Since many prog metal bands love thier concept albums, and Evergrey have contributed some of the higher quality ones, i thought this would be a good place to discuss everyones preference of production on any of thier favourite concept albums, or just concept album production in general.
I guess i'll start. I must admit, im no expert on concept albums, but in my experience have realised what i love about my favourite CA (concept albums)- they all have lots of depth in their production. For example, In search of truth, and to a lesser extent, Pain of Salvations' On Hour By the Concrete Lake. They both have very cleanly recorded instruments with less of an emphasis on volume and more of an emphasis on capturing an ambiance and portraying a feeling of being "imersed" in the music, almost as if it were mixied/ was being listened to in 5.1 rather than stereo. For example, listeneing to ISOT, especialy State of Paralysis, the first thing Tom sings is "See my sorrow", with a huge reverb, almost making it hard to distinguish where his voice is placed in the mix, or where it's coming from in the room (sort of-).
In contrast, we have Evergrey's latest, the Inner Circle. While being a solid album, the production is very upfront, and in my opinion, takes away the power of Tom's vocals/ lyrics, and the presence of guitars puts Rikards key's out of the limelight, and take the power away from them.
I could go on for a much longer time, how about i give you a chance to express your opinion. Make it as long or as short as you like.
Cheers
Daniel\m/
I guess i'll start. I must admit, im no expert on concept albums, but in my experience have realised what i love about my favourite CA (concept albums)- they all have lots of depth in their production. For example, In search of truth, and to a lesser extent, Pain of Salvations' On Hour By the Concrete Lake. They both have very cleanly recorded instruments with less of an emphasis on volume and more of an emphasis on capturing an ambiance and portraying a feeling of being "imersed" in the music, almost as if it were mixied/ was being listened to in 5.1 rather than stereo. For example, listeneing to ISOT, especialy State of Paralysis, the first thing Tom sings is "See my sorrow", with a huge reverb, almost making it hard to distinguish where his voice is placed in the mix, or where it's coming from in the room (sort of-).
In contrast, we have Evergrey's latest, the Inner Circle. While being a solid album, the production is very upfront, and in my opinion, takes away the power of Tom's vocals/ lyrics, and the presence of guitars puts Rikards key's out of the limelight, and take the power away from them.
I could go on for a much longer time, how about i give you a chance to express your opinion. Make it as long or as short as you like.
Cheers
Daniel\m/
