Paul Northfield

[Machinated]

I'm listening to Pure Reason Revolution again right now, and I'm loving the drum sound. Northfield seems to have quite a noticable snare sound (check out In Absentia by Porcupine Tree, and even Operation: Mindcrime and Empire by Queensryche), which seems to have a really open sound with a really nice low end.

Anyone know what he's doing?

I have tried finding info and interviews, but can't see anything

 

[MortenDK]

I agree!!, LOVED the drum sound on the geezer albums Plastic planet and Black Science...well and the overall sound aswell, but Plastic planet sounds like its real drums!! where on Black science they sound replaced all tho I dont know if they are....

*EDIT* omg omg just checked his homepage and saw theres an album I missed!! OHMWORK and it sounds awesome!
Linky... Geezer if anybody should be interested...

 

[grywolf627]

I know I'm not helping at all, but I was just listening to Operation: Mindcrime yesterday. I'd forgotten just how much I like the whole production on that album.

 

[sparkyness]

No idea on his drum tracking methods what he does but he also gets some of the best bass tones around....

MetalKingdom (there's a blast from the past) said he worked with him and he didn't notice anything out of the norm....

 

[Machinated]

I wonder what happened to metalkingdom.....thats worthy of a whole new thread......

I remember when I found out what his real name was

 

[sparkyness]

I wonder what happened to metalkingdom.....thats worthy of a whole new thread......

I remember when I found out what his real name was

you mean this one? http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/off-topic-tavern/355971-where-heck-metalkingdom.html

 

[Machinated]

At the risk of derailing this thread to the land of OT (but avoiding digging up old threads), that Skip Saylor studio had a very impressive list of clients......

 

[spioraid]

I don't know either, but I agree it would be great to find out how Paul got that snare sound.

 

[Machinated]

It sounds like a big snare, with plenty of room sound, but any more details would be really great. Its a shame that there isn't many (if any) interviews with him considering some of the stuff he has worked on.

 

[aramism]

i was not a fan of his work on dream theaters systematic chaos. poor songwriting aside, the mix was very weird. the 5.1 mix was actually pretty good on some songs but then again, well, it's 5.1.

 

[Youpimatin]

Northfield has also worked with Suicidal Tendencies (The Art of Rebellion, Suicidal for Life) and I love the sound on that records !

 

[spioraid]

i was not a fan of his work on dream theaters systematic chaos. poor songwriting aside, the mix was very weird. the 5.1 mix was actually pretty good on some songs but then again, well, it's 5.1.

In Paul's defense DT was pretty specific on how they wanted each song to sound (i.e. crappy) so he actually did a good job of putting what they had in mind onto disc.

Mastering sucked though. I miss the good ol'e BearTracks days though, that's when DT wrote better too.

 

[grywolf627]

In Paul's defense DT was pretty specific on how they wanted each song to sound (i.e. crappy) so he actually did a good job of putting what they had in mind onto disc.

Mastering sucked though. I miss the good ol'e BearTracks days though, that's when DT wrote better too.

Hell yeah, Jay Beckenstein's studio!! Hell of a saxaphonist, and that studio turned out fantastic stuff.

 

[aramism]

yeah plus kevin shirley fits them better.

awake is still my favorite anything ever. album, playing, songs, mix, etc. etc.

though that was @ one on one in LA the bear tracks stuff was really good. much more natural sounding drums as opposed to that "big room sound" of awake and CRAPLOADS of gated reverb which sounds cool but can get tiresome when you are listening for it.