Neil Kernon

[NK]

Love Dreaming Neon Black, that low end has something unique to it... It just sounds "right" for the music, when Beyond within sets in after the Ophidian.

Personally, I always liked the low end on DNB, but I have to admit that some peoples' systems had some trouble playing the CD without some overloading in the audio chain. This was due to my decision to master the CD using the HDCD process, which cleverly manages to cram 24 bits of audio material into a 16 bit datastream.

However, while this "trick" benefits listeners who have HDCD decoding available, it also made the overall level of the CD quite a bit hotter than average, and back in '99 there were still a lot of older stereo systems / car stereos that couldn't handle the extra level without something folding up in the audio chain.

Many people had systems that could handle the extra level, myself included, and never experienced the problem, but I did hear it on someone's system once where that occurred. I discussed it with my mastering engineer back then, and he explained to me that the nature of the HDCD process caused the CD to play at a slightly higher volume on 16 bit systems. My hope was to deliver something that was huge and full sounding, but I had no idea that some people would have trouble with distortion.

My mistake, I'm afraid. I still feel bad about it today. It was certainly never my intention to adversely affect peoples' enjoyment of the record.

 

[NK]

I really dig the 'fit the mix to suit the band' approach. Good to see Neil visiting us again!

I still pop in here every now and then.

Regarding your other comment, I firmly believe that every artist needs to sound like themselves, and not to just fit into what a producer / engineer wants them to sound like.

Personality in music is so important, especially in this day and age of so many releases coming out each month - it only makes it more important to make sure you try to bring that uniqueness in the artist out into the open, rather than have albums all blur together and nothing in particular leap out and grab the listener.

 

[He's Dead, Jim]

Personally, I always liked the low end on DNB, but I have to admit that some peoples' systems had some trouble playing the CD without some overloading in the audio chain. This was due to my decision to master the CD using the HDCD process, which cleverly manages to cram 24 bits of audio material into a 16 bit datastream.

However, while this "trick" benefits listeners who have HDCD decoding available, it also made the overall level of the CD quite a bit hotter than average, and back in '99 there were still a lot of older stereo systems / car stereos that couldn't handle the extra level without something folding up in the audio chain.

Many people had systems that could handle the extra level, myself included, and never experienced the problem, but I did hear it on someone's system once where that occurred. I discussed it with my mastering engineer back then, and he explained to me that the nature of the HDCD process caused the CD to play at a slightly higher volume on 16 bit systems. My hope was to deliver something that was huge and full sounding, but I had no idea that some people would have trouble with distortion.

My mistake, I'm afraid. I still feel bad about it today. It was certainly never my intention to adversely affect peoples' enjoyment of the record.

Had no idea about this. That's exactly what happens on my system. Guess it might be time to upgrade from my 2003 JVC, huh?

 

[NK]

Yeah. Sorry about that mate.

 

[B36arin]

Personality in music is so important, especially in this day and age of so many releases coming out each month - it only makes it more important to make sure you try to bring that uniqueness in the artist out into the open, rather than have albums all blur together and nothing in particular leap out and grab the listener.

I couldn't agree more!

 

[Deuteronomy]

Neil's productions,have a deep understanding of the genre and of the band's character.
Akercocke's Choronzon/Words are absolutely amazing and unique,with many different styles together.
Exhumed-Anatomy is destiny sounds very alive and energetic etc.
And of course Anihillation of the Wicked is one of the heaviest productions ever,i really appreciate the natural snare on this one,really hard to deal with since the play extremely fast!

 

[indecizo]

I think the guitars sound a just little boxy and the mix sounds punchy as fuck.

 

[indecizo]

wrong thread

 

[HCL]

I wonder if DNB could be remastered?