New single: Stratego

So while i was driving back, I played Stratego on spotify and once it ended it immediately went on to TWOTW on the playlist. What i found was that the overall volume just jumped up a notch. It makes me wonder what kind mastering did Kevin Shirley do? Did anyone else have the same experience?

Also the guitar sounds so different in TWOTW, with lots of reverb and a crispness to it.

I hope the rest of the album follows the mix of TWOTW since many seem to have acoustic intros
 
Listened Stratego again and the guitar solo sounded better for me than yesterday. But I still would prefer a more melodic solo than this "janeric" one.
 
Jadukor said:
So while i was driving back, I played Stratego on spotify and once it ended it immediately went on to TWOTW on the playlist. What i found was that the overall volume just jumped up a notch. It makes me wonder what kind mastering did Kevin Shirley do? Did anyone else have the same experience?

Also the guitar sounds so different in TWOTW, with lots of reverb and a crispness to it.

I hope the rest of the album follows the mix of TWOTW since many seem to have acoustic intros
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We discussed this a few pages back. Seems to have been mastered separately or perhaps unmastered.
 
Diesel 11 said:
The synths are incredibly high in the mix for just about the first time ever. I dig it. I’ve been wondering if Steve is going to let his Nightwish influence shine through at some point and this is at least somewhat in that direction and I’ll take it.
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Good call about Nightwish.
 
Jadukor said:
So while i was driving back, I played Stratego on spotify and once it ended it immediately went on to TWOTW on the playlist. What i found was that the overall volume just jumped up a notch. It makes me wonder what kind mastering did Kevin Shirley do? Did anyone else have the same experience?
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Wow, yes, exactly the same experience, and I was about to write the same thing. I listened in the car yesterday, and as soon as TWOTW ended and Stratego started, the volume went down noticeably (Spotify version with Bluetooth connection to the car).
 
Jadukor said:
I hope my super deluxe boxset comes with audio setting instruction for each song :ninja:
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You're lucky. This instruction is part of the deluxe boxset. :D

For me WotW sound a little bit thin after Stratego. But again - I think that album will have different quality.
 
I agree that TWOTW sounds different but it's even more noticeable if you listen to any other Shirley-produced songs either before or after Stratego.

There just doesn't seem to be enough "space" between all of the instruments and I think Jan playing along with what Bruce is singing is muddying up the works. We shouldn't be required to have professional-quality equipment to properly hear a song. I listen to a lot of types of music and nearly all of those bands have maybe a tenth of Maiden's recording budget, but I am able to hear separation between instruments, clearer vocal lines and some dynamics within the song. Stratego, specifically sounds like the Caveman just pushed all the levels up as high as he could.

Which is disappointing, because I really like this song. Two songs in and hardly any repetition, lyrical or otherwise. Nice!
 
Whooten said:
There just doesn't seem to be enough "space" between all of the instruments and I think Jan playing along with what Bruce is singing is muddying up the works.
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With three guitars, less space is not unusual. In this regard, it's sometimes less a production problem and more a writing challenge. I respect them for keeping the full crew. But they certainly made things trickier for themselves. Electric guitar is by no means a subtle instrument. With five instruments + vocals roaring along, space is a luxury. They still manage to crank out stuff that keeps me coming back. But the sound can be muddier as a result. That said, try the Apple Music version of the single with headphones. I found the vocals stronger and the separation between instruments, clearer.
 
The chorus of ''Stratego'' alone makes it a contender for my Top 10.

This is the first classic from the album - I'm sure there will be more.

I liked the song (a lot) from the first listen (in contrast with TWOTW).
 
Jadukor said:
So while i was driving back, I played Stratego on spotify and once it ended it immediately went on to TWOTW on the playlist. What i found was that the overall volume just jumped up a notch. It makes me wonder what kind mastering did Kevin Shirley do? Did anyone else have the same experience?
Click to expand...

Same here.
 
Diesel 11 said:
The synths are incredibly high in the mix for just about the first time ever. I dig it. I’ve been wondering if Steve is going to let his Nightwish influence shine through at some point and this is at least somewhat in that direction and I’ll take it.
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Listen to Sign of Cross from Mexico, in some parts of song synths are totally dominating guitars.
 
spooklylugbolt7 said:
That said, try the Apple Music version of the single with headphones
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That's what I have been listening on. With headphones, on my car stereo and my home stereo. The frustrating thing is that other Maiden songs (including TWOTW) don't sound like they were recorded under water.
 
Whooten said:
I agree that TWOTW sounds different but it's even more noticeable if you listen to any other Shirley-produced songs either before or after Stratego.

There just doesn't seem to be enough "space" between all of the instruments and I think Jan playing along with what Bruce is singing is muddying up the works. We shouldn't be required to have professional-quality equipment to properly hear a song. I listen to a lot of types of music and nearly all of those bands have maybe a tenth of Maiden's recording budget, but I am able to hear separation between instruments, clearer vocal lines and some dynamics within the song. Stratego, specifically sounds like the Caveman just pushed all the levels up as high as he could.
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Kevin’s productions for Bonamassa are fantastic, so it’s so clear it’s not him... Apart from that you wrote exactly what I think. The arrangement is overcrowded, and it seems everything is more important to Steve and the boys than the vocals.
 
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