Indeed those April storms bring down trees. Thunder. ACDC wrote a song about a road trip through Texas - now I know what they meant. Thunder. Man I am starting to look forward to their tour ;-)
AC/DC Black ice
Well, there been three important releases in recent weeks:
Metallica "Death Magnetic"; Guns N' Roses "Chinese Democracy" and AC/DC "Black Ice".
I posted on the first two, and now just completed my first listen of the "Black Ice".
What a huge difference!!!
The best AC/DC in ages: unmistakable feeling of inspiration and spontaneity, all 15 tracks are done on a single breath, and not a single bad one.
Absolutely impeccable sense of rhytm and melody, if you will.
Music is stripped down to it's bare essentials, as truly great rock supposed to be like, IMHO.
There is nothing there, that detracts from the musical message, not a single slow down, no annoying moments whatsoever.
I have to give it to Angus and Malcolm, who wrote all the tracks- they are some of greatest R&R songwriters ever.
honest and inspired album.
What a stark difference with the other two- Metallica is pretty much unlistenable, very tiresome and calculated.
If I had to sum it up:
Metallica- FINISHED!
Axl is a pompous, pretentious ass
AC/DC- outstanding!
P.S. AC/DC recording quality- miles ahead of the other two
Metallica "Death Magnetic"; Guns N' Roses "Chinese Democracy" and AC/DC "Black Ice".
I posted on the first two, and now just completed my first listen of the "Black Ice".
What a huge difference!!!
The best AC/DC in ages: unmistakable feeling of inspiration and spontaneity, all 15 tracks are done on a single breath, and not a single bad one.
Absolutely impeccable sense of rhytm and melody, if you will.
Music is stripped down to it's bare essentials, as truly great rock supposed to be like, IMHO.
There is nothing there, that detracts from the musical message, not a single slow down, no annoying moments whatsoever.
I have to give it to Angus and Malcolm, who wrote all the tracks- they are some of greatest R&R songwriters ever.
honest and inspired album.
What a stark difference with the other two- Metallica is pretty much unlistenable, very tiresome and calculated.
If I had to sum it up:
Metallica- FINISHED!
Axl is a pompous, pretentious ass
AC/DC- outstanding!
P.S. AC/DC recording quality- miles ahead of the other two
Showing 9 responses by shadorne
P.S. AC/DC recording quality- miles ahead of the other two AC/DC used ATC for years. Black Ice was done in Vancouver The Warehouse - and the main monitors use ATC midrange. You don't get overly compressed sound from artists like this - you can google The Warehouse Studio - I think they have tickets for AC/DC. The latest Nickelback was done there too - it will be interesting to see if this Nickelback is overcompressed like the last one - I am hoping it will be better. |
Couldn't possibly be the recording desk. Or the machines. Or the processing. Or the mics. Or the room design. Or the talent of the engineer. Or a dozen other variables Sure there is a lot more to it - these studios cost millions. However you don't usually get overcompressed sound from artists that use ATC - the midrange clarity precludes this - distortion from overcompression becomes readily audible in the production stages. Think Pink Floyd, Mark Knopfler, Tom Petty, INXS and many others - kind of the antithesis of the hypercompressed Metallica sound. ATC is like having a "lens" on the midrange - forward sounding and too harsh for some but it tends to result in better recordings. This may seem like a shameless ATC plug - but there are grains of truth in these statements! |
Absolutely impeccable sense of rhytm and melody, if you will. For those going to the concerts - it will be about the gear - the bare essentials of AC/DC were and still are Malcolm Hill bass bins or their modern equivalent. |
For those in Southern climates - "Black Ice" is a deadly winter situation on a road surface in the North that often leads to a pile-up or at the minimum several vehicles off the road. Producer Brendan O'Brien is from Atlanta so he would be familiar with it - perhaps he came up with the name - anyone know the scoop on the album title? |
Ozzy, Springsteen uses Bob Ludwig for Mastering - Bob uses Eggleston Ivy's (his own custom design) - might that explain it? ;-) Magic was particularly bad. Anyway if you use Egglestons for mastering...just kidding ....but it is true that Bob Ludwig has moved more to the dark side of the loudness wars recently (producers and artists demand it) I think it is definitely intentional with Springsteen - I would guess he insists on it - it is always over compressed even Born to Run was bad long before compression became a terrible problem in the industry. It is probably because Bruce's mainstream audience are those who drive Ford pickups with huge towing capacity - noisy cabs on rough roads make compressed music the natural choice... |
BTW - The Warehouse Studio including the main monitors was designed by Ron O Vermeulen (Bryan Adams technician for 30 years). The studio has a custom Neve that has George Martin's touch and orginally came from Air Studios in London. Bryan paid for it all...only a star could afford all this as we are talking tens of millions for the facility. I find Bryan Adams recordings are top notch too - thanks to Ron's hand. |