Meshuggah - ObZen Production

Fragle

Fragle

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Jul 27, 2005
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just grabbed meshuggah's obzen (i know i'm late to the party), and damn, it's the very best thing meshuggah has ever done as far as i am concerned. i loved the I EP, but this seems to be the first meshuggah album that's full of SONGS if you know what i mean, yet it's as technical as ever. i'm absolutely loving every song on it.

anyways, i was quite surprised when i checked out the notes....recorded in their own studio, mixed by thordendal himself. tbh, i did not see this coming. haven't been able to check it in the studio yet, but the mix absolutely slays in my car and on regular speakers. check out the gear list of their studio (http://www.falstudios.com/gear.html)....it's nothing out of the ordinary even for a decent project studio...mackie mixer, cubase sx3, uad 1, krk/event monitoring, rme conversion etc.
i got to say, this album makes me think that self producing your records can work out really fucking well. having björn engelmann master it surely doesn't hurt either, but after all that's just the icing on the cake.
so far, the only thing it seems to lack is some of the really nice automated fx stuff the big names tend to do....listening in high detail seems to show that there's some of the "sweetness" coming from really high end pre's, a/d, mics etc which it can't quite reproduce, but on the other hand, the mix seems to work perfectly for the highly technical and mechanical music. plus i didn't really notice before knowing about the self production thing, so there might very well some mind thing involved here lol.

anyways, feel free to discuss!
 
Haha nice^

TBH I think this album sounds terrible. The irony with Meshuggah is that their best sounding records were done in 96 and 98. 12 years later they are still pushing crap up a hill in that regard. Honestly I think there are a few people on this very forum that could've done a better job.

Musically though Obzen slays and I listen to it all the time.
 
wow...didn't see that coming!
i wonder what exactly makes you think that most newer meshuggah sounds terrible?

i know that it's VERY different from what you tend to shoot for, and i agree that the mixes will most certainly not work for any other band than meshuggah, but with respect to their sterile, repetitive, machine-like style, i sorta doubt that a "great" mix in a more traditional sense would work for them.
 
They had a great foundation going with DEI and Chaosphere. If they had simply retained that approach but modernized it by injecting more fidelity, more low-end, finally replacing that disgusting wood block snare they could have had some amazing sounds. But instead they took so many steps backwards when they went to Line 6, not to mention sequencing drums for a few records. The midrange of their newer records is almost unbearable IMO - Obzen in particular. Listen to how the rhythm guitars just sit in a terrible spot. Their core mids are forward, but underneath it there is no meat whatsoever so they just sound dry and abrasive. The mix as a whole has virtually no low-end and barely conveys the power behind their music. It's just very weak all round IMO.
 
The guitar sound basically is the bass sound. If you hear the isolated bass sound, also in the dvd, you can notice that is the most important aspect for the sound. Guitars are basically normal sounding guitars.
 
Ermz said:
They had a great foundation going with DEI and Chaosphere. If they had simply retained that approach but modernized it by injecting more fidelity, more low-end, finally replacing that disgusting wood block snare they could have had some amazing sounds. But instead they took so many steps backwards when they went to Line 6, not to mention sequencing drums for a few records. The midrange of their newer records is almost unbearable IMO - Obzen in particular. Listen to how the rhythm guitars just sit in a terrible spot. Their core mids are forward, but underneath it there is no meat whatsoever so they just sound dry and abrasive. The mix as a whole has virtually no low-end and barely conveys the power behind their music. It's just very weak all round IMO.
Click to expand...

Disgusting wood block snare? The snare on Chaosphere fucking kills. Best thing on that album IMO.

On topic, I'm not the biggest fan of the production on ObZen, but I wouldn't call it unbearable.
 
I quite like overall production on obzen and the other recent meshuggah album. At least they're trying to sound a bit different to the standard metal sound. Obzen itself is nasty in the upper mids, but i'd almost put that down to mastering, not the mix. Except the snare is toooo loud between 2 and 3 khz

edit: if only the snare was more concentrated in the massive low mid gap and the guitars were allowed to have some more crunch Catch 33 would be a phenomenal mix
 
Obzen sounds rad, I think it could of had some more bass in it but it definitely is super clear and awesome sounding. I think the songs are really well put together as well. Have you guys heard the ALIVE CD?! For being a live mix it sounds REALLY fucking good.
 
Obzen sounds puny
I'd say Catch 33 is the best production they ever had as far as the new stuff goes and Chaosphere as far as the old stuff goes

but who cares about the production when they're cranking out shit as boring musically as obzen
meshuggah are one of the few mainstream modern metal bands that manage to do long winded, high concept, slowly developing epics and they stick to 4-5 minute songs, i don't fucking get it.
 
GarethSE said:
Obzen sounds puny
I'd say Catch 33 is the best production they ever had as far as the new stuff goes and Chaosphere as far as the old stuff goes

but who cares about the production when they're cranking out shit as boring musically as obzen
meshuggah are one of the few mainstream modern metal bands that manage to do long winded, high concept, slowly developing epics and they stick to 4-5 minute songs, i don't fucking get it.
Click to expand...

lol, while I wouldn't call ObZen boring, I definately agree that Catch 33 was their best sounding album (at least to my ears)
 
if you listen to the isolated guitars on the title track "obzen", goddamn, these guitars are so hollow sounding..
this is how every line 6 tone sounds to me... hollow end empty... it might work for some, but onthis recording..

i wonder why they did not use their axe fxs on the record though..
also i really wonder why jens voice on the latest releases (including the nothing rerelase) sounds as if they put antares voice modeller
with the "breathy" setting on his voice..
 
I was about to say that the "Alive" cd has some pretty crunch stuff on it.

Oh, and "Catch 33" bores me to tears, hence why I haven't listened to it since it come out. But I jam to "Obzen" pretty often.
 
The production doesn't bother me on this, nor do I found it outstanding. It seems to support the vision they have for thier music and I respect that. It doesn't detract from the genius music they create, there are many ways to 'skin the cat' of production.
 
The Meshuggah production isn't bad, it's just unique. Just like Kidman's vocals. Couldn't stand them at first, but when I got into these guys, his vocals just belong into their music.
 
I also dont think it sounds bad, It is a very distinct sound well.. very Meshuggah :).

For all fans.. You have probably seen this but it is amazing:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5YEqmIIdj8&feature=PlayList&p=61A31784406FC6F3&index=0&playnext=1[/ame]
 
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