What's the deal with Johnny Winter recordings

[Matthew J Poes]

I've always loved Johnny Winter's guitar playing. He's a great blues guitarist with a decent blues voice. However....His recordings suck! I have always found them nearly unlistenable. They are so bright as to be irritating. I feel like I need a custom EQ curve just to get through one of his albums. Does anyone know what the deal is? As a blues guitarist myself who likes to think he knows a thing or two about tone, I just don't understand this choice. The kinds of guitar amps blues guys like don't sound like that unless you stick them in a highly reflective room and mic them on-axis. Most of us recognize that this isn't how the amps sound in practice and that you really need to mic them with a beam blocker of sorts or indirectly. He isn't the only one to have this bright sound, but is certainly among the worst.

Maybe its his recording monitors? Maybe they aren't so bright? Bad hearing? I just can't imagine thinking that sounds good.

 

[Todd Anderson]

I'm not familiar with him, but I've been disappointed by SQ of recordings (much like you're expressing). Honestly, I don't understand it. I've always assumed it's part of the mastering process that's the cause...? But I'm no expert on the recording process.

I have a list of favorite albums that I can't listening to on a good system. I'd almost rather listen using cheap earbuds!

 

[Matthew J Poes]

He actually has a neat life story.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Winter