After a few weeks of repeated listening, I can now say that this album is the best new thing I've heard in a very long time. It's easily the best Mastodon album in their collection.
Mastodon - Crack the Skye
- Thread starter Slunk
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mexicola
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I can't hear the muddy production some people are talking about. And I'm usually one who is picky with production values.
tbh the production doesn't sound muddy at all, although it does have more of an "older" tone to the guitars, bass, and drums - probably due to the vintage marshall amps they used and the vintage kit brann's using. everything is in there clearly, though the vocals are a bit lower in the mix than usual.
brann definitely took a back seat on this one, not once did I catch myself thinking "jesus christ can he stop playing that snare roll" like I have with their previous works.
brann definitely took a back seat on this one, not once did I catch myself thinking "jesus christ can he stop playing that snare roll" like I have with their previous works.
Cyrosis
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- Aug 21, 2006
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When something sounds muddy, why do so many people say it has a vintage sound? Sure, older music isn't hyped heavily with EQ to give it an unnaturally boosted high end, or cut in the mids, but that isn't what causes the extreme mud fest in stuff like Crack The Skye. Crack The Skye is compressed and limited heavily for starters, add on top of that it's extremly layered nature, and you get a fatigue fest wall of noise. To lighten up the fatiguing nature of compression, everything has been dulled in often exaggerated frequencies. Crack the Skye's mix is pretty much your text book commercial radio mix, so it may sound passable on mediocre speakers, in a car, or on ipod ear buds, but it sounds like garbage on everything else. Older music was mixed on analog gear, they didn't even have the ability to use heavy compression or limiting like they do in the digital realm today, so there is a physically impossibility keeping older music from sounding like most modern mixes.
Yes, I have to rant about shitty mix's, if you don't agree, fair enough, but I can hardly think of anything I hate more.
Cyrosis
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- Aug 21, 2006
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What kind of speakers, or head phones are you using? Also, from what source are you listening if you don't mind me asking, CD player at home, in the car, mp3 player etc.
mexicola
Member
SerenityNow!
*burp*
I am playing the original CD in my stereo and discman. I think the production is crystal clear, great dynamics, awesome mix.
Sorry to disagree with you.
I see I'm not the only one who thinks this disc should sound better...
Maybe it's the Obscura disc that I'm been listening too makes this one sound as if it could've been better...
Maybe it's the Obscura disc that I'm been listening too makes this one sound as if it could've been better...
Cyrosis
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- Aug 21, 2006
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We all have our opinion, no worries.
Engineering and mixing my own music is a big hobby of mine, so I am extremly anal when it comes to the mix of what I listen to. I just believe its one case where ignorance is bliss can apply heavily.
Bleakest Harvest
\m/Misanthropic Hippy\m/
An absolute beaut of an album, totally mesmerizing. It's completely different to Leviathan, which had been my favourite, so must be judged in a different way. It isn't the all out riff-fest that was; it's much more subtle and nuanced. The songwriting is so good though - the whole thing just gradually gets under the skin, it took me almost a month of listening before it fully dawned on me just how good it is.
biggsy
New Metal Member
Bleakest Harvest
\m/Misanthropic Hippy\m/
Well it's not like I was listening to it for a month and thinking it was shit - more like I was enjoying it but it wasn't bowling me over. It has now bowled me over. Comprende?
Chinese Whispers
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- Jan 6, 2009
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I am quite prepared to say that it is my favourite Mastodon album - even though, yes, it is very different than Leviathan or any of the other preceeding albums.
affinityband
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Chinese Whispers
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No, I mean Leviathan because up until now I thought it was their best album, and Crack The Skye is better than all the other albums preceeding it.
affinityband
Member
Hox
Superiorly grim and kvlt
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