The Dance Of Death discussion thread.

[Sydo]

Sat-ur-day, Sat-ur-day..

 

[Goreripper]

Shirley has produced:
Aerosmith
silverchair
The Screaming Jets
Black Crowes
Journey
Divinyls
Dream Theater
Rocket From the Crypt
Tina Arena
Soul Asylum
Joe Satriani
Lime Spiders
and several others.

 

[The_Prisoner]

I think the album does sound great, the mix is spot on for Maiden IMO, and you can feel the energy that comes through from being recorded live.

 

[Nightwing]

I fucking knew it!!!!
Shirley produced 'Falling into Infinity'....the WORST sounding Dream Theater record, with the same shitty compressed-vocal sound. Fuck!!!!!!!

Compare the sound on that to 'Images and words'.

 

[Spiff]

I'm not a big Kevin Shirley fan personally (Dream Theater's "Once in a Livetime" sounds AWFUL), but I think DOD sounds OK.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

I think 'Once In A Livetime' sounds brilliant, the only weak point is LaBrie's vocals, and that isn't the producers fault.

 

[Sydo]

Paul Stanley disagrees.

 

[Southy]

The Albums I have that Caveman has had a part in sound OK

 

[Nightwing]

I think 'Once In A Livetime' sounds brilliant, the only weak point is LaBrie's vocals, and that isn't the producers fault.

Well it is the producers fault on this occasion!!!!!

 

[Blitzkrieg]

I don't see it. I think Bruce sounds good, and the vocals are fine in the mix...

 

[Goreripper]

It just depends on how much of a role the producer actually plays. I'm assuming you fellows have some idea of the role of a producer in the creation of an album.

 

[Nightwing]

I would say Martin Birch probably held more sway than kevin Shirley does at this stage anyway.......maybe Steve Harris had too much input?
Look, everyone's gonna have a different opinion - mine is the vox are buried in the mix too much, and the overall feel is too 'muddy'.........but that's just me. I ain't gonna harp on and on about it.
I just got 'Masterplan' S/T, and to me that is great production - clear, crisp, nice 'thuddy', 'blocky' sounding kick drum, and vox mixed right out the front..........again, just my opinion.
I don't wanna piss any fellow maidenites off, I mean jeez, I've loved the band since 1982.....

 

[Goreripper]

I would tend to agree with your assessment on the producer's role with Maiden now, but I think he had considerably more input on this album that on "BNW".

 

[The_Prisoner]

Well to me it's great, it sounds just like it was meant to be - live.....when you play DoD or BNW really loud it sounds like they are right there in front of you, unlike the albums prior.

The mix on the last two records is a bit 'muddy' at times, but again that comes down to that live sound they are going for, and as a trade-off with the lack of crispness, what you get is a real live energy.

Each to their own.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

I still don't really see how DoD is muddy sounding. I know BNW was very muddy sounding (not in a bad way, I really dig it), but I think DoD has heaps more of an edge. Awesome production.

 

[Nightwing]

I would tend to agree with your assessment on the producer's role with Maiden now, but I think he had considerably more input on this album that on "BNW".

Yes, I think I would agree with that.....I think Steve Harris would relinquish responsiblity on a very gradual basis, so Shirley would likely have had more input on this one.

 

[Goreripper]

I concur. Look how long it's taken for someone to convince him that it's ok to use acoustic guitars. Bruce and Adrian wanted to do that back in 88 or 89 and he was deadset against it.

 

[phlogiston]

I'm with The_Prissy on this one, as far as sound goes. I think that's what I meant when I said way back on the first page that it sounds a bit flat, and should be sharper. Don't know exactly what's needed though. It's mainly the guitar sound. If they just tweaked the treble up a little more and got a more "attacking" sound I think it would have helped a great deal.

 

[Nightwing]

I'm with The_Prissy on this one, as far as sound goes. I think that's what I meant when I said way back on the first page that it sounds a bit flat, and should be sharper. Don't know exactly what's needed though. It's mainly the guitar sound. If they just tweaked the treble up a little more and got a more "attacking" sound I think it would have helped a great deal.

You're happy with the sound of the vox then? Doesn't sound a little thin and over-compressed to your ears?

 

[phlogiston]

I've never really worked out what compression sounds like, so I can't comment there. The vocals do sound a little buried, but my biggest complaint is the guitar sound.