How It Was Recorded

John Cougar · Album, 1982

American Fool

This is an album-level record: the sources describe how the album as a whole was recorded, not one song. Where a detail belongs to a single song, the row says so.

Songs this record stands for: Hurts So Good, Jack & Diane. We found nothing specific to these songs, so this album record is the closest account we have.

Lead vocalDrums and drum machineConsole and mixVerified4Reported5

What the sources do and do not say

Sound On Sound Classic Tracks (September 2011) with engineer and co-producer Don Gehman, read in full. Most statements describe the American Fool sessions at Criteria and Cherokee, so this is an album record; only the LinnDrum row is tied to the song. The MCI row is the journalist's description; the drum microphone list is hedged by Gehman ("probably"). A C500 vocal microphone is mentioned without a stated maker and is omitted.

Lead vocal

John Mellencamp (John Cougar)

Microphone

Neumann U 87

Reported

One of two microphones John sang guide vocals into during the American Fool tracking sessions, while the rhythm section played.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. Microphone-modelling plugins only work with their own matched hardware microphone, so there is no plugin to link. Placement and the room matter more than the model.

Neumann U 67

Verified

Gehman says the sessions eventually settled on this as the microphone for John's vocals, though only after a period of trying others.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. Microphone-modelling plugins only work with their own matched hardware microphone, so there is no plugin to link. Placement and the room matter more than the model.

Drums and drum machine

Kenny Aronoff

Instrument

Linn LinnDrum

VerifiedOne song

Borrowed from the Bee Gees; Kenny Aronoff programmed the drum-machine beat for the first half of the song, before the live drums enter.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Emulation of this unit

Aly James Lab VProm

drum instrument

An emulation of Linn's LM-1 and LinnDrum, built around their sound chips.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Microphone

AKG D12

Reported

Gehman thinks this was the kick drum microphone on the American Fool drum recordings.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. Microphone-modelling plugins only work with their own matched hardware microphone, so there is no plugin to link. Placement and the room matter more than the model.

AKG C451

Reported

Gehman thinks 451s were used on the hi-hat and as overheads on the drum recordings.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. Microphone-modelling plugins only work with their own matched hardware microphone, so there is no plugin to link. Placement and the room matter more than the model.

Sennheiser MD 421

Reported

Gehman thinks 421s were used on the toms in the drum recordings.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. Microphone-modelling plugins only work with their own matched hardware microphone, so there is no plugin to link. Placement and the room matter more than the model. The MD 421 is still made.

Mix effects

Unidentified Plate reverb (model not stated)

Verified

Following Mick Ronson's advice, Gehman built a gated echo from a short plate, gating both the send and the returns, to make the drums sound hit hard.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Close match

Universal Audio EMT 140 Classic Plate Reverberator

reverb

Models EMT 140 plates. The source does not name the plate used.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Also worth a look: Waves Abbey Road Reverb Plates (Models the EMT 140 plates at Abbey Road. The source does not name the plate used).

Console and mix

Input chain

MCI 56-channel custom console (model not stated)

Reported

The control room console in Criteria Studio E, where the American Fool sessions were tracked.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Covers this kind of unit

Metric Halo MBSI Channel Strip

channel strip

Models the channel strip of a custom MCI desk built for Criteria Studios in the 1970s, so it is the same maker's sound. It is not a model of the desk on the record.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Mix effects

Trident Console (model not stated)

Verified

The album was mixed on this console at Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Covers this kind of unit

Softube Trident A-Range

equaliser

Models the EQ of Trident's A-Range, the firm's first and best-known desk. The source does not name the model, so this stands for the maker's family of units: it is not a model of the one on the record.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Also worth a look: Universal Audio Trident A-Range Classic Console EQ (Models the EQ of Trident's A-Range, the firm's first and best-known desk. The source does not name the model, so this stands for the maker's family of units: it is not a model of the one on the record).

Sources

  1. Classic Tracks: John Cougar 'Jack & Diane', Sound On Sound, 2011-09. Accessed 15 Nov 2026.
Verified

Stated by the engineer, producer or artist, or by the manufacturer.

Reported

Stated by a reputable secondary source.

Inferred

An educated suggestion, not a documented fact.

Disclosure: plugin links currently go straight to the maker and earn us nothing. If that changes, affiliate links will be marked here. Suggestions are chosen on fit, never on commission, and are kept separate from the recording facts. More.