted another thread asking about Rudy,which apparently opened some sort of "can of worms"...Anybody know what happened with Donn Landee? He seems to be another guy excommunicated from the Van Halen camp inexplicably. I recall that Ed mentioned that during therapy he realized that (and I am paraphrasing) he felt that he was being used by 'other people' who tried to make him (Ed) feel like they (the other person or persons) were responsible for Van Halen's sound.As Eddie used to constantly refer to himself and Donn as being responsible for Van Halen's studio sound,I am assuming he dropped Donn because of this clarity experienced during therapy. After this realization-to my knowledge-Donn disappeared from the Van Halen camp.Anybody have any other information? I think Donn may have more knowledge of Ed and what he used on record over and above anyone,including Rudy Leiren...

[Ice Cream Man]

I don't know what happened to Don Landee, but I know some therapist in Hollywood figured out that there was a lot of money to be made feeding stars' egos. "Yes, YOU are the man! Nobody else! You're right, man! Screw everybody else! YOU are IT!" And the checks keep comin'.

[Simon Ribeiro]

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Donn+Landee

[garbeaj]

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Donn+Landee

Thanks for the link Simon...Of course this goes over the albums he worked on,but still gives no clue as to what happened

[unchainedguitars]

I often wondered that, myself.

It does turn me off that Ed changed loyalty so quickly.
In the early days (the only days that VH mattered), Donn was constantly mentioned in Ed's numerous guitar-mag interviews.
Then Ed turned on Landee, sort of brushed off his importance.

Ed never ever sounded even remotely as brilliant as he did with Templemen producing & Landee engineering.
When those guys were out of the picture, his tone, his sound went to hell.
He became all jangly & generic, over processed.

I give Landee a lot of credit, because you can hear what an influence he & Ted had in the studio.

[garbeaj]

I often wondered that, myself.

It does turn me off that Ed changed loyalty so quickly.
In the early days (the only days that VH mattered), Donn was constantly mentioned in Ed's numerous guitar-mag interviews.
Then Ed turned on Landee, sort of brushed off his importance.

Ed never ever sounded even remotely as brilliant as he did with Templemen producing & Landee engineering.
When those guys were out of the picture, his tone, his sound went to hell.
He became all jangly & generic, over processed.

I give Landee a lot of credit, because you can hear what an influence he & Ted had in the studio.

Ted was only given an executive producer credit because he was the "known" producer at Warner's.Ed an Donn made the records with Ted only producing Dave's vocals.The music was all Ed and Donn.

[Outtalove]

from what I understand-Landee was sort of Templeman's engineer, they apparently worked on a few records together prior to VH, so maybe Ted took Don with him? just an idea...

[garbeaj]

from what I understand-Landee was sort of Templeman's engineer, they apparently worked on a few records together prior to VH, so maybe Ted took Don with him? just an idea...

Donn was indeed Ted's preferred engineer.He did all the Van Morrison, Doobie Brothers and Nicollette Larson records before Van Halen. Edward definitely dismissed Donn,I just have never heard anything about what really happened between them and what he has been doing since he left Ed...

[steve-o]

Donn was responsible for alot of what we hear on the 6 pack. Still it was Ed who had the sound and tone nailed down before he got to the studio. Donn was just a yes man as far as I'm concerned. I won't for a second disagree that Ed's sound is nothing short of incredible on the 1st six. Nothing has ever come close. But..... the guitar panned hard left and vocals right with bass and drums mixed in the middle to my ears is a huge injustice to Van Halen. Alex has an ok drum sound that in many cases is muddy sounding. Mike had a great bass sound on those records, nice and bright and twangy the way it should be but again lost in the mix. While the FUCK album can be argued saying it was jangly which it was, they were on a much better track when it came to final mix down. Subsequently I think the balance album is good sounding. And when they got back with Dave in 96 Can't get this stuff no more to me is the epitome of what Van halen should sound like. Saturated warm guitar, great sounding percussion and bass that you can hear and feel. If that is an indication of what dave and ed are capable of then in the future it should sound fantastic. But Donn just did what ed wanted. And what ed wanted in those days wasn't a very educated opinion. All those albums have a timeless quality that most bands can't come close to but I still feel they could have been much better with proper mixing. Ask the Van Halens and they would tell you the same thing!!!.

Steve

[A.J. MASSEY]

Donn was responsible for alot of what we hear on the 6 pack. Still it was Ed who had the sound and tone nailed down before he got to the studio. Donn was just a yes man as far as I'm concerned. I won't for a second disagree that Ed's sound is nothing short of incredible on the 1st six. Nothing has ever come close. But..... the guitar panned hard left and vocals right with bass and drums mixed in the middle to my ears is a huge injustice to Van Halen. Alex has an ok drum sound that in many cases is muddy sounding. Mike had a great bass sound on those records, nice and bright and twangy the way it should be but again lost in the mix. While the FUCK album can be argued saying it was jangly which it was, they were on a much better track when it came to final mix down. Subsequently I think the balance album is good sounding. And when they got back with Dave in 96 Can't get this stuff no more to me is the epitome of what Van halen should sound like. Saturated warm guitar, great sounding percussion and bass that you can hear and feel. If that is an indication of what dave and ed are capable of then in the future it should sound fantastic. But Donn just did what ed wanted. And what ed wanted in those days wasn't a very educated opinion. All those albums have a timeless quality that most bands can't come close to but I still feel they could have been much better with proper mixing. Ask the Van Halens and they would tell you the same thing!!!.

Steve

I agree that the 6 pack should have been mixed like the 2 songs in '96, but MWM and CGTSNM are far from being the epitome of a Van Halen song.