I wonder how likely it is that ANY elements from Dark Crystal and Air Force One (LPU 16 demos) made it into the final songs on OML. Dark Crystal has to be one of my favorite ambient/atmospheric LPU demos released in recent years, right up there with the Meteora instrumental demos that have that similar ambience to them.
I think it's safe to say that if it's on an LPU CD, there's zero chance of it being used in the future. These guys are WAY too protective of their album material to voluntarily cough up unfinished tracks before the final product is out.
That performance of "Heavy" w/ Sofia Karlberg is, in my opinion, easily the best live performance of the song so far.
Does anyone have the alternate album covers the band released for Minutes to Midnight? There were a handful and if like to see them. Thanks.
This is why I love live performances, you can actually hear what Brad's playing. I get that guitar's not the centrepiece of the record but even minimal guitar stuff could be a little more upfront. Hyped for Battle Symphony live.
And most of the guitar work on that album. I remember seeing a post in one thread by Astat about how much guitar was actually buried in Living Things' mix. While I like LP's production, I can't help but feel they sometimes bury too much in the mix.
LIVING THINGS, while I enjoy that album felt wayyy to busy at times, I'd love a re-mixed version of that album. I'm not saying that they should bring the guitars up front, far from that, but the mix on that album didn't really have any breathing room, everything was soo packed.
OH YES! the mixing in LT is a chaos. I don't hear nothing correctly no bass, no guitars, no synths and is there kick drums on that album? The outro on LGM is just pure noise too.
I agree about people's feelings of the Living Things mix. Some things definitely have to stay quiet in the mix though, you can't want everything to be loud and upfront and it still feel like it has breathing room. I think Heavy has really nice mixing. You can tell things apart, some are more upfront than others, and it just sounds full and nice. That's achieved because things like guitar sit definitively below the synths/drums/vox. Battle Symphony has nice mixing too I guess, but the tones in that song are so boring/bland to me that I can't appreciate it like Heavy.
Agreed really. Some songs (Until It Breaks, Lost In The Echo, In My Remains, Victimized and to some extent Castle Of Glass being some offenders) just hit you with that much at once that some sounds can get lost as a result. I think panning is a bit of an issue on that album as well because I don't know about anyone else but everything feels a bit too central and there's not enough going on at the sides to give the mix any width. Good point really, I do get that things need to sit back in the mix but as I said above, panning seems to be an issue with LT really because these quieter parts that sit back in the mix are in the centre where everything else is hitting you at once. I won't pretend that mixing is an easy process though given that I'm studying music production at university and it can be a pain in the backside to balance things out in a mix on busier songs. Regarding Heavy and Battle Symphony though, I don't want the guitars to be full and straight in the centre of the mix hitting you like a truck full of noise but at the same time, they feel like they sit a bit far back in the mix for me. Then again, that issue does come with having minimal guitar parts so I'll give the tracks the benefit of the doubt mix wise
I can see from the latest live performance of "Heavy" that Hahn triggers all the vocal stabs in the beat
Hahn is going to have a whole load of new things to do with this new album cycle, assuming they play the studio versions of the songs.
I just realized the beginning of Heavy sounds like it'll come from the track before it, ala Wastelands -> Until it's Gone. I hope they keep up those clever transitions, it makes the album as a whole so much more enjoyable to me.