Destroy Erase Improve

[Uladyne]

God Fucking Damn that album sounds good. Maybe because it was made way before the volume wars got crazy, I dunno. Every element sounds perfect, imo, and the sound as a whole is just so nice and punchy. Extra points must be awarded for having such a perfect sound before the drum replacement era.

Sorry, I don't really have a point here.

 

[Machinated]

Not really aimed at the album in question (more an FYI), but drum replacement was going on long before this album was about.

 

[musickey]

All the drums were programed, I believe.

 

[Uladyne]

I should have worded the original post to note the fact that the album was made before drum replacement was (I'm guessing) the norm for metal records.

 

[Uladyne]

All the drums were programed, I believe.

Right, and I'm assuming next you'll tell me Santa Claus isn't real. C'mon, man, don't play with my emotions like that.

 

[Machinated]

Yeah, I'm sure I have read that Daniel Bergstrand tries to avoid replacing drums as much as possible....That said its hard to say what context that was in (whether he means completely replacing, or if he means augmenting mic tracks too).

Its hard to say whether or not any replacement is going on, but its still a good sounding album.

 

[slashvanyoung]

All the drums were programed, I believe.

Nope, that was Catch 33...

 

[Chryst Krispies]

I don't know how you can even talk about the production on this considering how BADASS the songwriting is. It could sound like Shit Magnetic and I would still dig the fuck outta the songs.
But yes, the production is ill.

 

[The Unavoidable]

I'm damn impressed by the dual recs.

 

[Splat88]

I read an article years ago regarding Destroy Erase Improve that stated Meshuggah sampled their own snare to augment the real snare for this album.

DEI has got to be my favorite metal album of all time. It sounds amazing and the songs are absolutely incredible. Their new stuff is kind of cool I guess, but it seems to me that the magic captured on this album is completely gone now.

 

[TheDude]

I read an article years ago regarding Destroy Erase Improve that stated Meshuggah sampled their own snare to augment the real snare for this album.

DEI has got to be my favorite metal album of all time. It sounds amazing and the songs are absolutely incredible. Their new stuff is kind of cool I guess, but it seems to me that the magic captured on this album is completely gone now.

That was Chaosphere. They recorded drums for so long that his snare got out of tune. DEI is natural, no trigs, no click.

 

[Metaltastic]

Holy shit, "no click" as in no click track? Damn...

 

[Ben Johnson]

Haake is a machine.

 

[Splat88]

That was Chaosphere. They recorded drums for so long that his snare got out of tune. DEI is natural, no trigs, no click.

I'm not trying to argue with you, because I'm completely indifferent whether its true or not, but I did read that back in 1995 or 1996 before Chaosphere was even out.

You would know best though, you know them! By the way, can you give us the truth on that whole Marshall Valvestate or Dual Rec discussion regarding DEI?


EDIT: here's the article I read back in 1995
http://old.notam02.no/~espenth/mesh/#soun

I don't know if its accurate, but here's what it states regarding Destroy Erase Improve

"The snare has been sampled from Tomas' own drum and the sample is triggered each time he hits the snare, the other drums are "real".

In addition, this guy also talks about the Valvestate being used on DEI, not Dual Recs

"When they play the riffs the play through a distorted amplifier, and an equalizer is used to remove the mid-tone frequencies.They both play a Marshall Valvestate stereo head amplifier, through a 4x12" Marshall Valvestate cabinet (smaller than the regular Marshall cabinets). The Valvestate uses tubes for the preamp and transistors in the poweramp, hence the name 'ValveState'. This gives a distinct, rythmic sound, often refered to as "Crunch". By muting the strings with the palm of the picking-hand close to the bridge, a short, percussive tone is created. This technique is called "Palm Muting" and is notated "pm" in the transcriptions. This technique is very central in the riffing."

The rythm guitars are heavily distorted. According to Audun Strype Meshuggah's approach to distortion is, if not scientific, very conscious. (2). They show little respect to the original waveform. The distortion of a transistor-amp makes the waveform square. This gives the root-notes an artificial harmonic spectre.


At the end, the guy cites references:

Interview: Chat with Meshuggahs guitarist Mårten Hagstrøm and drummer Tomas Haake, Oslo September 28th 1995.
Chat with Audun Strype, Strype Audio, Oslo October 1st 1995

 

[dontletmedrown]

DEI might be my favorite Meshuggah album. Anyone know any of the recording details of this album? Guitars are very bright and have a "neve" sound to my ears. The drums sound very natural for a metal album.

 

[Kazrog]

One of my favorite albums ever. I still think it's their best, although I have enjoyed their later stuff too.

 

[egan.]

Yeah, that record is fantastic.
FYI

 

[colonel kurtz]

DEI might be my favorite Meshuggah album

+1

those guys have tons of awesome music, but that album still makes me turn into a fucking madman every time i hear it

 

[Kenny Lee]

Holy shit, "no click" as in no click track? Damn...

Yes!! I got to hangout with them again for four days and yep. I asked Tomas and he said nope, not "live"! And... the only song he uses triggers for is 'Bleed'. When we video taped them we taped all shows we wanted to synch up many many angles from each show and each night each tunes timing was different. Hard to believe considering how insanely tight they are!!

Here's some pics of me hangin' with the MIGHTY MESHUGGAH!!!

And yes, the RG2228's Ibanez mass produces are nowhere near the quality of Meshuggahs 8 strings. But, they are cool!!

​

And yes!! D.E.I. is one of my favorite C.D.'s of all-time!!

 

[Sly]

Destroy Erase Improve has marked me for life. I discovered this album 8 years ago and each time I listen to it I'm really amazed how it is. I love every album/EP from "Contradictions Collapse" to "Nothing", even if the recent stuff is killer too.

As for DEI, I read lots of things about this album, I heard the kick is triggered (maybe from a natural sample they recorded during the session) and the snare was augmented with a sample of Tomas snare drum. Can you hear that amazing gated reverb ?
A few years ago a friend and me e-mailed Peter Nordin to know how the DEI bass sound was done, he simply told use they tried tons of weird thing by splitting the signal from the console to some kind of distorsion.
Guitars are Dual Rectifier and TLM193.
This album sounds incredible.