Ever since HT all the way to ATS, I always thought the drums were so far away and buried into the mix....!!! I can barely hear them on Meteora. I feel like LP mixes, at least older ones, are basically LOUD ASSS GUITARS, buried bass, and far away ass drums... anyone agree with me ? :O
I can kinda see where you're coming from here. I can hear the drums clearly but even in drum centric songs like The Little Things Give You Away, the drums come off more as the rhythm/accent to the track instead of a driving force in the instrumental. The closest any mixes have come to this is Blackout and When They Come For Me.
If you take a look at any of the multitrack files from the Guitar Hero games, Rob's drums are pretty much as loud as they can be without clipping, so it's not a matter of them needing to be turned up, it's probably just a case of there being so much other stuff going on that they get a little buried at times (if they're really "buried" at all, which I find debatable).
I agree that the drums seemed turned down in the mix, the only album that they sounded amazing on is MTM. But they also experimented the most on that album, so I guess that could be why.
I do agree, and it's something that I have always noticed. Of course there are some songs and moments when the drums are not as hard to distinguish, other songs lack the clarity and it's really hard to follow what Rob's doing. That's why I enjoy listening to live shows, because he gets a larger place in the mix. Also in the Hybrid Theory unmastered (I think this is what it is referred to), he shines out more as well. So that's always a great listen. I think Meteora was the worst in terms of the drums being too far back in the mix.
i can hear the drums especially in songs like new divide and waiting for the end........... when LP play live i cant hear the base though
It just all depends on what the band wants to be the driving force of the song. Obviously they wanted power chords and vocals driving things while putting the rest in the back seat.