I’ve noticed that there isn’t a thread which only deals with Synchestra’s production, so ehm… Here we go.

Needless to say, Devin has reached very, very high standards as a producer. I expected Synchestra to be nothing but a real quality product concerning this aspect, and I wasn’t disappointed. I don’t want to say that this is Devin’s best production – if I wanted to judge, I probably would still have to wait and listen to it a bit more, and it’s also a matter of taste, really – but I just love the album’s sound. It suits the songwriting so well, each instrument – not forgetting Dev’s vocals – really shines on Synchestra. The way each instrument can be heard separated while still everything together sounds like a unit at the same time really amazes me. For example, I’m often picky about drum sounds, sometimes the snare is too loud, the double bass doesn't sound like I expected it to sound... And so on. But on Synchestra, the drum sound just me blew away (which might also have to do with the drummer, who... isn’t that bad, you know ). The guitar sound suits each section so perfectly, as do the vocals. Really, I could go on for hours worshipping this album's production.

But, you know - I’m really running out of words when trying to express the feelings I have when listening to Synchestra.

Your turn

As I've mentioned in other threads - killer production. The only thing that I had to get used to was the snare sound, which is a bit different this time - "tighter" tuning for lack of a better word, and lower in the mix, except for the last couple of songs. I prefered the more "voluminous" snare sounds of the Infinity sessions and of Terria, but after a couple of spins of Synchestra I learned to like Ryan's sound.

And to be honest, even Devin's very first "solo" album Biomech (still my favourite Devin Townsend album) had such a high production standard that sonically, I'm really not able to hear a quantum leap in the production compared to Synchestra. But Daniel Bergstrand was involved back then and Devin can handle it all by himself nowadays, so obviously he has learned quite a bit in this last decade.

Or - I could just fuck off...

The production is amazing. The use of a grand piano shines, especially on Triumph.

The drum sound sounds even better than the Accelerated Evolution sound. Just seems more compressed and even tighter IMHO.

How on earth did Dev do that harmony on Let it Roll? I want to know everything! effects, microphone used, number of layers, effects lol.

Personally I think this is the best DTB album (including Terria, Infinity etc) and that includes production.

Easily some his best work production-wise on Synchestra. I don't think anything on here could sound any better than it does.

What i would like to know is why Ocean Machine was being mastered by one of the "big" and best mastering companies (Sterling Sound, that must have been expensive) and all following albums where being mastered by (to me) unknow studios. But i´m not an expert, i don´t know if the other albums would have sounded even better if they would have been mastered by Sterling Sound, Gateway, Ocean Way or something.
Personally i like the sound of every Devin Townsend-product very much, my favorites are Ocean Machine, Terria, Alien and Synchestra (in no specific order).

The sounds is amazing, I would definatey put this as a reference mix album. I also love that the bass is a lot more prominent

I'm not sure it's better than any other albums, becuse the production seems to fit the album on all of them

Yes, the prominent bass is a nice touch, especially since Mike plays such cool basslines on the album. It adds another dimension to the music for sure...

My only concern is a very few of the guitar parts. The tone sometimes is just too...idk "fuzzy"...rather than a nice round, smooth sound. I know he was going for this sometimes, I just don't like it that much.

HOWEVER, that does not really affect my opinion of the album in any way, It's my new favorite.

And to be honest, even Devin's very first "solo" album Biomech (still my favourite Devin Townsend album) had such a high production standard that sonically, I'm really not able to hear a quantum leap in the production compared to Synchestra.

Starting this sentence with "To be honest" makes it almost sound like you have to admit something you aren't particularly proud of, but hey, you're just praising Ocean Machine, so don't worry!

Furthermore, I agree that Synchestra isn't a "quantum leap" compared to Devin's previous efforts as a producer - it just can't be, simply because its predecessors also feature excellent productions.

But that doesn't stop most of us from being blown away by Synchestra's production, right?

(wow... the majority of my posts seems to end with a smiley)

One of my friends who introduced me to Devin Townsend back in 1998 is not Devin fan since a couple of years. I've made him listen to Synchestra and he said that it's ok but he doesn't like it that much because the production is too polished. He's more into indie music and for him the more lo-fi the production the better it is. We can all agree that Devin's production is polished but keep in mind that not everybody will automatically love it.

Yes there are people who DON'T like Synchestra, amazing isn't it?

One of my friends who introduced me to Devin Townsend back in 1998 is not Devin fan since a couple of years. I've made him listen to Synchestra and he said that it's ok but he doesn't like it that much because the production is too polished. He's more into indie music and for him the more lo-fi the production the better it is. We can all agree that Devin's production is polished but keep in mind that not everybody will automatically love it.

Yes there are people who DON'T like Synchestra, amazing isn't it?

Do not confuse my feeble mind with such insane metaphysical concepts!!

I do agree that it is definately a lot more of a polished sound, and I agree taht doesn't really work for every album...works for this one though

I still prefer Terria's sound even though it's probably less perfect. I think nostalgia may play a part in my decision though, I have no doubt Synchestra is amazingly well produced.

I do like the mix on this album a lot...but being an audio engineer myself I do have to nitpick a little because I've become extremely anal about this stuff. The album is extremely compressed, it's seriously one of the loudest albums I've ever heard. I barely even have to turn up my volume before this album is at a nominal level.

Yes it's good to have LOUD metal albums, but when you master albums in the present day, everyone is going for the loudest sounding album possible. Which in return you lose a ton of dynamics, everything is constantly one volume. One thing I miss is how in Infinity and Terria when a part on the album is supposed to be quiet it is, and when it's loud IT BLOWS YOU AWAY. I'm definately missing some of that on this album, especially the transition in hypergeek, all of the softer acoustic parts are the same volume as the heavy part and it could be even more intense if it had more dynamics.

Don't get me wrong I still love this album and I'm completely blown away by it, but compression in the mastering stage has gotten out of control with cd's this day in age. That's why I'm hoping for maybe a hi-rez version of this album would eventually get released or even better a vinyl. Because usually transfers to vinyl and hi-rez formats have a completely different sounding mix because there's more room for dynamics.

Synchresta has awesome production. Although I find it kinda weird when the guitars dip in volume during those sub blasts. Especially Hypergeek. Anyone notice that?

I gotta say Terria is still the peak as far as production is concerned, everything cuts through great and just sounds crystal clear and huge on that album.

Synchresta has awesome production. Although I find it kinda weird when the guitars dip in volume during those sub blasts. Especially Hypergeek. Anyone notice that?

That's just part of the mastering process. There's gotta be some headroom left in there somewhere for those big, high-energy waveforms. Those sorts of sounds are usually mixed at such a high level compared to the rest of the channels (for impact) that when the recording goes through the final stages of mastering it gets compressed significantly around those ultra-low-frequency booms so that the recording still sounds loud but fits within conventional headroom requirements and doesn't peak or distort. Because the boom was so much louder in the mix than the guitars and drums at those points, the effect you hear when it is compressed to a consistent level is that the guitars and other elements in the mix have been turned down.

Make sense? I'm home sick today so I'm probably being a little more esoteric than normal...

Alien was far worse for those instrument volume dips than Synchestra. So much so that when you listen to some of the tracks (and I will use "Zen" as an example) on a system without a low frequency extension/sub-woofer the first beats of the chorus feel a little weak (just a little ) because so much of the initial attack of the guitars and drums have been compressed in order to accommodate the boom.

But people want to be able to hear everying loud and consistent on their CD players, so that just does with the territory... *shrug*

I would be very interested in listening to unmastered versions of Synchestra and Alien on a fat PA with plenty of grunt...