Production of Deliverance

Originally posted by Dvoters
I think the production on Deliverance is one of the better ones out of the range of Opeth releases. Up with BWP.
Production gets better with every cd they bring out though.

\m/

I agree dude. The production of bwp was awesome, and the new album production was just as good, I think. It keeps gettin better.
 
Originally posted by Mr. Niel
What is the deal with all the repetitveness complaints? The end phrase of Deliverance is repeated four times and suddenly "every riff is so repetitive."

I don't get it. Especially when someone says something dumb like "no riffs repeat on Morningrise, because it is PERFECT."

Yawn...

It seems I'm the one who started these talks, but my complaint wasn't that the riffs are repetitive, it was that the sound of the rythems is an irritating buzz and they have been using this same lame sound since MAYH.

And Morningrise IS perfect, in case you haven't noticed. Hehehe
 
hmm, well to clear things up... I don't think the production on Deliverance sucks by any means... I thought it was great when I first heard the album... it's just when I have a random Opeth playlist and the song switches from something ass kicking like The Leper Affinity or The Funeral Portrait to Master's Apprentices, there is like a hollow sound in MA... it just doesn't seem to compare to the 2 previous songs... it's strange, I'm trying to work it out, but for the most part the production on Deliverance doesn't sound very 'powerful' to me.
 
Originally posted by Moonlapse
Sorry to bring this up again, but as I was just browsing through a couple of Opeth songs randomly from all eras, I realized that the sound on these new headphones of mine is awesome... until I got to Deliverance at least... I have to say that compared to ALL other albums that Deliverance has very WEAK production... it doesn't even come close to BWP, from what I can hear. The guitars aren't very crunchy and the whole sound generally sounds like its littered with mid frequency... I mean it's good, it's just that the other album are better.

Just my 2 cents of ranting-ness...

Did you ever think that it was intentional, perhaps?

(Or at least if not 'intentional', then unintentional, but once they got the type of sound they did, they said 'yeah, that works for this album... that's how I want it to hear')

Then again, it could just be and afterthought......
 
Originally posted by Metal88
It seems I'm the one who started these talks, but my complaint wasn't that the riffs are repetitive, it was that the sound of the rythems is an irritating buzz and they have been using this same lame sound since MAYH.

And Morningrise IS perfect, in case you haven't noticed. Hehehe

Oh yeah. Just listen to that snare drum...perfection.
 
Yup, I agree. Have you read their studio diary thing on their site though? I can kind of see why this album sounds rushed and not mixed very well. It seems they ran into ALL sorts of tech problems, and frustrations. After reading that, at least I know there's a legitimate reason for why I thought they didn't put out a solid album. I read it and was like "Oh... so THAT's why this one didn't sound so good." Oh well, every band runs into that sorta thing.

The vocals on the new album blow. Many of the screaming parts sound so forced, it's as if Mikael's vocal chords are straining. Especially on the higher notes. And the clean singing is buried in the mix. Can't hear it well enough.

Definitely not Fredrick Nordstrom's finest work. I don't think it's Fred's fault though, from what I read in those session notes, it sounded as if Fred was trying to salvage what was already an abortion of an album. I guess in that respect, they did good. ;)

I DO think they did just a phenomenal job on the lead guitar tone. It sounds really soulful and sings beautifully. There's some GREAT lead guitar lines in there. But unfortunately, those shining moments are few and far between.

Steve Wilson is a GOD when it comes to production work, and I hope he'll have more input in Damnation.

As for the repetitiveness? Repetitiveness can be used effectively when it's used to create a soundscape or mood. Deliverance IMO doesn't do that. I think that's what they were going for, but I don't think they hit the mark. God, that riff at the end of Deliverance gets SOOOO old. It should've been clipped.

I'm a fan of LONG songs (hell, that's why we're all here right?), but I think some songs on Deliverance are just long for the sake of being long. There's not a single note I thought was redundant or out of place on Blackwater Park or Still Life, they're all relevant; but there's parts of Deliverance that are just totally redundant and unnecessary.

Oh well, 'nuff of my ranting.
 
I honestly don't like the production on Deliverance. Mostly, I take issue with how the vocals sound. It's too low in the mix sometimes, and I don't really like when it was produced to sound differently personally.

I wonder how much things were intentional and how much it had to do with where they recorded, etc. After reading the log diary, I have to suspect there may have been problems trying to get it to sound right. In the end, it should be a minor detail when listening to Deliverance. I can't say it hasn't bothered me a bit though.

By the way, Mikael's vocals on the album show a tremendous amount of confidence, to me. I really think it's the production. His voice has not failed with age...