When Sneap has spoken about panning things slightly inward he has always referenced individual riffs where only one guitar was playing - if you had those hard panned, it would sound weird and pull you out of the mix. He just automates things inward for that specific part, unless you can provide some example of him saying otherwise?
I know what you're getting at, and you can hear this on some Arch Enemy albums (I LOVE drum sound on those). However, if you read up
here: "Q/How many guitars?
A/when Im going for old school thrash then its usually 2, other stuff 4. Sometimes we vary amps, usually same cab, mic (s) and gtr
I'll usually use 2 different set ups (different amps) and track 2 of each, but you have to be a tight player to do this, I'll pan 2 hard left and right and 2 in slightly."
Of course, this info could be outdated, but I still believe this is how he achieves better headphone compatibility than most people.
I just think you're way too caught up on headphones and end up giving advice that is, in my opinion, counterproductive.
I see what you're saying and why, but it gets to a moot point where you have to decide whether you want to make the best of both worlds (difference between 100% and 95% is small on speakers but huge on headphones) or just want to go with the best possible mix for a standard speaker set. I can agree I am biased, but then again, who isn't?
It's also important to notice that there's more of
this kind of software rising around and it's really useful, but it still doesn't make a natural sounding 'speaker emulation' vibe.
I'm not even going to get into it with you on the Gojira being less metal or 'trendy' comment.
I am actually talking about 'fan reviews' on (pretty stupid) review sites. There are these bandwagons: first the band was underrated, then it was overrated, then people had those two bandwagons to jump onto, when it's really just a great band that has some inventiveness to it and a crushing live performance. I was called a faggot by "oh so metal" guys for liking L'enfant Sauvage. There's no help for these guys, for whom anything that hits Roadrunner has to suck, no matter what.
In my opinion, all Gojira albums are great, and all in different ways, since the songwriting, type of singing and production are all incredibly different on all of them, of course, inhibiting certain elements that give Gojira some remarkable vibe, which is why it's one of few bands I have a whole discography of (though I don't listen to The Link a lot, too repetitive for everday listening).
