Which album do you pick?

[symphonyXjapan]

I don't know if this has been discussed before but oh well...

I know SX decided not to redo their first album (at least for now that is), but if you could decide which album they would redo knowing they would NEVER redo another album again, which would you choose?

Me, I think Damnation Game would be my pick. It has so much more potential than only The Edge of Forever. I think a lot of people don't think much of it because it doesn't impact you as well due to bad sound recording. I have to CRANK up the volume an enormous amount to get just a decent sound, and still it lacks in quality. I think TiO suffers somewhat the same yet the songs on it don't suffer as much due to the less agressiveness of the tracks. Damnation Game has some awesome songs that just need a makeover to prove their worthiness.

 

[shredmaster]

I think The Damnation Game should be redone too.

 

[scanner313]

I think they could remix and memaster The Damnation Game without any problem and make it sound great. They could even rework the first album to sound decent and only need Russell to redo the vocal tracks. In both cases just some remixing by Mr. Romeo (now that he's got lots of experience) would work wonders. The debut album needs some serious attention given to the guitar solo tracks. They are so muffled it's ridiculous, which is the last thing I would ever have expected from a band that was put together and fronted by the guitar player. Strange!

As far as TiO, I think the mixing is fine, it just isn't put to CD as hot as V and the Odyssey. I'm not sure why, but it sounds fine if you just turn the volume up a little more.

 

[karelrulez]

I think TiO sounds even better than V. V sounds so.. I don't know.. Russell is too low in the mix anyway.

 

[MindBend]

Production-wise, they should redo ALL their studio albums. as far as I'm concerned. They all suffer from the same production elements: Way too muddy sounding rhythm guitars, sterile and cold-sounding lead guitars, way too overprocessed drums to the point that they sound mechanic/robotic, and a too dry bass. I've always found their production dead, dry, or whatever I should call it. It's good that they put Russell up front on the Odyssey, though. That sounds powerful.

 

[scanner313]

I think TiO sounds even better than V. V sounds so.. I don't know.. Russell is too low in the mix anyway.

You know, I've always said that the first impression I got when first hearing V was that Russell was too low in the mix, but nobody on this board ever agreed with me. I'm glad to hear I'm not alone on this. Of course, now that I've listened to V a few hundred times I think the vocals are ok, but there are still parts (like in Rediscovery II) where I think they needed to be increased a bit. I like the sound of V now though.

And I agree, Twilights production is very good (maybe with the exception of the somewhat mechanical sounding drums). The only problem with this album is they didn't boost the level when they put it on the CD, so it's not at the same output level as the other albums. It just comes off kind of strange when you're listening to V or The Odyssey, then you pop in TiO and it's so low.

 

[scanner313]

Production-wise, they should redo ALL their studio albums. as far as I'm concerned. They all suffer from the same production elements: Way too muddy sounding rhythm guitars, sterile and cold-sounding lead guitars, way too overprocessed drums to the point that they sound mechanic/robotic, and a too dry bass. I've always found their production dead, dry, or whatever I should call it. It's good that they put Russell up front on the Odyssey, though. That sounds powerful.

Don't you think you're being a little too critical Mindbend? First off, there is nothing at all wrong with the production on The Divine Wings of Tragedy. In my opinion, this is the best produced album from SyX. However, all of the following albums sound perfectly fine. I do agree with you on one thing though, the drums on Twilight are too mechanical sounding. That wasn't Rullo, so maybe that's the difference. I'm more thinking of the sound, not the playing, but sometimes a different player can change the perception of the sound. Who knows.

Anyway, you are entitled to your opinion of course, but to say that all of their albums need to be redone is a little bit of a stretch in my opinion. Damnation just needs to be remixed. The debut just needs the vocals redone and the lead guitars remixed (big time!). Other than that I think they are fine. Honestly, I like that Mike Romeo does the majority of the producing himself. It adds that personal touch that makes Syx's sound more unique. I wouldn't want them to go to some famous producer who would make the album sound the way "they" want. Let Mike and the guys make it sound the way they want it to. After all, it's their music.

 

[MindBend]

Of course I didn't mean that they actually SHOULD redo all their stuff, but the topic of the thread was about the hypothetical case where you'd choose which album you'd want redone.
And you're right, it's their music. But I still don't like the production if you consider their style of music (heavy,aggressive, yet melodic). If the drums could only sound like on the Live album, they'd sound...., well, more ALIVE (apart from the bass drum that is). On the studio albums, the drums sound so DEAD. As for the guitars, which are the biggest mal-sounding imo, there are SO MANY examples of songs/artists/albums where they DO sound thick, yet crispy, sharp, and fat all together.

As for TDWOT, I'm listening to it now, but still think it suffers from the elements I already mentioned. Especially the lead guitar sounds bad imo. I think V is overall the best sounding, but it's still not great.

 

[ProgMetalFan]

None. Move on.

 

[The Metal Chick]

None. Move on.

Amen

 

[symphonyXjapan]

Production-wise, they should redo ALL their studio albums. as far as I'm concerned. They all suffer from the same production elements: Way too muddy sounding rhythm guitars, sterile and cold-sounding lead guitars, way too overprocessed drums to the point that they sound mechanic/robotic, and a too dry bass. I've always found their production dead, dry, or whatever I should call it. It's good that they put Russell up front on the Odyssey, though. That sounds powerful.

I think DWoT sounds fine and all after it are good sounding except for the fact of TiO which prob is just the output level the recording was at. Once I turn up TiO just a little it sounds ok, but like I said with Damnation Game, I have to really crank up the volume and the quality of production still doesn't sound too great. I enjoy the album a great deal its just that it would sound so much crisper if it was redone. With V, I think that since it was a concept album and more opera/epic sounding, there is so much more keyboard sounds than usual along with all the guitar, bass, and drums. This makes for a tone down in vocals since so much sound is going on at once that they want to be heard, and also Russel sings a lot of backing vocals on the tracks during the chorus's. This makes for the fact that the vocals won't sound as "up front" as usual. I think it is a big reason for the songs not sounding too good live.

 

[MorphineChild205]

They could even rework the first album to sound decent and only need Russell to redo the vocal tracks.

How fair would it be if they let Russell redo the vocals, but didn't let Lepond redo the bass tracks?

Granted, the vocals stand out much more than the bass, but I'm sure Lepond would add his own special touch to the basslines, as Russell would do to the vocal lines.

I say this only because neither of them were a part of the band in 1994, whereas the other three were.

 

[Serge...]

I think they should redo the first album. It's the only Symphony X album that, if redone, would be waaaay better than it is now. I was never big on caring about production, so I'm fine with how all the albums after the first one sound. I just want to hear Russell of vocals.

 

[Knight of the Templar]

They should redo the first and teh second one. The first because... well, you know... And the second one needs a little bit of volume... the material is killer (and a little fix in some vocals).

 

[Demonspell]

PMF must have anticipated what I was going to post...SX has no reason to rewrite their past.

 

[Prismatic Sphere]

This is an entirely dumb thread even though it's hypothetical. No album needs to be rerecorded save the debut when they're ready. Fuxxake.
And leave The Damnation Game the fuck alone.

 

[Knight of the Templar]

Wow, man... that was... soft...

 

[Prismatic Sphere]

Wow, man... that was... soft...

Yeah I know. It's just that I've seen this topic rehashed so many times.

 

[Knight of the Templar]

Well... it must be hard...

 

[symphonyXjapan]

Yeah I know. It's just that I've seen this topic rehashed so many times.

Then don't read it.....not too hard to do. If you really think most people want them to leave older material alone then why was there so much anticipation and excitement when they were going to redo the debut? It's not like I think DG isn't good, just I think it would be nice if it sounded as good as it should sound recording quality wise. The playing is excellent and I love the album, I am not wanting them to change how it sounds, I just want to "hear" it better. I mean, they didn't have the budget in the early days to have it recorded as good quality as they can now, which is understandable. If anything redoing the debut is changing the actual music because the vocalists are two different people, I also think that is a HUGE disrespect to Rod Tyler, which now that I think about it, makes me think that is the reason they decided not to redo it. One last thing, please don't call any thread here stupid, I come here because the people here are open minded (at least most of them...) and don't act the way you just have. You may have come here today and saw this thread and just not cared to hear people discuss the topic at hand so in your view it is stupid. Well I come here everyday and see all kinds of topics I don't care to see, so I don't view them and let those who do want to discuss the topic do so without flaming them or calling their topic stupid. I got kinda annoyed how the topic of SX being power or prog came up so many times, but when I did I ignored it and let those who still wanted to discuss it do so.