AB VI Speculation

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anguyen92
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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by anguyen92 »

I think people liked the way Trivium's Silence in the Snow sounded and Elvis was the producer for that. As for the album itself, your mileage will varied depending on the direction Trivium went with the album where there were no unclean vocals (presumably, due to the aftermath of Matt Heafy blew his voice out). I like the album though, but it was clear that The Sin and the Sentence was a huge step up for them.

Plus, Elvis did Year of the Tiger and I don't think there were any issues with the mix. Plus, I honestly found the mix for A Dying Machine to be much easier on the ears than The Last Hero. Overall, it does come down to AB caring enough to think whether their albums would sound good from their perspectives (which will differ than their audiences' perspectives for all kinds of reasons).

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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by MuffinMcFluffin »

Something went terribly wrong with Songbird, though.

I have two separate theories:

1) Songbird was a demo track, previously recorded with different equipment and then later slapped onto the record.

2) The intro guitar riffs sounded so much like Mother, that they said: "Gosh, we need to do something to differentiate these songs! I know, suck all of the life of the mix and quality out of Songbird. Give it all mids, no highs or lows. Perfect, now they are two different tracks!"

I am leaning toward the latter. I wish they did that to Mother, instead.

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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by Timotheus »

I hope he stays away from the bells.

One bell at most.
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anguyen92 wrote:
Oh well. Deal with it.

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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by Ubik »

Don't let the bells end.
For all of the hope that it brings...

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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by TenaciousBe »

From Tremonti's Instagram:
"Good times with my pre-pro rig"
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If you're wondering about the duct tape on his wah, he mentioned in a comment that it's just to keep cables from getting caught underneath it. Never thought of that before. Haha.
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jumping on the bellwagon

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For no one should the bells toll.
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anguyen92
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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by anguyen92 »

All right, I don't have a snapshot, but Michael stated on Twitter that today is the last day of pre-production and Flip begins tracking drums in a few days. He states 14 songs are going to be recorded and that Mark is super excited. Yep, I am pumped.

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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by chtimixeur »

Once again, this goes way too fast. They should work together in a room on those songs for a few months, not a couple of weeks.

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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by VigilantSteve »

chtimixeur wrote:Once again, this goes way too fast. They should work together in a room on those songs for a few months, not a couple of weeks.
I don't know, just because they haven't necessarily been in the same room working on the songs for an extended period of time doesn't mean that they haven't spent a lot of time on the songs. That's just not how they do things, and it wouldn't guarantee that the songs would turn out any better or worse if they did do it that way.

Also, just a few minutes ago per Michael Tremonti:
"They come to the studio well prepared and they have been writing this album for over two years."

https://twitter.com/TremontiMichael/sta ... 8172685314

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anguyen92
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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by anguyen92 »

You never know. Maybe they might hit lightning in a bottle creating stuff in a few weeks than they would in months. I know the track record doesn't look that great when it comes to AB, but maybe, until after we actually hear the finished product and it doesn't sound like greatness, then we can go ahead and say that it's rushed or whatever. Just my two cents, no need to @ me.

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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by Timotheus »

It worked on Fortress and One Day Remains. It's not ideal and it worked against them on TLH, but that's just one album.
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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by chtimixeur »

VigilantSteve wrote: I don't know, just because they haven't necessarily been in the same room working on the songs for an extended period of time doesn't mean that they haven't spent a lot of time on the songs. That's just not how they do things, and it wouldn't guarantee that the songs would turn out any better or worse if they did do it that way.
Blackbird became a great song, because they had a lot of free time to jam in a room together in 2006 and 2007. The talked a lot about it during their interviews back in the day.

I agree that overthinking and rewriting songs that seemed good in the first place can be a negative thing for a lot of bands, but when it comes to Alter Bridge, I think they just don't spend enough time together writing songs when they reunite after a long break.

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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by AB4Lyfe »

Two weeks of pre-pro...ok.

Sure, writing the album for two years. But you could say Fortress was written in 4 years because Myles pulled the “Calm the Fire” riff from his original solo project.
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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by Dolo »

I think Mark and Myles sit on those songs for a longer while. They then bring them to the rehearsal space, Flip and Brian learn their parts, little adjustments are made and the record is done.
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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by Kreuger »

chtimixeur wrote:@anguyen92: you should focus on the drums, and especially the cymbals. They really sound awful, and I can't understand why Elvis is still unable to record them properly after so many years and albums.
I was just listening to Dust in my car today and the cymbals (especially hihats) were annoying. I'm debating tracking down a FLAC copy to see if it's any clearer. It sounds like a low quality YouTube rip.
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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by Mr. Slash »

Kreuger wrote:
chtimixeur wrote:@anguyen92: you should focus on the drums, and especially the cymbals. They really sound awful, and I can't understand why Elvis is still unable to record them properly after so many years and albums.
I was just listening to Dust in my car today and the cymbals (especially hihats) were annoying. I'm debating tracking down a FLAC copy to see if it's any clearer. It sounds like a low quality YouTube rip.
Still better than the sluggish and muddy Cauterize i suppose.

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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by Andy92 »

Alice In Chains wrote and recorded Jar of Flies in one week. If you can capture lightning in a bottle then you don’t have to second guess your songs for multiple weeks.

As Timo said, it’s worked in the past. TLH wasn’t as good, but I don’t think the recording session time is to blame for that.
anguyen92 wrote:Oh well. Deal with it.

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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by WaywardOne »

Was hoping for a "denser" album - fewer but higher quality and/or longer songs. Every time they do 13 or more songs there's always one or two filler songs. But oh well, super exciting that they're done writing already!!!!

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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by gbruin »

That pre-pro time did seem awfully quick but we know those guys have been writing and sharing ideas for months if not a year or more already, so they obviously had most of the work already done before they got together in the studio. I've been among those wondering if/how things would sound if they'd spend more time just jamming and writing together as a whole before recording, but this is their formula and it has worked well before. Even on TLH, I think there were more concerns about the mixing/post-production rather than the actual songwriting and playing. Excited to hear what the next stages bring!! :rockon
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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by LosingPatience »

MuffinMcFluffin wrote:Something went terribly wrong with Songbird, though.

I have two separate theories:

1) Songbird was a demo track, previously recorded with different equipment and then later slapped onto the record.

2) The intro guitar riffs sounded so much like Mother, that they said: "Gosh, we need to do something to differentiate these songs! I know, suck all of the life of the mix and quality out of Songbird. Give it all mids, no highs or lows. Perfect, now they are two different tracks!"

I am leaning toward the latter. I wish they did that to Mother, instead.



Songbird is an absolute gem .....heresy

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