Kevin Shirley’s production of Senjutsu

Neil2320

Invader
Since Senjutsu’s release I’ve seen a few comments on Facebook YouTube and other forums criticising Kevin Shirley’s production of the album.

I can honestly say I think Senjutsu sounds fantastic and I can’t find any fault with the mix/sound at all.

Have some people had faulty recordings, or are they just whining for nothing?

Thoughts?
 
Kevin Shirley did a great job as he usually does. It's Steve's decisions that should be questioned.

I don't think the album sounds fantastic. The guitar sound is somewhat bland and the pervasive synth is too damn annoying.
 
Kevin Shirley did a great job as he usually does. It's Steve's decisions that should be questioned.

I don't think the album sounds fantastic. The guitar sound is somewhat bland and the pervasive synth is too damn annoying.
That’s fair. I was a bit confused by the use of the synth at first, but I kind of get it now after I’ve listened to the album quite a few times now.

I had to adjust my equaliser on my stereo a little and set up the surround system to get it right and the guitars sound great.

When I’ve played the album off my phone in my car it sounded great and I didn’t have to adjust anything really except just turning down the bass.

I can be really hypercritical of maiden when they get things wrong, but I really can’t fault the sound on this. That’s why I’ve been confused by some of the comments on social media
 
Yeah, probably.
When I first heard Writing on the Wall I really liked it, as it’s completely different to what they would normally do. Then, when I heard the rest of the album after it was released, I was a bit disappointed because I initially thought it was too formulaic.
But, realised I was being a tad harsh, so gave the record a chance and now I think it’s great. Far better than BOS I think
 
It does yeah. It’s one of those albums I can stick it on and play it all the way through no problem. Great record
 
Like the production on every Maiden record since BNW: it has issues.

The guitars occasionally lack bite or heft. The mixing is a bit off in places (especially keyboards and vocals). The whole thing needs clarity, aka there's too much mid-range.

It sounds fine, but it's not great.
 
Fine, but not great as the above user stated. But not dreadful, either.

Seems every album from BNW to now, someone has a gripe at Caveman's production. But I don't think it's his fault.

BNW: Absolutely fantastic production, master and mix.
DOD: Very brickwalled. Personally doesn't bother me much.
AMOFLAD: Wasn't mastered originally! 'Arry liked the flat sound so stuck with that! No gripes with me, loved the sound.
TFF: Great mix for me. Again, others griped at the sound and master.
BOS: Some did comment that at times the album has quite dodgy mix - on DOG for example. I think EOTC could have been mixed bit better, but hey.
S: Same as BOS really. I think the mix on a number of songs and maybe the mastering, could be a bit stronger in places. But doesn't effect the overall experiance for me.

And I much prefer Shirley's producion over the 90's albums. Compare Virtual XI to BNW: just 2 years apart but the production is just exquisite, even more so against Virtual XI (and I adore that album).
 
To me it’s a step up from The Book of Souls, particularly in the guitar department, but there are definitely some clarity issues.

The thing that I think people are missing the most is that the production varies quite a bit from song to song. Senjutsu is one of their more uneven offerings in that regard. I’ve noticed in particular that the three songs Adrian and Bruce wrote sound marginally better than the rest of the album, particularly Writing on the Wall (prob the best sounding song on the album). Some of that is also arrangement. There’s a lot more space in those three songs for the instruments to breathe. Bruce spends a lot of time in his lower register during Harris’ songs, which makes it easier to get lost in the mix. On the songs he wrote, the vocal parts are naturally better arranged. Guitar parts don’t overpower the vocals when Bruce is singing in H’s songs. That kind of thing. Still, Writing on the Wall, Darkest Hour, Days of Future Past all sound like a notable enough improvement that it makes me wonder if H (or even Bruce) asked for their songs to be remixed at one point (probably early on, like pre-pandemic). Usually if there’s a production oddity on a Maiden album (vocals too low, guitars sound thin, etc) it’s true for the entire album.

With that being said, by far the worst sounding track imo is the title track. It’s so muddy and seems really mid heavy. Some of the vocal overdubs don’t sound tight. It feels like demo quality at times. Keeping in mind my comments about Adrian’s other songs, I am surprised that this one passed the quality control filter, even for Maiden’s usual standards. I strongly believe that the poor audio quality of this song is coloring people’s impression of the entire album. Because the rest does sound fine for the most part IMO.
 
Like the production on every Maiden record since BNW: it has issues.

The guitars occasionally lack bite or heft. The mixing is a bit off in places (especially keyboards and vocals). The whole thing needs clarity, aka there's too much mid-range.

It sounds fine, but it's not great.
Yeah, that’s the kind of gripe I’ve seen on other sites. It’s not that I disagree with you, but I’ve never found fault with the mixing of the albums since Kevin Shirley took over.
I’ve found fault with XF and XI, because they do sound flat and lifeless.

But, with Senjutsu, at least with what I’m using to listen to it, I can’t find any fault with the mix at all. Which is why I’ve wondered if some punters had dodgy CD’s or something

To me Nicko’s drums sound amazing. Bruce’s voice, although showing signs of age, is still powerful and clear. The guitars and the bass all sound crisp without overpowering each other.

The synth sound I was a bit puzzled about, but after a few listens I appreciate why it’s there.

Maybe my knowledge of how an album should sound isn’t great, I don’t know. But, I can’t find any fault with Kev Shirley‘a work. To me it sounds great
 
To me it’s a step up from The Book of Souls, particularly in the guitar department, but there are definitely some clarity issues.

The thing that I think people are missing the most is that the production varies quite a bit from song to song. Senjutsu is one of their more uneven offerings in that regard. I’ve noticed in particular that the three songs Adrian and Bruce wrote sound marginally better than the rest of the album, particularly Writing on the Wall (prob the best sounding song on the album). Some of that is also arrangement. There’s a lot more space in those three songs for the instruments to breathe. Bruce spends a lot of time in his lower register during Harris’ songs, which makes it easier to get lost in the mix. On the songs he wrote, the vocal parts are naturally better arranged. Guitar parts don’t overpower the vocals when Bruce is singing in H’s songs. That kind of thing. Still, Writing on the Wall, Darkest Hour, Days of Future Past all sound like a notable enough improvement that it makes me wonder if H (or even Bruce) asked for their songs to be remixed at one point (probably early on, like pre-pandemic). Usually if there’s a production oddity on a Maiden album (vocals too low, guitars sound thin, etc) it’s true for the entire album.

With that being said, by far the worst sounding track imo is the title track. It’s so muddy and seems really mid heavy. Some of the vocal overdubs don’t sound tight. It feels like demo quality at times. Keeping in mind my comments about Adrian’s other songs, I am surprised that this one passed the quality control filter, even for Maiden’s usual standards. I strongly believe that the poor audio quality of this song is coloring people’s impression of the entire album. Because the rest does sound fine for the most part IMO.
 
How do you think the sound compares to the original Seventh Son for example? Can you hear the difference between those?
Well, the obvious difference is there’s only 2 guitars in the mix and the synths sound great. Obviously two different sounding albums, but with a lot of similarities.
Senjutsu has more in common with 7th son than it does with V XI.
For a better difference in comparison, I’d say Senjutsu sounds better than No prayer, which also has keyboards but sounds flaky, flat when compared with either Senjutsu or 7th son
 
Like the production on every Maiden record since BNW: it has issues.

The guitars occasionally lack bite or heft. The mixing is a bit off in places (especially keyboards and vocals). The whole thing needs clarity, aka there's too much mid-range.

It sounds fine, but it's not great.
Pretty much this. I don't hate it, but it feels a bit drowned, even at high volume. There's just not a lot of clarity to things and a fair amount of honestly amateurish mistakes, like the volume dropping midway through Death of the Celts due to some bizarre attempt at dynamics or the acoustic intro to The Parchment being so low it's practically inaudible at normal volume in a car. Reminds me of TXF in that sense.

TWOTW is probably the best-sounding track on the record, and surprise surprise, it's the one where they re-recorded the guitars rather than using the live tracks as-is. Bruce's voice gets a little lost at times though, I feel like they could've doubled up/harmonized the vocals in the chorus to give it more punch.
 
I've no problem with the production. To me, it's OK, better than some other metal albums released this year.
 
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Pretty much this. I don't hate it, but it feels a bit drowned, even at high volume. There's just not a lot of clarity to things and a fair amount of honestly amateurish mistakes, like the volume dropping midway through Death of the Celts due to some bizarre attempt at dynamics or the acoustic intro to The Parchment being so low it's practically inaudible at normal volume in a car. Reminds me of TXF in that sense.

TWOTW is probably the best-sounding track on the record, and surprise surprise, it's the one where they re-recorded the guitars rather than using the live tracks as-is. Bruce's voice gets a little lost at times though, I feel like they could've doubled up/harmonized the vocals in the chorus to give it more punch.
 
I’ve literally just got back in the house after playing the parchment in the car just to see if I experienced the same as you and I didn’t lol

I really don’t know what to say. My car stereo isn’t state of the art but no problem with the sound at all.

I’ve literally tried to find fault with the mix and I can’t. It’s really weird lol
 
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