A question about Crimson II's production

[starchildo@aol.com]

Is it just me or is there something wrong with Crimson II's production? Its strange, very tinny and difficult to hear vocals/ details within instruments. Im going to check it out on a few different steros to determine whether or not its just my stero, but its defeintely a bit distracting to me. Any comments?

charles

 

[Nefilim]

I agree with you.

 

[L0bster]

It's a pretty digital production, for example the drums are sampled, but htey are performed "for real" on a digi-kit, not just porgrammed. there is also a lot of synth on the album.

So what is my point? Well, when recording with digital elements while playing metal you might want it to sound authentic in w way, and there for a bit more muddy/blurry porduction might create the right wall of sound. Also it wasn't recorded in any known studio, so it's kindo' like an advanced demo production.

oh, and I really like the sound of CII.

 

[Dan Swanö]

I would say it is an average production. It was mixed using software only and in headphones and that sometimes explain the vocals being lost in the mix. Writing and Recording at the same time and being just one person means that one of the duties will suffer and in my case it's always been the production. But I don't think it stands in the way of the music.

 

[Shadowfire]

yeah, i think it sounds great.

 

[The Grand Design]

I like it, it's got a unique sound. Definitely not bad.

 

[Jon Nodtveidt]

Definitely, I hear no problems in production (It even sounds really well on my car's stereo!). And I'd have to say that if the music is good, we don't need a "blow-out superimpact production" because there's so much to hear, no time to be impressed with "super compressed million dollar studios sound"

 

[OgnKog]

It sounds great in my genelecs , but, doesn't anything sound great on those monitors!!!

just kidding, excellent job Dan... i'm impressed by your work.

Al.

 

[starchildo@aol.com]

In comparison to moontower which was crystal clear, everything here is so muddy. Lol, sorry to be "hatin" on ya Dan, the music is great, better than great, the prod is bugging me badly. But then productions always do bother me I guess im picky.

 

[starchildo@aol.com]

As a matter of fact that gets me curious, Dan what kind of production was used for Crimson I, and any of the other eos albums for that matter. Just curious.

 

[Static]

I think it is all fine except for the growls, which sound very 'hollow'. It's not the growls themselves, they are powerful, just let down by production.

 

[Nefilim]

I'm with Static here, the growls disappear a little in the mix, they sound awesome growl-wise, but it's sometimes hard to make out what you're growling due to the "hollow" sound. No major prob though, an excellent album otherwise IMO!

 

[the_dying]

I like the overall sound, but honestly I must say the snare drum is getting on my nerves. It hasn't got that typical Stockholm touch the 90's Swedish area bands had...

 

[The Neckless Lobster]

The production sounds just fine to me!

 

[Highking]

The production is somewhat subpar for Dan on this. It's a great album, but it is very muddy, the vocals are often difficult to pick out, drums don't sound as good as they could, etc.

It just sounds rushed...

 

[Vertigo]

The only thing that sounds "off" is the vocal level, theyre a bit too low.

 

[HoserHellspawn]

I have to agree that the death vocals get a little bit lost - one thing that I think always seperated Dan from other death metal vocalists was the distinction - I could more often tell exactly the words Dan was growling, and the muddy vocal sounds on C2 (not "Judgement Clay") hurt that a bit.

Nonetheless, I have been impressed by the album thus far, and it has recently supplanted the new Green Carnation as the only thing I'm listening to right now.

I have to say, Dan, you (all of you, Edge of Sanity) had balls to do the first Crimson, and it came out as an album that appears when people start discussing the best death metal albums ever. Once again, you had balls to do Crimson II, knowing the degree of hype your die-hard fans would throw at it and the standard to which it would be held. To say "it has not been a disapointment" may come off as passive chatter for some average random record, but is high acclaim for C2.

Well done, and thank you!

(BTW - Where is Second Sky? What happened with that, Mr. "I'm going to focus on one thing and not doing all these projects anymore, and certainly not any metal"? If you've answered this already, I apologize for my recent online "out-of-the-loopness")

 

[starchildo@aol.com]

I play it on the computer and tweek the equalizer a bit and it opens up. It also sounds good in the car. Its basically drums and vocals that are tough to hear. One thing that this production does have though is a great echo sound which really makes the accoustic guitar sound epic. And again the music is just perfect.

 

[Static]

Yeah, I agree Hoser...it has not been a disappointment at all.

This in itself is some of the highest, most appropriate praise I could give the album.

 

[Skaldir]

I like the overall sound, but some things are indeed strange. The open HiHat for example sounds totally strange in my ears.
The vocal level is ok, but could be a bit louder, as many of you said. But in the end, it kicks!!