AB VI Studio/Recording Thread

[LosingPatience]

Pearl Jam and Soundgarden have two guitarists. Both bands do plenty of layering with guitar parts, particularly Soundgarden. Outside example but Snarky Puppy has a billion different instruments and extremely complex music, yet perhaps the best production (you can isolate every little thing recorded) i've ever heard

Still basic song structure in comparison to AB

[MuffinMcFluffin]

#selectiveresponse

[anguyen92]

Pearl Jam and Soundgarden have two guitarists. Both bands do plenty of layering with guitar parts, particularly Soundgarden. Outside example but Snarky Puppy has a billion different instruments and extremely complex music, yet perhaps the best production (you can isolate every little thing recorded) i've ever heard

Still basic song structure in comparison to AB

Yeah, I don't think you can say stuff like Soundgarden is basic when it comes to song structure. In fact, I think you shouldn't be making this kind of statement without backing it up in further details. I would argue that without Soundgarden or Alice In Chains, bands like AB wouldn't be as prominent.

[Timotheus]

Pearl Jam and Soundgarden have two guitarists. Both bands do plenty of layering with guitar parts, particularly Soundgarden. Outside example but Snarky Puppy has a billion different instruments and extremely complex music, yet perhaps the best production (you can isolate every little thing recorded) i've ever heard

Still basic song structure in comparison to AB

Lol what? Besides two or three songs, all they do is occasionally extend a bridge. Alter Bridge = basic song structure.

[Jaded Rescue]

Blackbird, ABIII, Fortress, The Last Hero and Walk the Sky could all sound awesome... one day.
I assume the band still has the individual stems for each instrument on various hard drives, and they could hire a talented guy to remix those albums from the start. I'm sure every AB fan who currently says everything is fine and dandy would be stunned by the difference. We all know the actual music is great under that compression and poor mix nonsense, but we can't properly hear it yet.

It's unfortunate, but even with all of that available, I fear this will never happen, because it seems like the band is happy with the sound they have. Otherwise, they would have changed something up by now. I guess the only possibility is that they one day realize the error of their ways and fix it all, but that also would cost a lot of time and money that I don't think AB has at their disposal.

To your point about the actual music, that's just it. I still like their composition for the most part. It just sucks when I get a craving to listen to a song for the music itself, but when I hit play on the track I end up stopping it seconds later because it just hurts to listen to.

[Jaded Rescue]

Pearl Jam and Soundgarden have two guitarists. Both bands do plenty of layering with guitar parts, particularly Soundgarden. Outside example but Snarky Puppy has a billion different instruments and extremely complex music, yet perhaps the best production (you can isolate every little thing recorded) i've ever heard

Still basic song structure in comparison to AB

You can't be serious, right? When was the last time AB wrote a song with two separate bridges, or a song without a chorus, or one that wasn't in 4/4 or 6/8? In terms of song structure alone, AB barely steps outside of being pop music.

[BSC]

Although this place leans more on the side of a troll group than a fandom. Not saying you have to praise everything but man is it possible for any positivity here i mean gee whiz.

I like how in one sentence you insult the entire forum, but you ask for more positivity in the next sentence.

I've stayed quiet and not commented on the three new songs, just because I don't have much to say about them. I'm trying follow the 'if you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all' saying. However, there is so much good sounding new music out there right now - Opeth, Tool, Clutch, Big Wreck, Steel Panther and The Darkness (to mention a few) have all released new songs within the past few weeks and they sound absolutely great. I find the new songs from those bands to be much more pleasant on the ears.

The first I do when listening to Wouldn't You Rather is turn down my speakers. The first time I actually wanted to back and listen to the song again was when I heard Myles play it acoustically in that Loudwire video and I was impressed at how good it sounded.

I know I've done a bad job of following the 'if you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all' saying in this post.

[riemslag1]

Dare to critisize your idols is offering them better fandom than blindly adore everything they produce, or at least claim to do so.
Specially when the critics are justified.
This is a great great band, but the last album and 3 songs are just not of the same quality as their 4 first albums.
This is just not the same quality that got them their fanbase in the first place.
I like the last 3 songs, but they just lack the special vibe from the past. Radio nowadays is full of these tunes.
Makes me sad to see them slide down towards where they are heading now, as well in production as songwriting. So much more potential in this band.

[UninvitedZero]

Although this place leans more on the side of a troll group than a fandom. Not saying you have to praise everything but man is it possible for any positivity here i mean gee whiz.

I like how in one sentence you insult the entire forum, but you ask for more positivity in the next sentence.

I've stayed quiet and not commented on the three new songs, just because I don't have much to say about them. I'm trying follow the 'if you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all' saying. However, there is so much good sounding new music out there right now - Opeth, Tool, Clutch, Big Wreck, Steel Panther and The Darkness (to mention a few) have all released new songs within the past few weeks and they sound absolutely great. I find the new songs from those bands to be much more pleasant on the ears.

The first I do when listening to Wouldn't You Rather is turn down my speakers. The first time I actually wanted to back and listen to the song again was when I heard Myles play it acoustically in that Loudwire video and I was impressed at how good it sounded.

I know I've done a bad job of following the 'if you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all' saying in this post.

Fucking Clutch!

...That is all...

[anguyen92]

Dare to critisize your idols is offering them better fandom than blindly adore everything they produce, or at least claim to do so.
Specially when the critics are justified.
This is a great great band, but the last album and 3 songs are just not of the same quality as their 4 first albums.
This is just not the same quality that got them their fanbase in the first place.
I like the last 3 songs, but they just lack the special vibe from the past. Radio nowadays is full of these tunes.
Makes me sad to see them slide down towards where they are heading now, as well in production as songwriting. So much more potential in this band.

Honestly, radio nowadays are not full of these tunes (I know, I listen to Octane all the time) and the three songs that has been released outclasses the majority of the stuff on radio (and the production on those are in way worst shapes than the issues from the Walk the Sky songs. It's like stop screaming at me and failing at being macho toughguys and stop having whiny vocals and having vocalists sounding so dang similar).

That stated, the Walk the Sky pre-album songs still have issues, but it's not as worst as the majority of the stuff I hear on Octane.

[Timotheus]

[(and the production on those are in way worst shapes than the issues from the Walk the Sky songs. It's like stop screaming at me and failing at being macho toughguys and stop having whiny vocals and having vocalists sounding so dang similar).

That's got nothing to do with production.

[anguyen92]

^^ Yeah, still, I just feel like I need to get that thought out there about my gripes about a typical song that's being played on radio nowadays.

[UninvitedZero]

It's almost sad... But I'd like to hear whoever produced Nickelback's Feed The Machine work with AB in the future...

[anguyen92]

It's almost sad... But I'd like to hear whoever produced Nickelback's Feed The Machine work with AB in the future...

Looking at Wiki. It looks like the producers are Nickelback and Chris Baseford. Here's Chris Baseford's website below. He also produced Scott Stapp's latest solo album, along with acts like Rob Zombie, I Prevail, Shinedown, and Avril Lavigne in addition to Nickelback in the past.

http://www.chrisbaseford.com/

At the end of it all, I don't think Elvis factors in the AB production issues as heavily as people would like to think. Myles wanted to emphasis to Elvis that he didn't want a too heavily layered album in Year of the Tiger and I think it wasn't as big of a headache to hear front to back as The Last Hero. I feel like they stick with the guy for as long as they have moreso for having that extra voice when it comes to crafting the songs itself moreso than how the songs are mixed and produced.

That stated, I would like AB to either think about working with someone with a different ear or (if they insist on having Elvis as the producer when it comes to crafting the songs) have someone outside of the AB camp hear their stuff before it gets to mastering and have a neutral extra opinion about how it sounds. I don't know what we would need to have for AB think that their recent albums is lacking huge clarity. It's still there for me (but not as much as it can be), but not as prominent that other people would like it to be.

[Ubik]

Folks, I don't wish to disturb you all but there's a frakking monster Walk the Sky review in the magazine thread thanks to the legendary Torsten

[MuffinMcFluffin]

I'm stupid, but are 4 stars or 5 the max for these reviews?

[UninvitedZero]

Snazzy little read. Some cool lyric snippets...

Oh I don't know if I can wait any longer!

[Marshall]

Godspeed:
"Farewell, Goddspeed, goodbye, you have lived and you have changed all our lives."

Clear Horizon:
"If I die tonight, would the questions still remain? Did I live for what was right? Did I live this life in vain?"

Walking On The Sky:
"If you fall at least you tried, as you tremble from the wire."

Dying Light:
"Step into the realm of madness if you dare, my dear. In the dying light we can begin to live again."

[AB4Lyfe]

Definitely encouraging that their list of best songs does NOT include the pre-release tracks.

[JGremore]

Great little read! Listening to the new TOOL album while reading. Not that I hate the production of the new AB so far, but it could be better. The clarity of the new TOOL album is great.