Archived - Discussion about records and bands produced by Devin

Is Alien Dev's best production yet?

39
9%
39
9%
86
20%
86
20%
64
15%
64
15%
26
6%
26
6%

#90147 by djskrimp
Sat Oct 01, 2005 12:03 pm
Okay, we're discussing best production, right? Let me ask this question: Are we asking "Is the production used on a given album the best, or could it have been better", or are we asking, "Is the production on a given album the best of ANY produced album?" Here's my answer to both:

THe production on Terria is part of what makes Terria so great. I would love to hear Devy 2005's re-take on Terria, but the 2001 production was SOO good it partly defines what makes Terria so great in the first place. In the respect, I would have love to hear the 1997 Devin's production on the Terria album, but still would rather have Terria as is. On the other side of that coin, Metallica re-doing Master of Puppets now would would mean that the 7th sign of the apocalypse was shown, and that our days our numbered.

Soo..the best produced album by Dev and Co...I still say City. Nothing gets me as much as City does...except Ocean Machine.

#93461 by Axioma
Sat Oct 29, 2005 5:53 am
for me it would definately be alien, it does things to my sound system (and the brain of me and those around me) that nothing else comes close to.

#120116 by SouldrivenDevil
Thu Apr 27, 2006 8:31 pm
I think it's "Infinity"

Not that its the clearest but the wall of sound behind songs like "Truth" and "Soul Driven" make it the best in my mind. The layers of ambience is unreal.

#120223 by sj_2150
Fri Apr 28, 2006 9:48 pm
either alien or synchestra. but well have to wait for the new black...

#120327 by mo
Sun Apr 30, 2006 9:06 am
I have to admit, its between Alien and Infinity for me. Infinity over Terria just because of how dynamic the sound is in Infinity, a lot more all over the place whereas Terria is quite consistent. Alien is remarkable tho...

#120826 by Josiah Tobin
Fri May 05, 2006 10:25 pm
I'd have to agree, I think Alien is probably his best production so far. The only thing I don't like is the hihats and cymbals, they're a bit too high and crackly for my taste... That's just me though. I love how you can hear everything (except perhaps the bass... could use a sharper toner maybe), and the kick drum sound is perfect. I love the snare as well, and the way the guitars have no crunch at all and sound so smooth is very cool in the context of the album.
The sound of everything is just so pleasing to my ears. :P

#124889 by earworm
Sat Jun 24, 2006 11:59 am
I don't know i think infinity is my favorite, so much stuff goin on in that one.

#124984 by niklang
Mon Jun 26, 2006 2:48 am
I almost went for Infinity just for the multi layered madness of it all but Terria swung in at the last moment. That album is just perfect in every way.

#138108 by ghaleon0075
Sat Jan 13, 2007 3:56 pm
I think that Terria or Accelerated Evolution sport the overall 'best' production, but as far as my favorites go, Id have to say Ocean Machine, followed by Terria, followed by City. Its all really good though

#138886 by static2
Sun Jan 21, 2007 9:10 am
I've got major, major issues with Alien's production. It's not that it's necessarily bad production at all - though I think the guitars sound kind of thin sometimes, which is strange - but rather the mix. The guitars are too low, the drums are too high, I rarely hear much bass outside the sub-bass hits, and Gene's drums just sound awful IMO. The bass drums especially are annoyingly bassless. Overall, the mix reminds me of Metallica's ... And Justice For All, and I forced that record/band out of my head a LONG time ago for similar reasons!

As well, Terria has great production all around except for one key area: Gene's cymbals. You can usually hear the hi-hat alright, but the crash and ride cymbals are absolutely buried in the mix. The record sounds perfect, lush, and fine when you're not trying to hear everything Gene is doing, but the second you wonder why there's not a crash cymbal to open "Earth Day" and you strain your little ears to finally grasp that they're absolutely buried under the guitars and keyboards, Terria suddenly isn't as good. Granted, the bass drums and snare are absolutely clear in the mix - they stick out like sore thumbs - but there's no power in the drums, because the power comes across in the use of cymbals (in metal), and when you bury the cymbals, you bury the power. The beginning of "Mountain" would be ten times as crushing if you could hear Gene madly smashing the shit out of his crash cymbals, but instead they're merely accents on the overall sound. It bothers me a lot, and I cannot listen to a song on Terria without noticing it.

With all that said, I voted for City because both the production value of every instrument AND the mix are perfect in every way. I don't know if Dev has topped it yet, IMO.

#138911 by Biert
Sun Jan 21, 2007 1:16 pm
static2 wrote:I've got major, major issues with Alien's production. It's not that it's necessarily bad production at all - though I think the guitars sound kind of thin sometimes, which is strange - but rather the mix. The guitars are too low, the drums are too high, I rarely hear much bass outside the sub-bass hits, and Gene's drums just sound awful IMO. The bass drums especially are annoyingly bassless.

Agreed

#138940 by Noodles
Sun Jan 21, 2007 7:22 pm
Biert wrote:
static2 wrote:I've got major, major issues with Alien's production. It's not that it's necessarily bad production at all - though I think the guitars sound kind of thin sometimes, which is strange - but rather the mix. The guitars are too low, the drums are too high, I rarely hear much bass outside the sub-bass hits, and Gene's drums just sound awful IMO. The bass drums especially are annoyingly bassless.

Agreed

Agreed, except I can hear the bass and I think loud drumming kinda suits the album.

#139003 by Ike
Mon Jan 22, 2007 11:04 am
static2 wrote:I've got major, major issues with Alien's production. It's not that it's necessarily bad production at all - though I think the guitars sound kind of thin sometimes, which is strange - but rather the mix. The guitars are too low, the drums are too high, I rarely hear much bass outside the sub-bass hits, and Gene's drums just sound awful IMO. The bass drums especially are annoyingly bassless. Overall, the mix reminds me of Metallica's ... And Justice For All, and I forced that record/band out of my head a LONG time ago for similar reasons!

As well, Terria has great production all around except for one key area: Gene's cymbals. You can usually hear the hi-hat alright, but the crash and ride cymbals are absolutely buried in the mix. The record sounds perfect, lush, and fine when you're not trying to hear everything Gene is doing, but the second you wonder why there's not a crash cymbal to open "Earth Day" and you strain your little ears to finally grasp that they're absolutely buried under the guitars and keyboards, Terria suddenly isn't as good. Granted, the bass drums and snare are absolutely clear in the mix - they stick out like sore thumbs - but there's no power in the drums, because the power comes across in the use of cymbals (in metal), and when you bury the cymbals, you bury the power. The beginning of "Mountain" would be ten times as crushing if you could hear Gene madly smashing the shit out of his crash cymbals, but instead they're merely accents on the overall sound. It bothers me a lot, and I cannot listen to a song on Terria without noticing it.

With all that said, I voted for City because both the production value of every instrument AND the mix are perfect in every way. I don't know if Dev has topped it yet, IMO.


wow, that's a detailed statement. i'd like to hear your opinion of the sound on synchestra, which seems brutally overcompressed to me. you know, like all the dynamics where squished together in the end, so that everythings equally loud now. super loud. that's a bummer for my ears.

#139007 by superhydroyeast
Mon Jan 22, 2007 11:39 am
static2 wrote:I've got major, major issues with Alien's production. It's not that it's necessarily bad production at all - though I think the guitars sound kind of thin sometimes, which is strange - but rather the mix. The guitars are too low, the drums are too high, I rarely hear much bass outside the sub-bass hits, and Gene's drums just sound awful IMO. The bass drums especially are annoyingly bassless. Overall, the mix reminds me of Metallica's ... And Justice For All, and I forced that record/band out of my head a LONG time ago for similar reasons!

As well, Terria has great production all around except for one key area: Gene's cymbals. You can usually hear the hi-hat alright, but the crash and ride cymbals are absolutely buried in the mix. The record sounds perfect, lush, and fine when you're not trying to hear everything Gene is doing, but the second you wonder why there's not a crash cymbal to open "Earth Day" and you strain your little ears to finally grasp that they're absolutely buried under the guitars and keyboards, Terria suddenly isn't as good. Granted, the bass drums and snare are absolutely clear in the mix - they stick out like sore thumbs - but there's no power in the drums, because the power comes across in the use of cymbals (in metal), and when you bury the cymbals, you bury the power. The beginning of "Mountain" would be ten times as crushing if you could hear Gene madly smashing the shit out of his crash cymbals, but instead they're merely accents on the overall sound. It bothers me a lot, and I cannot listen to a song on Terria without noticing it.


I usually ignore the cymbals unless they stand out, but Terria's cymbals did annoy me a bit. Sometimes you can hear it, but it just sounds like a ming vase being dropped in the background, hardly enough to add anything to the sound and resonate through the ears, and the other times, you hear a slight wave and then it fades, and it completely takes the rest of the punch out of the riffs. programmed drums aren't nice to have, but they keep everything at a nice level, and I think gene varies too much the intensity he hits the cymbals with.
Ike wrote:wow, that's a detailed statement. i'd like to hear your opinion of the sound on synchestra, which seems brutally overcompressed to me. you know, like all the dynamics where squished together in the end, so that everythings equally loud now. super loud. that's a bummer for my ears.

personally, it was the production of Synchestra that wowed me the first time round. I think the volume of everything may be a LITTLE too thought out, but overall, the loudness helps if you turn the volume down a little =]. on a more serious note, Synchestra VASTLY improved the drum sound to Accelerated Evolution, which I can't STAND. The drums are waaaay down in the mix on AE. Don't get me wrong, it's a fantastic album, and the drums don't really detract from the music, just that the drums seem to have a limp, meaningless sound to them, like a drummer who's just...well....there, whereas on synchestra, I found myself so into the drums that I was actually air drumming(well, my interpretation of air drumming anyway, _-=flail=-_).

#139008 by theoryman
Mon Jan 22, 2007 11:43 am
Ike wrote:
wow, that's a detailed statement. i'd like to hear your opinion of the sound on synchestra, which seems brutally overcompressed to me. you know, like all the dynamics where squished together in the end, so that everythings equally loud now. super loud. that's a bummer for my ears.


I'd say that was a result of the mastering, and it bugs me too. Everything is squished to be as loud as possible to keep up with everyone else's loud mixes.

My pet peeve with Devin's production is the drums. His snares are too processed sounding for my taste. On AE I really hate the snare treatments, and the bass drum is a bit too boomy. :P I think his best drum sounds so far were on the New Black, which he did not mix. But these are very minor quibbles - overall I love his production, I just like to nitpick. :D

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests