Kevin Shirley’s production of Senjutsu

I've got Senjutsu on CD and Vinyl and the clipping is so miniscule it barely registers. It's certainly not nearly as bad as TXF or DOD.

Lucky you! It does not ruin the listening experience, but it is really noticeable and, dare I say it, annoying.
 
I love Sneap, but his productions after 2010 sound extremely similar. Same formula, and overly processed to the extent that it does not fit Maiden as far as I'm concerned.
I don't agree with you. Andy Sneap is a good producer and his sound could fit to the Maiden 80's era sound. If you give an ear on Blaze's Silicon Messiah, especially on the songs that Blaze Bayley has written during his time with Steve's band for a third Iron Maiden record ("Born As A Stranger", "The Brave", "The Launch", "Stare At The Sun"), you can easily imagine Andy Sneap producing an Iron Maiden reunion era album as Brave New World, for example or Dance Of Death. A Matter Of Life And Death, The Final Frontier, The Book Of Souls and Senjutsu have some more progressive vibes in them, less Andy Sneap-like.
 
I don't agree with you. Andy Sneap is a good producer and his sound could fit to the Maiden 80's era sound. If you give an ear on Blaze's Silicon Messiah, especially on the songs that Blaze Bayley has written during his time with Steve's band for a third Iron Maiden record ("Born As A Stranger", "The Brave", "The Launch", "Stare At The Sun"), you can easily imagine Andy Sneap producing an Iron Maiden reunion era album as Brave New World, for example or Dance Of Death. A Matter Of Life And Death, The Final Frontier, The Book Of Souls and Senjutsu have some more progressive vibes in them, less Andy Sneap-like.
Silicon Messiah and Tenth Dimension are two of the best sounding records he has done - In fact, around 2010 or whatever he claimed them as his best work. But no, I don't think that they would fit either (it's also not just a matter of the songs, but what to expect of an Iron Maiden production. Iron Maiden have a sound identity at this point, although there are definitely better and worse works of art in that regard) - Brave New World is as fas as Maiden should go with sample replacement and that kind of frequency balance. Granted, they would work better than his post 2010 style but, "naaah", and I certainly cannot hear the 80's Birch connection that you do. I love Sneap, but he's not for Maiden in my book.
 
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If you give an ear on Blaze's Silicon Messiah, especially on the songs that Blaze Bayley has written during his time with Steve's band for a third Iron Maiden record ("Born As A Stranger", "The Brave", "The Launch", "Stare At The Sun")

The Brave and Stare at the Sun were written for Maiden? :wub: Are you sure?

*Of course Harris would have destroyed them with valse slow into /outro & galloping middle section on the Brave, and an innovative chorus for Stare at the Sun in the lines of: Better Stare at the Sun 'cause I'm the Brave, better stare at, better stare at.. The Brave! The Brave! The Brave! The Brave ahahahaha +solo.
 
The Brave and Stare at the Sun were written for Maiden? :wub: Are you sure?

*Of course Harris would have destroyed them with valse slow into /outro & galloping middle section on the Brave, and an innovative chorus for Stare at the Sun in the lines of: Better Stare at the Sun 'cause I'm the Brave, better stare at, better stare at.. The Brave! The Brave! The Brave! The Brave ahahahaha +solo.
Yes, I'm sure. Blaze has told it few times in interviews that he written these songs for a possible 3rd album with Iron Maiden. ;)

But, maybe these tracks could be great with Steve putting some personal touches on them, who knows. :)
 
I love Sneap, but his productions after 2010 sound extremely similar. Same formula, and overly processed to the extent that it does not fit Maiden as far as I'm concerned.

I agree with that.
He would not fit. I want the sound of a great performance, but still the sound of an individual human performance.
I would not edit out - someone here wrote he would like that - finger squeaks for example. That's not a mistake per se. If you have control, you can use it specifically as a stylistic element. Listen to the old blues guitarists.
We can't lose all that and become more and more sterile.
What do you think of Jens Bogren?
I don't really believe that Maiden will change producers, because they always emphasize that they work very well with Kevin Shirley and with another producer they don't know if that would also be the case.
But it could be seen as a brave innovative step if a band tried something new after so many albums.
 
In a parallel world I'd love to hear what Martin Birch would've done with the reunion material. That said, I still love Shirley's production. He's probably the only man who can get a decent sounding album out of Steve at this point.

Edit: Now that I think of it I'd LOVE to hear Martin Birch productions of the two Blaze albums.
 
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Yes, I'm sure. Blaze has told it few times in interviews that he written these songs for a possible 3rd album with Iron Maiden. ;)

But, maybe these tracks could be great with Steve putting some personal touches on them, who knows. :)
Blaze wrote the vocal parts for those tracks based on music that his band members came up with. Guitarist Steve Wray wrote the main riff in The Brave for example, and all band members except Jeff Singer, contributed different parts to Stare at the Sun, according to the At the end of the Day book.

Writing credits:
Born As A Stranger - Bayley, Naylor, Slater.
The Brave - Bayley, Naylor, Wray.
The Launch - Bayley, Naylor, Singer, Wray.
Stare at the Sun - Bayley, Naylor, Slater, Wray.

So they were definitely not written while Blaze was still in Maiden. That Blaze then had some rough ideas for lyrical themes before leaving Maiden, that came to inspire some of those songs, is not the same as them being actual lost Maiden tracks. Blaze also doesn't play any instruments, and therefore can't compose full songs on his own.
 
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Blaze wrote the vocal parts for those tracks based on music that his band members came up with. Guitarist Steve Wray wrote the main riff in The Brave for example, and all band members except Jeff Singer contributed different parts to Stare at the Sun, according to the At the end of the Day book.

Writing credits:
Born As A Stranger - Bayley, Naylor, Slater.
The Brave - Bayley, Naylor, Slater.
The Launch - Bayley, Naylor, Singer, Wray.
Stare at the Sun - Bayley, Naylor, Slater, Wray.

So they were definitely not written while Blaze was still in Maiden. That Blaze then had some rough ideas for lyrical themes before leaving Maiden, that came to inspire some of those songs, is not the same as them being actual lost Maiden tracks. Blaze also doesn't play any instruments, and therefore can't compose full songs on his own.
Writing music is not just about playing guitar or piano, it's also creating vocal parts with singing. What Blaze surely wanted to say when speaking with journalists when he has said this is that he created vocal melodies of these songs and lyrics while he was still in Maiden for an eventual third record with Maiden. ;) But, writing a song is also possible by composing vocal melodies by singing and recording them on a cellphone. :)
 
Writing music is not just about playing guitar or piano, it's also creating vocal parts with singing. What Blaze surely wanted to say when speaking with journalists when he has said this is that he created vocal melodies of these songs and lyrics while he was still in Maiden for an eventual third record with Maiden. ;) But, writing a song is also possible by composing vocal melodies by singing and recording them on a cellphone. :)
Then he exaggerated his own contribution. Steve Wray mentions in At the End of the Day that Blaze played him a vocal demo that he had recorded on a mini disc, but it was just Blaze whistling and making noises, and that it sounded like it was recorded inside a toilet. That makes it obvious that he didn't have any finished vocal melodies in place before leaving Maiden. And that doesn't matter to me, because the album stands on it own.
 
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Then he exaggerated his own contribution. Steve Wray mentions in At the End of the Day that Blaze played him a vocal demo that he had recorded on a mini disc, but it was just Blaze whistling and making noises, and that it sounded like it was recorded inside a toilet. That makes it obvious that he didn't have any finished vocal melodies in place before leaving Maiden. And that doesn't matter to me, because the album stands on it own.
That is not what Blaze said in interviews with french magazines and for some english ones some years ago... :oops:
 
I bought some really nice Sennheiser headphones the other day and they make the album sound even worse. If I turn the bass down to minus ten and the treble jacked all the way up to plus ten it sounds less shitty...but still shitty.
 
In a parallel world I'd love to hear what Martin Birch would've done with the reunion material. That said, I still love Shirley's production. He's probably the only man who can get a decent sounding album out of Steve at this point.

Edit: Now that I think of it I'd LOVE to hear Martin Birch productions of the two Blaze albums.
I love BNW sound, but the next album...the sound is....quite normal and a bit "low cost" i mean i think its the world nowadays. People dont pay for music why spent 6 months in a studio. Thats what we get
 
I did not buy any physical copy of Senjutsu tbh. After listening to the sound train wreck of BOS I did not see a reason to buy a Maiden release. What amazes me up to this day is how low rent and uncharacteristically bad the Maiden songs of late sound in any spotify playlist of mine. People say it sounds great on vinyl....well tough luck, we live in the digital era and we have been so for decades now!
 
I was not a big fan of Kevin until I heard Nights of the Dead. Now I think that it could be far worse so I'm ok with his work.
 
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I did not buy any physical copy of Senjutsu tbh. After listening to the sound train wreck of BOS I did not see a reason to buy a Maiden release. What amazes me up to this day is how low rent and uncharacteristically bad the Maiden songs of late sound in any spotify playlist of mine. People say it sounds great on vinyl....well tough luck, we live in the digital era and we have been so for decades now!
Agreed. So it sounds good on an antiquated piece of wax that I have to enjoy with professional speakers in a listening room free from distractions? Oh to be blessed with such a life. Make it sound good everywhere.
 
I have every Maiden album on vinyl and while TBOS and Senjutsu sound marginally better in an untreated room (mostly just quieter enough to provide some more clarity) it's not like the vinyl sound is a transformative experience. It's still the same mix and if you don't like the raw production style that's not going to change based on the format. Also, Senjutsu still has the same distortion glitch on the disc two songs (even though Darkest Hour and Time Machine share a side, the glitch is still exclusive to the CD Disc 2 songs).
 
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