Mystery: Why doesn't As I Lay Dying do every record with Andy Sneap?

[Genius Gone Insane]

This is perplexing. Shadows are Security sounds absolutely unbelievable. Best of all time? Maybe. I don't understand why these guys aren't with Andy on every recording.

I don't particularly love their music but I have to listen to it regularly just because of how awesome this album sounds.

Anyway, just had to get that off my chest.

 

[Mm1066]

Maybe Andy isn't free all the time?

 

[Seizure.]

S.a.S is still my go to reference haha
Awesome mix.

 

[PeterPaul760]

Shadows are security is indeed one of my favorite mixes. Probably their best mixed record. And overall record IMO

 

[infest]

To be honest The Powerless Rise sounds fucking sick too. Very tight and modern.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Probably money and availability.

 

[Clockwork]

I remember reading on here somewhere that they asked him about one of the other albums they did but that Sneap was busy with other projects.

 

[amarshism]

I liked an ocean between us. The was Colin wasn't it?

 

[Rex Rocker]

Yup, An Ocean was Colin. Andy reamped the guitars for him, tho.

But yeah, Shadows Are Security is my favorite mix as well. Guitars sound unbelievable.

 

[Vinny]

Pretty sure Sneap only mixed Shadows anyway.
Colin Richardson is on a pretty level pedalstool with Sneap in my honest opinion, so it wouldn't really make much of a difference to me (Colin mixed Ocean, Powerless Rise, and Decas I believe). But I honestly think that An Ocean Between Us is by far their best album musically and production-wise.
Shadows Are Security defined modern metalcore at the time (aswell as HoB/The Poison by Bullet), but An Ocean Between Us just took it to a whole new level.

 

[Harley Barley]

I remember reading that Andy doesn't like to do a lot of stuff with the same bands, he'll do like 2 albums then insist they move on to somebody else. something like that.. An ocean between us was my fav.. probably only because of the songs... mix ix better on SoS

 

[Aaron Smith]

I don't think Andy has any rules about working with the same band too many times. As long as he likes the band and likes the material, I'm sure he would be interested.

I think in this case it's purely that As I Lay Dying just has liked Colin's mixes a lot, so they keep going back to him. I remember asking their drummer (soon after the release of "An Ocean Between Us") why they chose Colin over Andy, and all I really remember from his response was something along the lines of "Well, Andy actually learned from Colin...". I don't think he meant to denigrate Andy at all though, I might have just sounded too surprised, and he was basically saying "Well dude, you know, Colin is just as much a professional mixer as Andy is".

 

[crillemannen]

I think An ocean B. sounds better then SOS, just my opinion. AoBu is one of the tightest (and best sounding) modern metal albums of all time.
I personally prefer Colin over Andy. I like Colins in your face mixes, but it doesn't fit all styles. I didn't like Slipknots last album for instance.

 

[Mikaël-ange]

I think An ocean B. sounds better then SOS, just my opinion. AoBu is one of the tightest (and best sounding) modern metal albums of all time.
I personally prefer Colin over Andy. I like Colins in your face mixes, but it doesn't fit all styles. I didn't like Slipknots last album for instance.

90% of the time I love Andy mix but i agree with you about AOB. This is why I start to really fail in love with Colin work.

 

[Charlie E.]

Shadows are Security definitely has a dope sound but something about the guitars sound weird to me. Like it has some sort of filter or something. I guess it could be the TS settings, the pick attack, or the juice when reamping. It almost sounds as if they have a wah pedal on or something.
Hmmm upon listening to An Ocean Between us again I do hear it there as well but don't really hear it on Frail Words Collapse so I guess it's a picking thing. It's mostly on riffs that quickly switch from palm mutes to regular strokes.

 

[Arsenu,]

the next question should be:
why don't every band work with Andy on every record?

 

[Vinny]

Shadows are Security definitely has a dope sound but something about the guitars sound weird to me. Like it has some sort of filter or something. I guess it could be the TS settings, the pick attack, or the juice when reamping. It almost sounds as if they have a wah pedal on or something.
Hmmm upon listening to An Ocean Between us again I do hear it there as well but don't really hear it on Frail Words Collapse so I guess it's a picking thing. It's mostly on riffs that quickly switch from palm mutes to regular strokes.

Pick attack most likely

 

[dan weapon]

The band Dearly Beheaded released 2 albums in the mid-late 90s, which had incredible production courtesy of Colin (and I think Andy might have worked on the first album - 'Temptation' - too).

Well worth checking out if you haven't already. Sorry for being slightly off on a tangent.

 

[amarshism]

im with crill

 

[mva801]

Yeah how can you fault a band for working with Colin Richardson instead of Andy Sneap? That's like choosing between a Ferrari or a Porsche. They're both as bad ass as it gets. Colin is a god damn legend as far as I'm concerned. Go listen to what he was doing in 1994 with Machine Head on Burn My Eyes. Then realize that he's easily one of the best engineer/ producers of metal over the last two decades.

There's more than one band who have worked with both Colin AND Andy. Because they're both at the top of the heap with metal production.