Dance Of Death mixing/production

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Does anyone here think Dance Of Death was produced/mixed wrong? Steve's bass lines are harder to hear and it seems like Nicko's drumming was dumbed down compared to other albums. Anyone agree with me?
 
Kevin Shirley to me, when I emailed him about it: "overcompression is the bane of my life"
 
[!--QuoteBegin-Maiden Guitarist+Jun 25 2005, 07:19 PM--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(Maiden Guitarist @ Jun 25 2005, 07:19 PM)[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--QuoteEBegin--]When did you email him?
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When did you first play with your willy?

Got any other stupid question? [!--emo&:huh:--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/huh.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'huh.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
 
I love the DoD production. I think you need to have a good set of earphones to hear it, but it's incredibly precise. However, I have to say, that I don't listen to either the bass or the drums.
 
There was a whole hype about some article a sound engineer or sth wrote about overcompressed cds that have been put out. Maiden's cd was one of the ones mentioned on the article. and I emailed the link to the article to shirley. He replied: I tend to agree with the writer of the article,... -and then the quote I put above. It must have been a year - ayear and a half back
 
[!--QuoteBegin-Maiden Guitarist+Jun 26 2005, 01:39 AM--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(Maiden Guitarist @ Jun 26 2005, 01:39 AM)[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--QuoteEBegin--]Mav, I didn't ask a stupid question. Lay off.
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Didn't you?
 
I think in termz of recording and production Dance Of Death iz nothing but mud!

Steve'z signature bass sound iz NOWHERE to be heard... it'z hidden under a mess of guitarz and drumz... nothing punchez through with any clarity, it'z all just a big low to low-mid frequency mix on just about everything in the mix... it'z fucking woeful...

APART from that... the songz are great... they're just recorded badly...

I'd like to hear the version mixed in 5.1 to see if it soundz any better...


I have to say, Dance Of Death haz the worst production of any Maiden album... in contrast I personally think No Prayer For The Dying and Somewhere In Time have the best production work...

[!--emo&-_---][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/sleep.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'sleep.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
 
First of all, SpuddleZ, I sincerely hope that your keyboard and/or operating system are broken. If you have no such excuse, then your usage of the letter 'z' in place of the letter 's' violates our [a href=\'http://forum.maidenfans.com/index.php?act=boardrules\' target=\'_blank\']forum rules[/a], which state:
While the occasional lapse in grammar, capital letters etc. are common place, we ask you NOT to speak using 'txt spk' or '1337'.
That rule is meant to cover all instances of deliberate misspellings, except those done with obviously humorous intent. The moderator of this forum, Maverick, is known to have notoriously low tolerance for the type of post you just made.

Regarding the production on DoD: I have no trouble distincly hearing all the parts, except for possibly the opening of "Wildest Dreams". Even in that case, I don't think it's a fault of the production; it's a flaw in the composition. With 3 guitars, it's very easy for one instrument to intrude on the sonic space of another. When the guitar parts are highly similar without being perfectly identical, the result can be a muddy sound.

When DoD came out, I had just seen Maiden very recently (only a couple of weeks before the release). My first reaction to the album's sound is that it sounded very much like Maiden's live sound from the GMETID tour. I think that's what the band was going for: a live sound, not an overly-processed sound.
 
The sound from DOD is pretty different from BNW.

BNW: more drums oriented (thin, polished sounding rhythm guitars, and often you don't even hear 3 at the same time)

DOD: more guitar oriented (stronger and rougher guitar sound, which results in a weaker sounding drum; more in the background).

I know quite a few people who prefer the BNW sound, but they (and me too) all say that the guitars are stronger in the mix on DOD.

Which sound you prefer is everyone's own choice, but the cool things is, that they don't sound the same. [!--emo&:)--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/smile.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'smile.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
 
dod's sound is terrible... bad eq balance, muddy, compressed, and clipping in various parts
 
sorry to bump this thread but I wanted to make a new topic about this but since one exists I might as well post here. In the DOTR doc, Kevin mentions that he sent DOD to another producer who fixed the bottom end of the album. But when he gave it to Steve, Steve rejected it. I've always wanted to hear that fixed version because perhaps it sounds better then DOD. (one of the worst sounding Maiden albums)
 
Sorry to bump another old thread, but I just came across something called "Dance of Death (BrickwallHater Remaster)". The production on the album doesn't bother me, but others might want to check this out and see if it sounds better.
 
Thanks for info Travis. Did you manage to download it?
 
You bet. I didn't get it because the sound of DOD is perfectly fine to my ears, but I'm still wondering what those who don't like the sound will think of it.

Well, I am going to check it out and there are text files with it that have the dynamic range.

Here is the original:

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR5 -0.02 dB -6.35 dB 3:53 01-Wildest Dreams
DR6 -0.02 dB -6.34 dB 3:49 02-Rainmaker
DR5 -0.01 dB -7.24 dB 7:22 03-No More Lies
DR5 -0.01 dB -6.06 dB 5:50 04-Montségur
DR6 -0.02 dB -7.32 dB 8:37 05-Dance Of Death
DR5 -0.02 dB -6.06 dB 5:12 06-Gates Of Tomorrow
DR6 -0.04 dB -6.44 dB 5:04 07-New Frontier
DR6 -0.01 dB -7.12 dB 8:28 08-Paschendale
DR6 -0.01 dB -7.14 dB 6:31 09-Face In The Sand
DR5 -0.01 dB -6.83 dB 6:10 10-Age Of Innocence
DR6 0.00 dB -7.80 dB 7:07 11-Journeyman
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of tracks: 11
Official DR value: DR6

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 945 kbps
Codec: FLAC


And here is the remaster:

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR13 -0.10 dB -14.69 dB 3:53 01-Wildest Dreams
DR14 -0.10 dB -14.63 dB 3:49 02-Rainmaker
DR13 -0.10 dB -15.55 dB 7:22 03-No More Lies
DR14 -0.10 dB -14.35 dB 5:50 04-Montsegur
DR14 -0.10 dB -15.70 dB 8:37 05-Dance of Death
DR13 -0.10 dB -14.44 dB 5:12 06-Gates Of Tomorrow
DR14 -0.10 dB -14.77 dB 5:04 07-New Frontier
DR14 -0.10 dB -15.59 dB 8:28 08-Paschendale
DR13 -0.92 dB -15.58 dB 6:31 09-Face In The Sand
DR14 -0.10 dB -15.22 dB 6:10 10-Age of Innocence
DR14 -0.10 dB -15.94 dB 7:07 11-Journeyman
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of tracks: 11
Official DR value: DR14

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 803 kbps
Codec: FLAC

I'm not sure what that means myself, but I'll have to give both a listen and see if I hear a difference.
 
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How can it sound any better if it was mastered from the CD version? You can't undo the clipping...
 
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