Production?

[BVS]

I am trying to find out how the recorded/mixed/tweaked Bono's voice. In my opinion - this is the best he's sounded since JT. I'm not suggesting his voice here is artificial (auto-tuned) - only that the producers have done something new with it, something Eno/Lanois haven't done.

I think I recall Eno stating somewhere that they (he and Lanois) usually didn't tweak Bono's voice too much - other than compression.

I don't hear too much reverb/echoes/multi-tracking - while there are hints of some of that - his vocals sound too sharp, close, and clear for that to be the complete answer. Can it just be EQ?

I've been wondering the same thing...


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[AEON]

Yes and no


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How I've understood the role:

A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording (i.e. "production") of an artist's music. A producer has many roles that may include, but are not limited to, gathering ideas for the project, selecting songs and/or musicians, coaching the artist and musicians in the studio, controlling the recording sessions, and supervising the entire process through mixing and mastering.

Record producer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[trevgreg]

imagine if Danger Mouse was the only producer? He seems to be the lead on tracks 6 to 11 and, to me, it's clearly the second half of the album that shines.

EBW-California-Song for Someone are the Crazy-Stand Up-Boots portion of the album only in terms of the obvious grab for mainstream appeal, but I actually really like those songs though and they don't damage the album in any way like those other three did with NLOTH. But I wonder what they sounded like in early form without the Epworth-Tedder tweaking.

I am curious to see if Tedder or Epworth's roles will eventually be elaborated on in future interviews. I have guesses on what each contributed to the songs they helped produce, but no clue if they're even close to being right.

But overall, it appears as if people are responding to the songs they worked on as well as DM's, so it seems like it didn't cause the final result to be 'fragmented' or sound like it just had random things thrown on.

 

[Greedo]

It occurred to me that it was produced by people who grew up U2 fans. I think there's a real reverence in the production. They knew the band's strengths, and really ran with them.

Not sure if DM grew up loving U2, but Tedder has said that they are a huge influence of his.

 

[BVS]

How I've understood the role:




Record producer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Well a producer, specifically to U2 and how they record, helps shape the sound and direction. This varies with different artists, but a producer will often make suggestions as to the direction of the final product. They may or may not play a role in the writing of the song, but they'll influence how one treats the bridge or chorus, etc. For example they might suggest just using an acoustic guitar during this part. Mastering has no say in the structuring or treatment of the song, it only has to do with leveling the "master tapes" that were handed to them. In other words mastering only deals with a final mix handed to them. Now the producer might have a say in how things are mastered no doubt, but in most discussions about producing vs mastering they are very different things.

To be honest I'm a little jet lagged and I'm not sure if I'm even making sense here... My apologies.

 

[corianderstem]

On this most recent listen, I do hear some more distortion at the end of both Cedarwood Road and This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now.

Grrrrrrr.

 

[purpleoscar]

Yep - soooo much going on in the background too. Each listen reveals more.

Yeah I'm starting to get all that detail now. It's almost like first listens are just missing detail and subsequent listens I'm noticing all this other percussion and guitar in the background.

Without a CD though it's hard to make a judgment on mastering. Even good mp3s sound so compressed and thin. I expect the drums and bass will really improve with a CD. Achtung Baby was released in 24bit and I hope this new album will get the same treatment. It recently benefited, Beck, Boards of Canada, and My Blood Valentine.

 

[RoKKeR]

Is there any good reason as to why Edge is mixed 100% to the left in the Volcano bridge, and his awesome UF/JT era chords in Iris mixed similarly?

I'm not a fan, put him up front!

 

[AEON]

Is there any good reason as to why Edge is mixed 100% to the left in the Volcano bridge, and his awesome UF/JT era chords in Iris mixed similarly?

I'm not a fan, put him up front!

On this album, on many of the songs, I can hear clear and obvious "lanes" for the different instrumental tracks of the songs. This is certainly by choice - and I'm guessing this is the give the album a wide range with each instrument and vocal sounding distinct vs blended/"Wall of Sound"

 

[SeeLoganRun]

I'm going to point all the 24-bit aliens with magic space ears to hydrogenaudio and show myself out.

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[Afliktor]

Production is creating the songs, all the tracks and layers.

Mastering is post production, the process of creating a mix that is true to how the band and producer want it to sound.

mixing is post-production too... and people often combine post-production and recording into the term "production" to describe the overall "sound" of the record.

overall production is very subtle and restrained on SOI, imo. it actually has a lot more layers upon closer listen, but the overall effect is one of simplicity. it really showcases the songwriting. i wish it were a little more bass and drum-heavy, but this is coming from someone who listens to dubstep tbh the production gives it a very "classic" feel, like The Beatles, but with a modern twist.

 

[Afliktor]

also just wanted to say - I put on HTDAAB for the heck of it, and I'm sorry but that production is just unacceptably bad for a band of U2's caliber. Vertigo, a song that I love, hurts my ears. I hate that the guitar riff is panned so heavily to the left, and I feel like there's this high-pitched noise going throughout the entire thing. HTDAAB as a whole has wayyy too much treble. thing was mastered for loudness and not goodness.

SOI is miles better.

 

[LarryMullenFan]

I posted this in the song discussion thread too, but not many people seem to have noticed: on every breaking wave, at the 3:08 mark, there's a really bad cut & paste action on the drum track. It's a break that starts building up on 2:56 but at 3:08 clearly a different drum take was used which sounds different. Too me it sounds like last minute production work.

Apart from that, I really enjoy the album productionwise. It's very open, has great soundscapes and it sounds great on almost everything, from earbuds to car stereo to studio monitors.

 

[BVS]

I posted this in the song discussion thread too, but not many people seem to have noticed: on every breaking wave, at the 3:08 mark, there's a really bad cut & paste action on the drum track. It's a break that starts building up on 2:56 but at 3:08 clearly a different drum take was used which sounds different. Too me it sounds like last minute production work.

Apart from that, I really enjoy the album productionwise. It's very open, has great soundscapes and it sounds great on almost everything, from earbuds to car stereo to studio monitors.

I'm not sure what you think you're hearing. It's a tempo change, it goes from 16ths to 8ths, and the live drum truck finishes with a tambourine.


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[LarryMullenFan]

I'm not sure what you think you're hearing. It's a tempo change, it goes from 16ths to 8ths, and the live drum truck finishes with a tambourine.


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No just before the tempo changes, it's 8th on the toms all the way, then on 3:08 it's the same 8th (4 times) on the toms, but lower volume. Then indeed the 4th on snare and tom come in.

 

[BlenderJoe]

Overall production is good to my ears. It has an energetic, "live" feel. But Larry and Edge are not prominent enough in the mix sometimes (mostly Larry). At one point I thought to myself "Is that Larry? It sounds like he's playing his kit down the block." It's hard to hear exactly what Larry is doing on the drums at times, and that's a damn shame. The bass and vocals really shine though.