[quote name="slimegod"]
[quote name="Punchiest"]
Vocal styles are just that...style baby....you don't like it...don't wear it.
We will leave it at that.
[/quote]
Fair enough, but I wasn't really talking about whether one style was better than another. I was asking whether the vox are the way they are because of a conscious choice NOT to go for the lower approach, or because David can't do that lower pitched approach for whatever reason. I don't think it's a disrespectful thing to ask; Paul Masvidal from Cynic initially quit growling because he had hurt his throat and couldn't do it any more. Jonas Renkse from Katatonia started singing clean because he hurt himself and couldn't growl for a long time. From what I hear, Chuck Schuldiner's vocals on the last Death album sounded screechier and more black metally because of issues with his health (I never understood why that would be, but I've heard this a lot of times...may or may not be true). As with other questions I've asked, I'm always curious whether something sounds the way it does due to a conscious choice, or due to "it just turned out that way."
[quote name="Punchiest"]
The question marks at the top of your post were at the end of insulting questions....so their validity was reduced to "complaining."
[/quote]
In all sincerity, I didn't mean them to be insults. Any time I've seen MA since you started mixing live for them, they've always sounded good. Trey's guitars always cut through well while still sounding powerful. I thought that on Heretic they cut through, but without the power (hence my choice of "buzzy, thin" as adjectives). You have the same hard-on bearer (you) mixing in two different situations (live and studio) with radically different results. So I was just curious as to what direction the guitar sound would have leaned in, if the band had just sent you their tracks and said "mix this, make it sound heavy." I get that this is hypothetical and has no bearing on anything (just a matter of my curiosity), but evidently I'm interested enough in your opinion to ask. Now the question is something I'm even more curious about since you mentioned that there was an alternate, more C/F style mix at some point. Incidentally, was that something you did more on your own, then brought it back to Trey and he asked for changes? Or was it something you guys did as a team and just in the end you were not satisfied with the results.
As far as my question about Tucker's vocals, it was basically the same thing: he doesn't sound as deep/low/ballsy as he does on the first two records he did. And I wanted to know if there was a conscious choice ("Steve, try to sound more midrange-y") or if that's just the way his voice sounded then. After Morbid I didn't hear him do any death vocals until the Nader Sadek album, and IMO on that one he sounds more like he did on Heretic than he did on Gateways. So again, wanted to know if the style on Heretic was more of an artistic, conscious decision, or more a matter of circumstance.
Anyway, I can respect your declining to answer, but I just wanted to clarify that these were, in my mind, legit questions that I've thought about for a long time. If they came off as insulting, that wasn't my intention.
[quote name="Punchiest"]
"There is so much guitar on this record already...I am not sure where to put leads." Trey--during the Illud production.
P[/quote]
Thanks, that's exactly the kind of thing I am curious about.[/quote]
The voice thing.....
This subject has come up on my occasions with both guys. I can tell you that for both, each record was an expression of how they felt the music was to be interpreted. Since every Morbid record has its own thing, so should the vocals, so should the drums, so should the guitar sound, and so should the production.
...so say we all! (a little Battlestar reference)
it also has to do with comfort zone. Whilst on tour, people find the "comfort zone" with their voice.
Mariah Carey sings different now too!
The mix thing..........
No one will ever hear the alternate Heretic mix.
It is vaulted baby...so asking is futile.
..a remix in the future, not likely....unless Earache wants to pay for it.
The original mix was my version of the record as if it were a live show. I spent a total of a day on it, so it was more "raw" sounding.
Trey kept all the editing that was done but began to rebalance the mix to his liking. We spent 2 weeks of tweaks on this thing, including the mastering.
Everyone needs to understand about the guitar sound.....
There are entire 16 measure passes in the record where the sound you are hearing is a 58 in a glass. There is no way to make that sound NORMAL!!
Everyone needs to accept that this simply will never be another version of "Corn Flakes" no matter how much you want it to. When I say "corn flakes," I am referring to the TYPICAL/COMMON/ALL READY DONE/BORING/UN-INVENTIVE/PRE-APPROVED sound of 95% of modern death metal/extreme metal records.
It is simply not designed to be that.
Consider this record to be more like MUESLI, add sugar (volume), and eat (shut up/stop worrying about how it does not taste like CORN FLAKES).
You either like MUESLI or you don't. Most people do after the 4th bowl or so....and then never go back to Corn Flakes...because it is boring.
Like the cereal analogies?
P
(Not that that's very important though) And in general Trey seems very quiet this days! (Except for his work on the album of course) You know what I mean?
