Heretic was fucking great. The production grew on me after awhile. It has its own feeling.
Re: Hey everyone
Posted: 11 Aug 2014, 07:33
by Aðalsteinn
[quote name="Abzu"]Heretic was fucking great. The production grew on me after awhile. It has its own feeling.[/quote]
What was your initial response/feeling upon hearing H ?
Re: Hey everyone
Posted: 11 Aug 2014, 09:45
by Abzu
I noticed the production immediately and I was like, "whaaat the fuuuuck is wrong with my headphones?" I tried a couple other things out and confirmed that my headphones were fine. So I put Heretic back in and was just kind of about the production. The songs hit me well, though. I fell in love with most of them on first go through. Trey's liner notes made me smile. I was very disappointed b y the album art, though. Not the cover, but the other stuff. It seemed like lazy photoshop muckery with recycled older Tucker-era internal art. I got the box and I enjoyed the packaging. The Bonus Levels disc made me happy.
Over time, the production has grown on me. It stands as its own thing. It could have been better, but it is well enough, I think. I have accepted it.
Re: Hey everyone
Posted: 12 Aug 2014, 05:52
by Aðalsteinn
Still to this day, I can't really see what they were trying to achieve with H's production. The songs themselves are as strong as anything they had done in the late 90's, but the album seemed weird as a whole.
But I agree, I can accept it for what it is today, but can't help imagining how those songs would've sounded with FFF or even GTA production.
Re: Hey everyone
Posted: 12 Aug 2014, 05:58
by ^_____________^
It would have sounded shit with those in my opinion. The guitar parts are all so clear, it's produced that way because of how complex they are with two seperate parts going almost constantly.
Re: Hey everyone
Posted: 12 Aug 2014, 08:26
by Abzu
I disagree.
Re: Hey everyone
Posted: 13 Aug 2014, 04:30
by Aðalsteinn
Re: Hey everyone
Posted: 13 Aug 2014, 04:47
by agony bagony
enshrined by men :rakaboosha:
Re: Hey everyone
Posted: 13 Aug 2014, 04:54
by Aðalsteinn
It's hard to imagine that MA's time may be up. Musically. I had high hopes
Re: Hey everyone
Posted: 13 Aug 2014, 05:03
by Abzu
If J is fantastic, I can be this thing we pretend didn't happen. If J is mediocre or worse, it's time to call it a day, really.
Re: Hey everyone
Posted: 13 Aug 2014, 05:06
by Aðalsteinn
[quote name="Abzu"]If J is fantastic, I can be this thing we pretend didn't happen. If J is mediocre or worse, it's time to call it a day, really.[/quote]
So you do believe we will live to see J after all ?
Re: Hey everyone
Posted: 13 Aug 2014, 05:52
by Abzu
I do, yes.
Re: Hey everyone
Posted: 13 Aug 2014, 06:27
by Aðalsteinn
I hope this is true. I feel they deserve one last chance of a great album. Given that they still seem to slay in the live environment and with the addition of talented younger players who knows what might happen :whiterussian:
Re: Hey everyone
Posted: 13 Aug 2014, 06:34
by Abzu
It sure would be nice to have another good one.
Re: Hey everyone
Posted: 13 Aug 2014, 06:37
by Aðalsteinn
Re: Hey everyone
Posted: 13 Aug 2014, 09:57
by Olden Polynice
[quote name="Aðalsteinn"]Still to this day, I can't really see what they were trying to achieve with H's production. [/quote]
I was under the impression it was because so many metal albums around that period all sounded the same production wise.
Re: Hey everyone
Posted: 13 Aug 2014, 15:17
by Paste Human
[quote name="Olden Polynice"]
[quote name="Aðalsteinn"]Still to this day, I can't really see what they were trying to achieve with H's production. [/quote]
I was under the impression it was because so many metal albums around that period all sounded the same production wise.[/quote]
I seem to remember Trey saying that the purpose of the unusual production was so people could hear the nuances of his riffs with more clarity.
I like the way his guitar parts sound on the album, but overall I think the production is merely tolerable.
Re: Hey everyone
Posted: 14 Aug 2014, 07:22
by bob_here
so I thought you dudes would appreciate this post from a previous thread about Heretic and for anybody who missed it, this is what I posted:
Alright well here's a "re-mastered" rendition with more low end. Again i'm not crazy about the idea of processing something that's been processed/limited/dithered/bit-reduced BUT this is just to hear it in a different light. I did some balancing with harmonics and little EQ. "Corrected" upper mid's to let the instruments pop more; it's like more "color" in some strange sonic way. If you can extrapolate the benefits of what was done here and try and ignore or understand the artifacts and side-effects because of the nature of the file then all the better. I could only wish to have Morbid Angel raw mixes or even better raw tracks to re-mix!
Let me say the original master is problematic because of the mix. It could very well be, as you multiple hard-on bearers were pondering, that Steve, again liked the sound of what they got as for a track or raw tone. But they didn't mix in bass in a balanced way. So obviously with a done mix (and to make matters worse, a done master in this case) it's extremely difficult to try and tweak something specific. The kick drum is very resonant in several octaves, that doesn't help.
I suppose the overall outcome of Heretic can render "a sound". --- I kind of get it, you know? The whole sound and vision I think trey was going for would kind of make you imaginitively depart to another time period in a sense. Really anaylzing Heretic you may realize it has somewhat of a vinyl LP sound. When they cut vinyl back in the day they had to do special filtering so as to keep extended low end to a minimum at risk of letting grooves get too deep. since low frequencies are big and intrusive (that's what she said) they would also need more real estate on the medium. Heretic has this sound: low mid range forward, sort of a covered old school sound. even the guitar distortion is like a ripped speaker: buzzy and extended high's with less biting mid-range. Modern sounds are just the opposite. Anyway, I think it was part of the idea of going back to a time where defiance, especially in the arts, had a place in creating atmosphere and sending a message. People may be appreciated creative things more because 1) they didn't come by them as easy as we have it now and 2) things were not rushed then; they were introverted, more internal less distractions. So what better time to make an impact through music and dark music at that, than to put oneself in that time period where music and the like was not taken for granted. It also meant a dark and brooding style of music (think Black sabbath and their impact at that time!) had THAt much more impact; heretical atmosphere. Anyway, it seems this type of sound is something done with intent rather than relegated in this day and age so yea, that's my explanation for Heretic.
...so it seems you can sort of retain the vibe Trey was going for but still make it somewhat more balanced.
Re: Hey everyone
Posted: 14 Aug 2014, 07:25
by Abzu
i remember that post
Re: Hey everyone
Posted: 14 Aug 2014, 16:53
by agony bagony
oh interesting. i will check this out thanks TM
Re: Hey everyone
Posted: 14 Aug 2014, 19:33
by ^_____________^
IT's perfect the way it is.
Re: Hey everyone
Posted: 15 Aug 2014, 03:44
by Paste Human
[quote name="Paste Human"]
[quote name="Olden Polynice"]
[quote name="Aðalsteinn"]Still to this day, I can't really see what they were trying to achieve with H's production. [/quote]
I was under the impression it was because so many metal albums around that period all sounded the same production wise.[/quote]
I seem to remember Trey saying that the purpose of the unusual production was so people could hear the nuances of his riffs with more clarity.
I like the way his guitar parts sound on the album, but overall I think the production is merely tolerable.[/quote]
Oh yeah, here's the questions and answers from that interview:
One thing I noticed about the production is that the guitar sound is pretty different from what it used to be, to say the least. What was the idea behind that?
Technically I used a combination of the Marshall sound that I've always worked with and used in addition a Solid State amp sound. Just to try to get more of a useful guitar signal, that the definition would be more clear, I guess. So that was pretty much what I was going for.
You used to have this really low-end guitar sound and it's very different now. That's kinda what I noticed about it.
Sure. I've had people tell me when they see us live that they didn't know that there was so much going on in the guitar parts, that it seemed so much more basic on CD, and I was thinking that's a shame. So I figured I've really gotta get working on this because I would like to present this stuff as clear as possible so they can see the effort that's in it and the details, so that's what I did. I thought of this idea of mixing the two amps together. Because I do really enjoy the warmth of a tube amp, the Marshall, but on its own it sometimes tends to be low-end sounding or dark, and the Solid State amp is just pure presence. By itself, it's not such a nice sound, but the two together make a really cool sound, they kind of help each other.