Can someone who is knowledgeable in production give me an overview of the production characteristics of Opeth's 7 studio albums (e.g. wet/dry...etc..)
Tx -D
Tx -D
Production Values
- Thread starter dddaaannn94
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Leper_/-\ffinity
Child of The Grave
ALso, I can't help, but I have a stupid question. What exactly is mastering?!? Like the Forest Stream album was mastered by Lee Barret, what the hell does this mean?! That he put the thing together?!? Also, is engineered the same as produced?!?
Nico
Onward!
I'm no expert on production, I just like whatever fits.
I'd say Orchid has a thick feel with considerable raw (for this style) production. It's definitly the best way to get the atmosphere across.
Morningrise is somewhat dryer, with not such a good tone, but great atmosphere.
My Arms Your Hearse is perfect in my view. The generaly thick, clear sound throughout give the album a lot of weight and forces you to hear it.
Still Life has good production that carries the music well, but seems a little overdone in some parts. Accoustics give the sound a great warmth.
BWP is where they sort of loose the plot. They want to sound heavy, but overdo it in the production. While the songs are clear, the meaning behind them is lost and any atmosphere leftover is just boring.
Deliverance goes again for the thick, crushing sound of MAYH, but kind of fails in the same was as BWP.
Damnation... well yeah I dont know anything about prog rock.
I'd say Orchid has a thick feel with considerable raw (for this style) production. It's definitly the best way to get the atmosphere across.
Morningrise is somewhat dryer, with not such a good tone, but great atmosphere.
My Arms Your Hearse is perfect in my view. The generaly thick, clear sound throughout give the album a lot of weight and forces you to hear it.
Still Life has good production that carries the music well, but seems a little overdone in some parts. Accoustics give the sound a great warmth.
BWP is where they sort of loose the plot. They want to sound heavy, but overdo it in the production. While the songs are clear, the meaning behind them is lost and any atmosphere leftover is just boring.
Deliverance goes again for the thick, crushing sound of MAYH, but kind of fails in the same was as BWP.
Damnation... well yeah I dont know anything about prog rock.
Ermz
¯\(°_o)/¯
I think mastered is when the final edits are done and everything is tidied up. All the compression, normalizing and levels are done along with the 'master' copy being put together. I'm not sure if you can take that as truth, because I really don't know, but I have a feeling that it's something like that.
Protected Witness
Magickal Theatre 33
Don Corleone
Emre
while i like all the productions up to this date, i happen to like wilson's more. for me, blackwater park is the best so far. still life is almost perfect too, but you cant hear the bass enough on that one.
Episteme
Member
I reckon Morningrise has the most interesting yet fitting production. Somewhat raw but all the instruments could be heard crystal clear. A run down on the production(dry/wet).
Orchid - Dry
Morningrise - Dry
MAYH - Dry
Still Life - Wet
Blackwater Park - Wet
Deliverance - Dry. As Shroud of Dusk mentioned, they tried using the crushing production of MAYH. But with their added effects it just didn't really work out.
Damnation - Wet. Very sparkly all rounded production.
Orchid - Dry
Morningrise - Dry
MAYH - Dry
Still Life - Wet
Blackwater Park - Wet
Deliverance - Dry. As Shroud of Dusk mentioned, they tried using the crushing production of MAYH. But with their added effects it just didn't really work out.
Damnation - Wet. Very sparkly all rounded production.
I think BWP was the one copying MAYH's production, myself. Those two have that muddy/noisy thickness where it's hard to pick out individual notes. Deliverance has that a bit too, but you'll always get that somewhat when you strum huge chords.
One other thing I'll say is that I'm very happy that they haven't put out any albums with that ear-torture production that some metal albums in the last few years have used. It's like they compress it to the top 0.1% first, and then throw the treble up as much as it can go (ex: Dimmu's PEM). It makes it hard to listen to the stuff on headphones (turning it down makes it hard to hear the details). It's better on speakers, since the sound has a chance to spread and soften a little, but I listen to a fuckton of music every day and I try to conserve my hearing.
One other thing I'll say is that I'm very happy that they haven't put out any albums with that ear-torture production that some metal albums in the last few years have used. It's like they compress it to the top 0.1% first, and then throw the treble up as much as it can go (ex: Dimmu's PEM). It makes it hard to listen to the stuff on headphones (turning it down makes it hard to hear the details). It's better on speakers, since the sound has a chance to spread and soften a little, but I listen to a fuckton of music every day and I try to conserve my hearing.
koolboee cdmo87
Member
- Jun 19, 2004
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Orchid - definitely raw, but it's pretty fitting for this album
Morningrise - very dry, almost to the point where it really bothers you
My Arms Your Hearse - a vast improvement... still a little dry, but you rarely notice it
Still Life - what a step forward! the sound is crystal-clear here, especially the acoustic guitar, which they had problems with on all of its predecessors... the best album of theirs when it comes to production, by far
Blackwater Park - the production here is also quite slick, and great too... occasionally though, something about the way the guitars sound bother me (i.e. when the heavy riff kicks in during "The Funeral Portrait")
Deliverance - they had problems recording this, and it kinda shows... same problems as Blackwater Park, but a little worse
Damnation - this one is produced beautifully
The recurring problem in most of them though is that the bass in undermixed. Still Life and especially Damnation are really the only albums where the bassist has some REALLY cool parts that stand out to you.
Morningrise - very dry, almost to the point where it really bothers you
My Arms Your Hearse - a vast improvement... still a little dry, but you rarely notice it
Still Life - what a step forward! the sound is crystal-clear here, especially the acoustic guitar, which they had problems with on all of its predecessors... the best album of theirs when it comes to production, by far
Blackwater Park - the production here is also quite slick, and great too... occasionally though, something about the way the guitars sound bother me (i.e. when the heavy riff kicks in during "The Funeral Portrait")
Deliverance - they had problems recording this, and it kinda shows... same problems as Blackwater Park, but a little worse
Damnation - this one is produced beautifully
The recurring problem in most of them though is that the bass in undermixed. Still Life and especially Damnation are really the only albums where the bassist has some REALLY cool parts that stand out to you.
TheFourthHorseman
In The Twilight World
koolboee cdmo87
Member
- Jun 19, 2004
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The only problem with Still Life is that fucking tracking problem over a few tracks. It really annoys me when I listen to it with headphones.
Leper_/-\ffinity
Child of The Grave
I really can't stand all of the newer clean vocal effects that have been used since BWP. Like the telephone voice and all that shit. I thought the clean vocals on Still Life were produced very well, and they should stick with that kind of clean vocal production.
![[KOTNO]Narrot](https://ultimatemetal-data.community.forum/avatars/l/1/1031.jpg?1052155060){kind=avatar}
[KOTNO]Narrot
Eats and spits corpses...
since we are already talking about it: what is a compressed guitar sound. i heard that blackwater was very compressed and dead heard in a dead world by nevermore. i kinda have an idea what compression makes to sound but i have no idea what it IS. can anyone help me out? niel, suislide, moonlapse?
JoeVice
Member
[KOTNO]Narrot said:
well, i'm not those guys...but compression is the "squeezing" of the sound...it takes away the punch, but everything is even. when you play guitar through a compressor, it makes the quiets and the way to louds meet at a middle point...and you get way more sustain...
black metal guitars always seem to have this feel also...it just makes everything a bit smoother.
Leper_/-\ffinity
Child of The Grave
Yeah, when you're looking at a recorded sound wave, it can be like a mountain in some spots, and run real smooth and close to the middle in others, and compression just gets rid of the mountaineous region and "compresses" the sound to be more at a middle level for all of the frequencies if that makes any sense. I could have the terms wrong, but I think my idea is correct, no?!?
[KOTNO]Narrot
Eats and spits corpses...
so a compressed sound has gone through a one of these pedals which increase the sustain? that makes a lot of sense since they are called compressors. i never knew how it worked anyway. thx
Leper_/-\ffinity
Child of The Grave
Yeah, you know how if you play through a really shitty amp it sounds very unsaturated (distortion) and the sound altogether seems to fall apart very fast?!? Well compression keeps the frequencies closer together making it sound like more sustain, but instead it's really narrowing down and bringing the highs and lows closer together, I think, not sure though.
JoeVice
Member
Leper_/-\ffinity said:
yes...highs and lows as in volume....not eq...i know you knew...just making sure not to confuse...
